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What They Said: Results crisis over - Wenger

Thierry Henry marked what is likely to be his last home game for Arsenal with a goal © PA Photos

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Arsene Wenger refused to get carried away with Arsenal's 7-1 thrashing of ten-man Blackburn at Emirates Stadium, where captain Robin van Persie fired a hat-trick and England youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain grabbed a brace.

"I do not give much importance to the seven goals, it is just we won and played well,'' Wenger said. "I felt that recently we had quite good performances but did not get the results. Today we got the performance and the result, which is ideally what you want. We remained serious and were guided by the way we want to play football and not by any extravagant individualism. We were mature and serious, we played together until the end.''

Steve Kean had few positives to take from Rovers' defeat, which included the dismissal of Gael Givet.

"Trying to compete here with 11 is hard enough,'' Kean said. "The sending off was not a tough decision for the referee to make because we all know the rules now. After that, it was a long afternoon. Gael is cut up, he is a genuine guy and a very committed player, so he is very down at the moment. We picked up a injury to Jason Lowe, Givet will now be suspended for three matches so it was costly for us.

"This was the first time we really got turned over, so we will have to analyse it and respond. I could shout at the players in the dressing room, throw tea-cups at them, but the hard work starts again preparing for the next game. The players know they have let themselves down and we will be looking to get back to work as soon as possible."

Norwich manager Paul Lambert rated the 2-0 win over Bolton as one of the best performances he has seen since taking over at Carrow Road three years ago.

He said: "In my time, which is nearly three seasons now, that's as good as it's been because of the circumstances and the desire they showed. They were brilliant. They were fantastic. It's a blow when you lose your two centre-backs. I can't remember that happening to me before. The two lads who went off are big, big players and Bolton are a big side. Kyle Naughton is knee-high to a grasshopper. It showed the desire of the lads to not get beaten. We deserved to win the game. I thought we were dominant, and we might have got another couple of goals."

It was a disappointing afternoon for Trotters boss Owen Coyle, whose side are now back in the relegation zone just three days after earning a creditable 0-0 draw with Arsenal.

He said:"The first goal was always going to be important. It was a fantastic finish from the lad but having said that we were definitely not as good as we know we are today, particularly after the positive performances we have had over the last couple of months.I am disappointed that we didn't get to the standard that we set previously and we need to go back to that quickly. We have a big game coming up next week and hopefully we will get back to the form we showed in recent games. We just need to pick ourselves up. We know we have a good side when we are at our best. We weren't today, but I hope we can pick up points that will help us move up the table."

Swansea's win had Brendan Rodgers purring © PA Photos

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Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the performance in the 2-1 win at West Brom.

He said: "We could have scored four or five. We are a little club fighting to earn respect at this level through our game. It is not our mentality and philosophy to sit back. There is an inherent belief in our game. We know we needed to improve our away record and we've had a couple of good results."

Albion have won just twice at home this season, which is a concern for manager Roy Hodgson.

He said: "It was an all too familiar story, I'm afraid. We keep giving ourselves a chance with good away results, getting into good situations, then when we come to play in front of our home crowd, we disappoint them by not being able to get a result. It is a vicious circle which can only be broken by us getting a result and we don't seem capable of doing it. Once again we will go home disappointed and dissatisfied and very downhearted. We all get down when we lose and up when we win. That's football."

Roberto Martinez was delighted to see Wigan's luck change with a bizarre goal in the 1-1 draw with Everton, even if it did not lead to the three points his team so desperately needed

"In the second half we had that little bit of luck," he said. "We haven't had much luck this season and in the first half there were a couple of situations where you felt the ball was going to bounce into the striker instead of the centre-half but we didn't get that. I thought the break was what we deserved after the dominance we had and the attacking threat we showed, and the real intent to try to play our football in difficult conditions. At that time I thought it was the right reward and it looked like it was going to be our day, but unfortunately it wasn't."

Everton manager David Moyes felt his side lacked a bit of spark, having beaten Manchester City in midweek, and bemoaned the state of the DW pitch.

Moyes said: "I think the effort we put in in midweek, physically and mentally, did take a bit out of us but Wigan had to play as well so it was the same for them. The pitch here is really heavy and it's going to take its toll. It was hard for them to play on and run through - compared to pitches they play on nowadays. In our day they were the norm."

Tony Pulis has indicated Stoke will appeal against Robert Huth's sending off in the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland - and suggested that play-acting by Black Cats midfielder David Meyler contributed to the German's dismissal.

Martin O'Neill has admitted the conditions were barely playable at Stoke © PA Photos

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Referee Martin Atkinson's decision to dismiss the defender left Pulis enraged and asked after the game if he planned to appeal, the Potters boss said: "We will see. I think we definitely will. I have watched it twice now," Pulis said. "Robert has committed himself and then pulled out of the challenge, and he hasn't touched the kid at all. The disappointing thing for me is - and it has become more ingrained in the game - is the reaction of the player. It is something I think Gordon Taylor and the PFA should really get to grips with. The game is difficult enough for the referees because of the pace and tempo at which it is played. Then you get situations when players are falling around and rolling around when they have not even been touched."

Martin O'Neill, who has now guided the Wearsiders to 22 points from a possible 30 since his appointment in December, was delighted to see his side keep their momentum going with a fifth victory in six league games - particularly given that it snowed relentlessly throughout the contest.

"Conditions, certainly in the last 20 minutes, were probably borderline in terms of the game keeping going, although I never for one minute thought the referee was going to stop it," O'Neill said. "Naturally, I am delighted with them (his players). This would have been a big test for us anyway today, but we hadn't taken the snow into consideration, so from that viewpoint, I am really pleased that we have won and collected these important points.

"There was a lot of snow on the pitch at the end. I didn't think the game was ever going to be called off - the conditions were good enough in the first half - but it was in the last 20 minutes of the game that it really started to lay."

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini was pleased with the performance in the 3-0 win over Fulham and believes his side are back on track after their loss against Everton.

"The players were fantastic and played very well. It was not easy as Fulham are a good team," Mancini told ESPN. "This is a very important result after one defeat. We need to fight against the top teams and we need to win. There are some difficult moments in the season and January for us was so-so. Hopefully now we can continue to win the next game."

Mancini also played down an injury to midfielder Samir Nasri. "Samir Nasri had a small problem and in the next few days we can see how he is," Mancini said.

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