Wenger hails Arsenal resilience

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes his side's win at Blackburn shows the Gunners have the stomach to mount a Premier League title challenge.

"If you have ambition in this league you have got to win at Blackburn," said Wenger after the 2-1 victory.
"If you fail to win at Blackburn - if you go to clubs like that and don't win - your ambition will not be respected by the other teams.


"In that regard, it was a important test for us."
Arsenal went ahead through a Theo Walcott goal and, despite Mame Biram Diouf hauling Blackburn level, Andrey Arshavin's effort earned Wenger's men the three points.
The north Londoners were beaten 2-1 at Ewood Park last season and Wenger added: "The players are committed and we had that little bit more experience, even if on just one or two occasions we were a bit lucky.

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"Last year we had bad memories here and because we knew they would play the kind of game we don't like we had not enough confidence to deal with that.
"In the second half I felt we were calmer. We put the ball well on the ground and controlled it better and it was just a question of time. We had the right resilience and commitment."
Rovers boss Sam Allardyce cited his team's failure to take their chances during the first half as the key to the defeat.
"I'm disappointed we didn't get something out of the game and from my point of view the first half was our opportunity to get our noses in front," said Allardyce.
"Because we didn't take those opportunities we paid the price for that.
"At some stage Arsenal were going to take control of the game. You switch off for a split second and they are very, very good at punishing you.
"The pass and Walcott's finish were top quality and while we might try to criticise our defenders it's very difficult to stop that sort of quality of football."
He added: "We played to our maximum as a team, which you've got to be reasonably satisfied with, but the game is about results and we've lost two games on the trot.
"It's put us in a difficult position in terms of points on the board. While our performances over the three games have been very good, we've only got three points and that's the danger."