Wenger reveals great work rate from Arshavin

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
14 Mar	3:00 PM	P	Blackburn Rovers (H)	4	0	Win

Manager Arsène Wenger has revealed the astonishing work rate of new signing Andrey Arshavin.

Wenger also had more praise for the Russian, whom he says had tremendous strength of character to leave the comforts of his home country and come to Arsenal.

Arshavin is fast becoming a favourite with the Arsenal faithful, being involved in every forward attack, and starred in the 4-0 demolition of Blackburn over the weekend.

Wenger said: "There was no question about him playing in the second half. He is not a soft boy at all. He is never in the medical room, he is not that type. He is tough.

"He works hard too. In fact I am quite surprised how hard he works. I think he is a man of challenges. To leave St Petersburg - where he was the star - and go to England at the age of 27, saying 'I want to start it all again' you need to have character and like challenges. And he does it in a very focused way I must say.

"He has had a real pre-season now. They had stopped in Russia so people saw a guy in the first game who had only had 10 days training.

"You know how you can be after six weeks out. And, most of the time, when you are negotiating a contract you are not really focused on training.

"I like the players who can give you hope in the final third and create something you don't expect. I felt we needed that with the players we have and the type of game we want to play.

"He has won things before. He has experience and we are very, very young. We lost Hleb and Tomas Rosicky hasn't played for 14 months. They were in that age category between 27 and 30. We were a bit short in that area before Arshavin came."

User Comments

Turtas from SPb

Posted on 18 Mar, 2009 at 08:36 PM - Reply

Andrey you are ours PRIDE, I mean Sankt-Petersburg, and Russia !!!! We are very glad for You & Arsenal! I wish for You & your team GREAT SUCCESS!!! Good luck!!!

Max_rus

Posted on 18 Mar, 2009 at 06:37 PM - Reply

Go Shava, go! (Shava = thats the way we call Arshavin in Saint-Petersburg)

Dmitry_32Rus

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 08:07 PM - Reply

Arshavin - great man! But he need Zenit :)

Arsenal-Russia

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 11:27 AM - Reply

In next season Arshavin will be the best player of the world.

sulazu

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 09:50 AM - Reply

I don't know why it took Wenger so long to realise he is missing an experience player in Arshavin's age category having sold Hleb & lost Rosicky to injury. There is no doubt about Arshavin's quality & him settling down real quick. Like Sagna & Nasri, Arshavin had know problems with adaptation. This is simply because class is permanent.

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