Wenger applauds classy Arsenal

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his side for handling a physical barrage in their 3-0 victory over Birmingham City.

The French boss said his side were fully prepared for heavy tackles when they visited St. Andrews, and his side’s class reigned supreme courtesy of goals to Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri, before Roger Johnson found his own net in the result.

“We were aware that we had to match Birmingham physically. We were prepared today to face the challenges, physical challenges,” Wenger told Sky Sports.

“We prepared ourselves as well not to lose our game plan, to be calm and to focus on putting the ball down and playing our game.”

Wenger said the full three points was the norm to keep in touch with league leaders Manchester United.

“We know the importance of winning at places like Birmingham because a draw away from home is not good enough, especially when you see the results of other teams today (Saturday),” he said.

“Every time you play away you think a point is a disaster because you lose ground potentially.”

City manager Alex McLeish hinted that he felt goal scorer van Persie was rewarded some soft free-kicks – one of which he scored from.

“I felt two or three of the free-kicks were in the dubious category. Does van Persie fall down easily? We have spoken about foreign players being cleverer than us. Let’s leave it like that,” McLeish said.

Van Persie was the name on McLeish’s lips for another reason, with the Scot ropable a penalty was not awarded for City when the Dutch striker handled in the area.

“How the referee never saw that, I can’t understand. It was handball. It hit his (van Persie’s) arm. When you play a team like Arsenal, you need those bits of luck,” he said.