Arsene Wenger surprised

LONDON. — Arsene Wenger admits he did not expect his Arsenal side to find themselves top of the English Premier League soccer table on Saturday 10 games into the season. Wenger’s side temporarily moved above Manchester City following their 2-1 victory over Everton, but City regained their lead at the top of the table on goal difference over the Gunners following their goalless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford yesterday.

And having seen his side beaten by West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium on the opening day of the season, the Arsenal manager conceded his side have exceeded expectations at the end of what the manager described as a “perfect week”. The win made it three victories in seven days for the Gunners after beating Watford 3-0 at Vicarage Road last Sunday before defeating Bayern Munich in the Champions League midweek.

“It is a perfect week and it’s not easy to have that. The only negative is that we lost some players through injuries during the week,” said Wenger. “Now we have to keep our togetherness, concentration and humility, try to play better football game by game and focus on that in training as well.” He added: “I thought after 10 games, no, honestly (we wouldn’t be top).

“I thought it would take much longer because Manchester City started with five wins so it was difficult to envisage that we would come back but we had no choice. “Last season after 10 games there was a big difference between the top teams and us – today no. Let’s continue to work together and continue to improve.

He added: “After the first game against West Ham nobody would have predicted this. That shows that we rely on our attitude, our togetherness and our desire to do well.” — AFP.