• What They Said

What They Said: Arsene Wenger hails 'special' Van Persie

Robin van Persie drew praise from Arsene Wenger © Getty Images

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted his side could have been 3-0 down at half-time, but paid tribute to Robin van Persie for a ''special'' goal that claimed a 2-1 win over Liverpool.

''In the second half I thought if it stayed 1-1 until the last 10 minutes, you never know, we have the quality to create chances,'' he told Sky Sports 2. ''In the second half we had chances, the problem was the first half when we were not in the game. We were fortunate it was 1-0 at half-time because we could have been two or three down. 'But when you see the ball landing at the feet of Van Persie you know he can deliver a special goal. He did that today. You can never afford to lose a player of that quality. In every game he comes up with something special.''

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was keen to focus on the positives from his side.

''It's difficult for anybody to believe (Liverpool did not get at least a point),'' the Scot said. ''We played some fantastic stuff and came away with nothing.

''I think it's rewarding to play a team like Arsenal and play as well as we have done, being so dominant in the first half. The scoreline doesn't really reflect the game. We were beaten because we didn't score enough goals. Van Persie's a fantastic footballer, no doubt about that. But we did enough to win that game.''

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was frustrated with his side's profligacy in front of goal despite seeing them claim a 2-0 win over Bolton. City made it 14 home wins on the spin in the league but their coach felt they could have paid the penalty for failing to take early chances.

He said: "We started very well but we missed four goals in six minutes. This is the problem. If you have a chance to score quickly you should score, if not you can have some problems."

Mario Balotelli's reported trip to a night club in the early hours of Friday left Mancini very frustrated. "Tomorrow I will speak with him," Mancini said. "I am disappointed. Tomorrow if it is true I will do the maximum fine that we can. I don't like because it is not correct, professional behaviour."

The result leaves relegation-threatened Bolton 19th in the table but manager Owen Coyle felt his side - who went close through David Ngog and Ryo Miyaichi when only 1-0 down - acquitted themselves well and remains optimistic.

Coyle said: "In terms of tough games in the Premier League they don't come any tougher than coming to Manchester City. But the pleasing thing for me was we were prepared to come and try to stand toe to toe with them. We created chances. It would be easy to feel sorry for ourselves but we will pick ourselves up again. Everyone wrote us off but we more than competed. At 1-0 we were well in the game. We have had a tough run of fixtures - tougher than the other teams around us. We have to take the positives from today and use them to capitalise on the games in front of us."

Blackburn boss Steve Kean believes Paul Robinson deserves to be back in the England reckoning after he saved his side a point in the 1-1 draw against Aston Villa on Saturday.

David Dunn was on target for Blackburn © PA Photos

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Kean said: "I certainly think he is good enough to get back in there and with the change at the top who's to say he can't do it? f it wasn't for his performance in the first half today the game could have been beyond us. He made crucial saves in the first half and played his part in getting us back to our usual standards."

Kean was at a loss to explain his side's dismal first-half display.He said: "The first half was probably as poor as we've been for a number of months. But we had a few choice words at half-time and in the second half we were much better. We got closer to Villa's midfield because we were miles off it in the first half. I'm just disappointed we didn't get our goal earlier because if we did we might have gone on to win it."

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish bemoaned his side's lack of "ruthlessness" in front of goal He said: "We lacked the ruthlessness that has maybe blighted us a bit this season. You could certainly talk about the amount of chances we've passed up in games. We've got to move on and try to build on our performance in the first half. Paul Robinson made some fantastic saves, but in the second half Blackburn bullied us a bit."

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez will have showdown talks with chairman Dave Whelan following the loss Swansea.

"That was our worst performance in four or five years," Whelan told BBC Radio Five Live. "I will have a meeting with him on Monday morning and ask him some questions about the performance and his selection. We had three quality players on the bench and I want to know why.

Whelan denied Martinez's job was at risk, as he added: "Roberto Martinez's future is secure. He has done a great job for the club. But we will have a meeting on Monday when he will put his cards on the table and I will do the same."

Norwich manager Paul Lambert expressed his frustration after seeing his side go down 1-0 at Stoke thanks to a goal that came from a throw-in he felt the hosts should not have been awarded.

"He (referee, Michael Oliver) is walking away as if he has given it to us, and he actually raises his hand a little bit as if it is a Norwich throw, and then the linesman has overruled him for some reason," Lambert said. "Our lads think it is our throw, we are out of possession and then we lose a bad goal. I think it was there for everybody to see that it was a Norwich throw. He (Oliver) did admit it to me in the tunnel that he was going to give it to us, but the linesman has overruled him. It is frustrating. We never had many chances in the game and never really got going with any fluency. This is a really hard place to come - you have to combat that aerial threat, which I thought the lads had done really well. But the throw-in changed the game."

Asked about the throw-in incident, Potters boss Tony Pulis said: "I haven't seen it, but if that (what Lambert said) is right and we got a little bit of luck, then I think we have deserved it with our overall performance."

Pulis, whose side move up to eighth in the Premier League with Norwich slipping to 10th, was forced to substitute Andy Wilkinson for Jermaine Pennant in the 25th minute and said it was unclear yet what the problem was with the defender.

"We are not sure whether or not it is his hamstring - it might be his back,'' Pulis said. "He might have just dislodged his back a little, which then caused his hamstring to get tight. But you can't afford to take a chance. We put Jermaine on and he did smashing. The two of them - him and Ryan Shotton - were very good on the right side."

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