“It was an outstanding team performance,” - Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said his team had come close to perfection after watching them mark his 20th anniversary with a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday.

Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil scored in the first 40 minutes as Arsenal claimed their biggest win over Chelsea since April 1997.

It was Arsenal’s first win over Chelsea in the league since October 2011 and it saw them climb to third place in the Premier League table, while Antonio Conte’s beaten visitors slipped to eighth.

“It was an outstanding team performance,” Wenger told the BBC at the Emirates Stadium.

“We played with spirit and collective pace and movement. Always in a positive and committed team way.

“Ideally you want the perfect game and you never get it. We got nearly the perfect first half and that is not bad.

“Football doesn’t care for history and the anniversaries, just the result on the day. Today we had a good performance.”

The only negative for Wenger, who was appointed Arsenal manager in September 1996, was a first-half knee injury sustained by midfielder Francis Coquelin, which saw Granit Xhaka come on.

“We lost Coquelin and Xhaka came on and straight away he is at the level of the game,” Wenger told Sky Sports.

“It (Coquelin) is a knee problem — the same problem as last year. I hope he is not out as long as last year.”

For Chelsea manager Conte, it was a third successive league game without victory following a 2-2 draw at Swansea City and a 2-1 home defeat by Liverpool.

“I think that we didn’t have the right attitude from the first minute,” Conte said.

“After today we are thinking we must work a lot because we are a great team only on paper.

“It is always a team problem rather than individuals. When nothing works it is very hard for a player to play well.

“We have not got the balance and now is the moment to consider everything. It is incredible to concede three goals.

“We must have last season present in our mind (when Chelsea finished 10th) to not repeat the mistakes. We must reflect a lot to find very soon the right way.”

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere opts for Bournemouth loan - source

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will join Bournemouth on loan and hopes to revive his career under manager Eddie Howe, a source has told ESPN FC.

Wilshere was travelling to Bournemouth to complete the deal on Wednesday after choosing the seaside club over Crystal Palace and Roma, a source close to the talks said.

The England international's decision came after a day of speculation over his future had followed Arsenal's sanctioning of a temporary move.

The club received a host of offers for his services, but Wilshere chose a team that plays a similar possession-based style to the Gunners.

His injury problems have pushed him out of Arsene Wenger's first-choice lineup, and he decided to go on loan after being left out of Sam Allardyce's first England squad because of his lack of playing time.

Wilshere made his Arsenal debut at the age of 16 and has shown electrifying form for both the Gunners and England at times, but injuries have hampered his career and he missed nearly all of last season with a broken ankle.

With Mesut Ozil occupying the No. 10 role Wilshere craves and central midfielder Granit Xhaka having arrived in the summer, Wilshere's prospects of being a regular starter have diminished.

He has made just two substitute appearances so far this season.

The deal is a boost to Bournemouth, who are in their second season in the Premier League and have taken just one point from their first three games.

ESPN

Arsene Wenger Surrenders, Says He's Ready to Spend

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hit back Thursday at suggestions he is afraid to spend in the transfer market amid concerns the Gunners are losing ground to other leading Premier League clubs. 

The north London club, who were last crowned Premier League champions back in 2004, are estimated to have cash reserves in the region of £200 million ($263 million, 232 million euros).

But their only signing this summer has been that of Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka for a reported £30 million from Borussia Moenchengladbach.

That is in stark contrast to the transfer activity elsewhere, including Manchester United’s world-record £89 million move to bring the French midfielder Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford from Juventus amid several signings.

With centre-backs Gabriel and Per Mertesacker injured, veteran French manager Wenger decided against recalling defender Laurent Koscielny, as well as Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil, for Sunday’s Premier League opener against Liverpool after they were all involved at Euro 2016.

– Buying not the only way –

As a result, the fledgling partnership of Calum Chambers and Rob Holding started in a 4-3 defeat — a result that raised fresh questions about the strength of Arsenal’s defence and the scope of their ambition amid accusations they’ve ‘settled’ for finishing in the top four and a place in the Champions League

But Wenger, speaking ahead of Arsenal’s trip to champions Leicester City on Saturday, said: “You (the media) are absolutely convinced that I do not want to spend the money, but I reassure you we are ready to spend the money.

“Buying calms the fans, of course, but we have to make sure…it is important to spend money but we have to spend it the right way,” the 66-year-old, in charge of Arsenal since 1996, added.

“What I fight against is to think that the only way in football to deal, is to buy.

“It is right when you need the players and you identify the players and we are not scared to spend money, but to buy in itself is not a quality but to buy the good players is a quality, and I think this club has been built on that.

“We had great success in the last 20 years in improving our structures and the main thing is based on a transfer policy.”

Wenger did try to sign striker Jamie Vardy from Leicester, only for the England forward to decide to sign a new contract with the Midlands club.

“You have to respect the decisions of people and that’s part of it and I think on every transfer market you have one or two who have decisions to make and you have to respect them,” he said.

“I don’t think he has something special against us, I don’t see why he would.”

Arsenal beat Leicester home and away last season but still finished 10 points behind the shock champions.

Leicester started the defence of their Premier League crown with a surprise 2-1 loss away to Hull City last weekend and Wenger said: “The challenge for them is to do well again and to show that their last year was not a one-off.

“They need to be capable of challenging and will need to be to show if they can be considered as one of the top teams in England.”

Wenger admits guilt over Arsenal’s failure to win EPL

Arsene Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has expressed “regret and guilt” at his side’s failure to beat shock champions Leicester City to last season’s Premier League title.

Wenger’s side finished runners-up, 10 points adrift of Leicester, who were 5,000/1 outsiders for the title at one stage.

For many fans of Arsenal, it was yet another missed opportunity under Wenger, who last guided the north London side to the Premier League crown back in 2004.

Now the veteran French manager expects the new season, which gets underway this weekend, to be one of the most competitive ever, with English football’s top flight playing host to a “world championship of managers” in Jose Mourinho (Manchester United), Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Antonio Conte (Chelsea) and Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool).

“Who expected Leicester to be champion last season? Nobody,” Wenger told Sky Sports on Wednesday.

“So you would say today to take into account seven or eight teams who can win it.

“There is always a surprising team, and then you have six or seven big clubs who have the ambition to win it,” added Wenger, in charge of Arsenal since 1996.

“All the big clubs experienced last season a regret and a feeling of guilt but that would take something away from Leicester, who had an exceptional season.

“When you lose only three games in a season in a difficult league like that, you are a fantastic champion.

“(There is) guilt because you would not have predicted Leicester win the league, so all the other teams would say ‘We should have come in front of Leicester’.

“You would understand you could lose against City, United, Liverpool or Tottenham — not Tottenham! (he joked in a reference to Arsenal’s arch local rivals) — the other big clubs, but you should beat Leicester.

“But they had an exceptional season and you have to congratulate them.”

Looking ahead, Wenger added: “It’s a very exciting season, there are so many ambitions out there. It’s a little bit of a world championship of managers.

“Let’s not be naive, the economic power of the Premier League attracts the best players and the best managers. If you want quality people, you have to pay the amount of money.

“Today the Premier League is the most powerful as well as the most attractive and maybe the most popular in the world.

“Every manager thinks today, ‘If I want to be recognised as a top manager, I have to go through the Premier League’.”