Agence France Presse
February 4, 2018 Sunday 12:35 AM GMT


Football: Friends reunited as Wenger salutes Arsenal new boys

 London, Feb 4 2018

Arsene Wenger says the instinctive understanding between old friends
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan can transform
Arsenal's turbulent season.

Aubameyang marked his Arsenal debut with a goal in Saturday's 5-1
demolition of Everton, while Mkhitaryan provided three assists in his
first start for the Gunners.

The swaggering show from the former Borussia Dortmund team-mates was a
much-needed boost for Arsenal boss Wenger after a difficult January
that saw Alexis Sanchez force through a move to Manchester United,
while the north Londoners struggled on the pitch.

Gabon striker Aubameyang joined from Dortmund on deadline day for a
club record £56 million, reuniting with Armenia midfielder
Mkhitaryan, who arrived earlier in the window from United in a swap
deal for Sanchez.

While Aaron Ramsey scored his first career hat-trick against Everton,
it was the promising partnership between Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan
that stole the show.

"Overall, the two players integrated well into our game and they
looked as if they had played for us forever," said Wenger.

"They have similar qualities to what our game is about. Technically,
they are good. They are quick and overall it was a first convincing
performance."

Aubameyang was a constant menace with his pace and energy and, while
his goal was fortunate given he was offside when he ran onto
Mkhitaryan's pass, there was enough quality on display to suggest he
may keep the misfiring Alexandre Lacazette on the bench for the
foreseeable future.

"The quality of his movement and finishing was excellent. He gives
problems to defenders with his movement, he is always looking to go
into spaces that are difficult to cover," Wenger said.

"When he gets ahead it is hard to catch him. When we understand him
better we can make more of that.

"He is not at his best physically and still has some work to do on
that, but the price is reasonable I think, overall for that quality of
striker in today's market."

Mkhitaryan struggled to make an impact at United, but he looked
revitalised at the Emirates Stadium, linking with Aubameyang and Mesut
Ozil to devastating effect as Arsenal tore Everton to pieces with four
goals in the first half.

"He is a good link player and he works very hard as well," Wenger said.

"Overall, I think he looked well-accepted by the rest of the team and
was understanding very well how we want to play. I can say is that it
was a convincing debut."

- Ice-cool Ramsey -

Wenger also reserved praise for Ramsey as the Wales midfielder finally
took his manager's advice to stay cool in front of goal.

"I felt always -- when I watched the games after on the video -- you
think always that he is there in a good position in the box and I felt
always that he had between 10 and 15 goals at least in his locker,"
Wenger said.

"He didn't do it until now because I think he rushed, sometimes, with
his finishing. He looks much calmer."

Everton boss Sam Allardyce was furious with his side's display as they
tarnished his 500th match as a Premier League manager.

"I'm angry because accepting an instruction is the players'
responsibility at this level of football," he said.

"We tried to give those instructions. There was a very good
performance by Swansea on Tuesday against Arsenal and we based our
plan on that.

"We set out to play like that, unfortunately Swansea played at the top
of their game and we played at the bottom.

"That is why we were tumbling goals left, right and centre with our
pathetic performance. None of it was any good. All the team played
crap."