Wenger gives thumbs-up to Newcastle hero Carroll

Arsene Wenger endorsed Andy Carroll’s England claims after the Newcastle striker consigned Arsenal to a surprise 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.

Carroll, who was watched by England coach Fabio Capello on Sunday, headed his sixth goal of the season to secure victory and proved a constant threat to the Gunners backline.

The performance was timely, coming as it did six days before Capello names his squad for the international friendly with France and just hours after lurid newspaper allegations about the player’s off-field activities.

Carroll, 21, recently appeared in court on assault charges, but his display against Arsenal helped divert attention away from his private life and helped convince Wenger he is good enough to play at a higher level.

“Carroll is a handful,” admitted Arsenal manager Wenger. “I believed our two centre backs handled their strikers well. I believe the two centre backs were our best players today because they did very well. But Carroll is a handful.”

Asked if Carroll was ready to make the step up, he added: “I think so, yes.”

Newcastle manager Chris Hughton was more circumspect, claiming Carroll is still improving as a player.

“He is a player who is developing,” he said. “Apart from having a prowess in the air as we saw, there are others aspects of his game that he is very much developing.

“He is giving us a mobility that can stretch defenders. He has still got a fair way to go, he is working on all aspects of his game and going in the right direction.

“I would like to see him picked for Newcastle United that is the most important thing. Anything that comes from that will mean that he has earned it.”

The defeat was Arsenal’s second home league defeat of the season and Wenger admitted his side’s failure to break down opponents at the Emirates Stadium is giving him cause for concern.

“I think against West Brom we were complacent,” said Wenger. “Not today. In fairness the two teams who have beaten us here are good teams, they have shown that before and when we met them.

“I believe that today we were never in full flow. But we played against a good Newcastle team who is a team of men, strong physically, mature.

“And overall I still believe we were very unlucky to lose the game. They had one shot on target and apart from that they defended well and we were not sharp enough to get them out of position quickly enough.

“Our home form is a concern because against Birmingham and West Ham they were struggling wins.

“Everybody comes here and plays very tight and when we are not in top form we have problems to play through the lines.

“When you score the first goal it is alright because teams have to come out but as long as they can sit deep we have a problem to play through when we are not on full power.”

Robin van Persie made his first appearance since August when he was introduced as a second half substitute although Wenger insisted the Dutchman is still short of full fitness after an ankle problem.

“You can see he is not ready,” he added. “We pushed him in too early because I had to do something. You saw it was very difficult for us to score a goal and there is always a set-piece or a cross or a pass where he can make a difference.”