Arsene Wenger
“Santi was down to take it. I don’t know why it did not happen; we have a pecking order, it was not planned for Sanchez to take it.
The Chile scored twice but also saw a spot-kick saved by goalkeeper Eldin Jakup and the
Gunners boss says he wants to know why he
took it and not the designated taker.
Arsene Wenger admits he did not know why
Alexis Sanchez, rather than regular spot-kick
expert Santi Cazorla, took a penalty that was
saved in the 4-1 win over Hull City.
Sanchez had already put his name on the
scoresheet and later added Arsenal’s third
goal on Saturday, but Hull goalkeeper Eldin
Jakupovic saved his effort from 12 yards and
Wenger confirmed Cazorla was above the
Chilean striker in the club’s list of penalty
takers.
Further goals from Theo Walcott and Granit
Xhaka ensured Arsenal came away from the
KCOM Stadium with an emphatic result and
their third consecutive Premier League
victory, and Wenger praised the fluency of
their performance.
As for the penalty, Wenger told BBC Sport:
“Santi was down to take it. I don’t know why it
did not happen; we have [a] pecking order, it
was not planned for Sanchez to take it.
“I want to know what happened and for it not
to happen again. Overall anyone can miss a
penalty, we have to accept that. It has
happened to all of us and it has happened to
Santi Cazorla as well.
“Overall it was a positive performance after
having played away in the Champions League.
“We started well, we were quite dominant,
our game was fluent. They defended very well and tried to catch us on the break but overall we managed to score the goal after we missed a penalty.
“After that it was 11 against 10 and down to us to be serious and not concede any goals.”
Arsenal’s 20-year-old Nigerian winger Alex
Iwobi put in an eye-catching performance that earned him the praise of his manager.
Wenger said: “It’s only his second game since
he came back from injury but today he had
more presence in the game, more confidence when he takes the ball and he can be very dangerous going forward.”
Pre-season signing Xhaka has struggled to
break into the Arsenal side since joining from
Borussia Monchengladbach, but Wenger was
happy to see his long-range strike hit the net.
“I’m very happy for him,” said the Frenchman.
“When you come to a new club and there’s a
lot of competition going on you look for
confidence and to show that you’re a good
player.
“To score goals helps with that confidence. He
has that in him, he has it in the locker, shots
from distance and left footed players usually
have that.”
