• Premier League, What They Said

Delighted Wenger retains defensive concerns

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger lavished praise on his players after watching them beat Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge - but conceded some of the defending was not up to scratch.

"We knew that we needed a win here and we kept going to win the game," he said. "Overall I feel that they had a good team performance and they have shown great spirit. When you go 2-1 down just before half time it's difficult but we came out in the second half with a complete desire to go forward.

"In the second half I felt we were much better defensively than in the first half. We gave too many chances away in the first half - it's certainly down to the fact that Chelsea have a lot going forward. But we always looked dangerous through the whole game and I hope the team strengthens its belief with a performance like that to focus on getting stronger and stronger."

Beaten Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas said his team needs to cut out the mistakes. "The decisive moment might have been when Mata was free on goal and misses the chance to go 4-3 ahead," he said.

"We've seen some great open games recently between the top teams and this is one more. We will have to reflect on the mistakes we made and there are a couple of things we can improve, but the commitment and desire is there. We must evolve, it's a loss against a big team picking up form, it's two defeats in a row and we have to get things right."

Manchester United returned to winning ways in the league with a 1-0 triumph at Everton, and Red Devils chief Sir Alex Ferguson hailed the Red Devils for showing "championship form" in holding on for a narrow victory.

"It was a hard game," Ferguson told MUTV. "We expect a hard game every time we come to Everton, in fairness. The crowd get behind them and they show great enthusiasm. In the first half in particular we played very, very well. Second half we defended well and that was the pleasing aspect for me. Winning 1-0 - I'll take half a dozen of those any time because that's championship form when you get those kind of results.

"We had probably the best chances in the game. All their attempts were crosses and we managed to get most of them away. Really David [De Gea] has not had anything to do in terms of saves. They were unlucky when they hit the bar, it was a fantastic free-kick, so we rode our luck on that one. I thought we just battled in the second half and got the result we wanted.

"Everyone's telling us the stats about chances made against us. We have to reduce that, If we're going to win the league we have to reduce those types of statistics against us. That was a fantastic performance by him [Vidic].

"Every ball that came in he got it clear, and that's his speciality. That was the key to us today. All the midfield players were terrific too in the first half, and Danny Welbeck and Park Ji-sung had some great interchange play. The goal was an absolutely brilliant goal and Chicharito does what he does best and got us the goal that won the match."

Meanwhile, Everton manager David Moyes bemoaned his side's lack of a cutting edge. "It has been a tough period of fixtures for us and I have taken quite a bit of confidence from the way the players have played today," Moyes said. "It was a difficult task with the injuries we have and playing against Manchester United off the back of a heavy defeat for them last week.

"I think we were unlucky not to get at least a point out of the game. Manchester United had very few attempts but maybe we didn't have that little bit of quality in the final third. We looked the stronger side in the second-half, the players did a great job today."

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini hailed his side's battling qualities after they beat Wolves despite Vincent Kompany's dismissal: "We were very strong with 10 men for the final 20 minutes. We know it was a difficult match because if you don't start well in the first half you don't close the game and in football, in every moment, the game can change as we saw with the sending off."

Liverpool goalscorers Charlie Adam and Andy Carroll believe the Reds fully deserved their 2-0 win over West Brom at The Hawthorns. ''Once you get the goal it changes the complexion of the game,'' Adam told ESPN. ''In the first half we played well but in the second half we didn't keep the ball as well as we should do.

''I'm just glad I stepped up and managed to get the goal and set us on our way. We're disappointed with the results we've had this year. If you don't score goals you don't win games. Today we came here and started the game extremely well and I thought we deserved the win.''

Carroll praised strike partner Suarez for setting him up for his second-half strike to help take Liverpool's unbeaten run of games to seven. ''He's fantastic,'' Carroll said. ''He creates chances for everyone and he's fantastic to have in the team.

''It's always nice to score so its nice to get my chance and put one in the back of the net. I thought the team did well today and we deserved the three points.''

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez had few excuses, as his side slumped to their seventh successive defeat in the league against Fulham: "The stats tell the story. I'm not disappointed with the performance but with our run, the result becomes even more important. It is not time to feel sorry for ourselves. It's time to try to improve ourselves, try to change the negative dynamic that's affecting us at the moment."

Blackburn manager Steve Kean could barely conceal his anger after a late penalty denied his side victory at Carrow Road against Norwich: "I asked the referee why he awarded a penalty and he told me that Steven Nzonzi handled the ball. But I've seen it 10 times and he was only appealing for a free-kick because he was actually fouled by a Norwich player."

In contrast, Canaries boss Paul Lambert was diplomatic: "I couldn't really see the penalty. We've had our fair share of bad luck with penalties this season but got some good fortune this time. I'm delighted with the desire my players showed not to be beaten."

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish admitted Darren Bent could have nightmares about the 70th-minute miss that cost his side victory in a 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

McLeish said: "Darren will be agonising over it as all good players do. He will be wondering if he should have hit it harder or higher and he's the one who will decide. As all good players do, they look back on their good moments and the moments that didn't quite work out. There was disappointment at not scoring but there was great movement to get the chance.''

His counterpart Steve Bruce revealed goalkeeper Simon Mignolet suffered a serious facial injury in the incident which forced his substitution just after half-time. Mignolet was injured in an accidental clash when pushing away a corner and was taken to hospital to undergo CT scans on a badly broken nose. Bruce said: "It's badly broken - he's had CT scans to check his jaw and cheekbones and teeth. The ball was fizzed in and Simon was brave enough to go for it.''

Bolton manager Owen Coyle bemoaned a lack of "consistency'' from referee Mark Clattenburg after seeing his 10 men lose 3-1 at Swansea. He said: "I think the second yellow card, in fairness, Ricardo Gardner has tugged Dyer back. I think we all accept that normally results in a yellow card. The first one I wasn't sure about in terms that it was such an innocuous foul. I think it was the first yellow card awarded in the game.

"I think there might have been a couple of challenges where the referee felt he let them go, but that was the first free-kick against him so maybe the referee thought it was persistent fouling, I don't know.

"It felt like two soft yellow cards, but that's the nature of the game now. But having said that, [Neil] Taylor in the first half clearly pulled Mark Davies back and it went unpunished. I think ultimately we want a bit of consistency in the game. [At the] end of the day, it's not for me to sit here and get myself into trouble but there's enough good judges at the game who can make up their own minds as to what transpired.''

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