Arsene Wenger admits that Arsenal were affected by their midweek Champions League defeat to Monaco against Everton earlier today.

The Gunners ran out 2-0 winners over Roberto Martinez's men at the Emirates Stadium in a Premier League clash, with goals from Olivier Giroud (39th minute) and Tomas Rosicky (89th minute), but their play was far more cautious and measured than usual.




For Wenger, the Monaco match, which saw Arsenal lose 3-1 at home in midweek Champions League action, clearly had an effect on his players. However, he was delighted to see that when they got their chance against Everton they took it.

 


Wenger explained to the BBC: "We were focused, it was a mentally determined performance. You could see we suffered on Wednesday night against Monaco and that was still in our mind, but we were patient, that got us a good chance and we got a good win today.

"We were a bit cautious. We just wanted to do our job and win.

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"I am very happy with the mental aspect of our response. With the ball we could do better, but the win was the focus today.

"We just needed the win because the result was very significant for the rest of the season."

Wenger, whose men are one point ahead of third placed Manchester United and three ahead of fifth placed Liverpool in the battle to finish in the top four, now wants his players to focus on consistency for the remainder of the season, as they look to stay ahead of their rivals.

"It is tight at the top of the table. It is down to consistency", he said.

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