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Champions League: Arsene Wenger delighted with Arsenal's new-found defensive solidity

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Arsene Wenger praised his side's defensive display in the 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his team's "focus" as they overcame Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at the Emirates to once again qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Frenchman was particularly pleased that the north London club learnt their lessons from Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to Manchester United in the Premier League, a match in which the Gunners dominated but failed to take their chances, before being caught on the counterattack.

However, after France Under-21 international Yaya Sanogo had given Arsenal a second-minute lead, Wenger’s side killed the game as a contest early in the second half thanks to in-form Chile forward Alexis Sanchez’s ninth strike in his last eight encounters for club and country.

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Watch Alexis Sanchez's goal for Arsenal

“Our focus to defend well together pleased me most,” said Wenger after the full-time whistle. “I think we had a similar game to Saturday, and we focused really well not to give any chances away and overall it was a committed game and we were maybe better defensively tonight.

“We are a team that likes to go forward, and sometimes when I feel that we completely dominate a game we are maybe a bit of a victim of that and we forget to take the precaution to defend well, but I think we learn as well through the games and we have done that better tonight.”

Meanwhile, Wenger also wasted little time in highlighting the contribution of his new £35 million recruit from Barcelona after Alexis netted his 13th goal for the club in just 20 games this season.

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“Alexis has given this team an unbelievable fighting spirit, his class as well, he is a mixture of talent and desire, and that is what you expect from top-level players,” said Wenger.

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And attacking starlet Sanogo, who replaced the injured Danny Welbeck up front against Dortmund, also had warm words from his coach as well, with Wenger saying: “I like what Sanogo did tonight because we decided to go long on him.

“He protected very well the ball and what he did on the first goal was class, his combination play with [Santi] Cazorla, but unfortunately he got injured. “

In fact, knocks picked up by both Sanogo and captain Mikel Arteta were the only black marks on an otherwise satisfactory evening for the north Londoners.

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Solid display pleases Mertesacker

“Arteta’s calf injury also does not look good and all our injuries are very difficult to take on the chin at the moment because we go into many games and you need everyone available, but I think that Arteta will be out for a while,” Wenger confirmed.

However, the veteran trainer preferred to concentrate on his team’s achievement of once again qualifying for the knockout phase of Europe’s premier club competition.

“I do not know how many times we have qualified for the knockout rounds of the Champions League,” said Wenger.

“So it is something we want to do, fight with the very best, and we have only lost one game 2-0 in Dortmund, and we won 2-0 today in the group stage, we have done our job and we now want to just focus on the Premier League and after wait to see who we get in the draw.”

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