Published: 3 October, 2013
by STEVE BARNETT

IT was a shock “accident” from which Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger never doubted his players would bounce back.

That’s how the Frenchman views the 3-1 home defeat against Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. There was plenty of criticism in the aftermath of that game, but all of the furore has now been well and truly forgotten.

Goals from Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud saw the Gunners beat Napoli 2-0 on Tuesday in the Champions League to stretch their winning run to 10 games.
Arsenal’s runaway train form has certainly transformed the mood around the Emirates, and Wenger says he always trusted his team to respond in the right way. “What we said after the Villa game was always positive because I trust the mental response of this group,” he said.

“What people forgot about is we were on a very long run – since March we had not lost a game. If you put that into perspective, it was just one single game that we have lost in 22.”

Reflecting on the fallout the defeat against Villa caused Wenger added: “It was a combination of factors. The fact that we had not bought anybody, we had not won the league for years and the fact that we started badly.

“All this together made the situation a little bit explosive but purely on the results perspective it was an accident that can happen.”