Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his team's superb performance in the 3-0 win over Manchester United provided the perfect response to their midweek Champions League disappointment.
Wenger and his players came in for strong criticism as they collapsed to a humiliating 3-2 home loss against Olympiacos, but they brought joy to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday by destroying United early in the piece with a thrilling attacking display.
Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil scored within 74 seconds of one another and the former made it six goals in his past three matches by putting a blistering strike into the top corner after 19 minutes.
Wenger was equally impressed by his team's control of the match from that point as a lacklustre United rarely threatened to battle back into contention.
"That's what you want in game of that stature," the Frenchman said. "We started very strong, we decided to press very high and play at a great pace and we did that very well.
"After, in the second half, we decided to be disciplined and control the result and we did that very well.
"So we had two aspects in our game that are pleasing and convincing and it gives a strong answer to all the questions that were raised during the week."
Despite the scrutiny attracted by two error-strewn defeats to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos in the Champions League, Wenger was keen to point towards the domestic consistency that has lifted his team to second in the Premier League table behind Manchester City.
"We won our last Premier League game at Leicester 5-2, we won today 3-0 so in the Premier League we scored eight goals in two games against two big opponents," he said.
"Overall we had a convincing performance – a strong, united response to our disappointment on Tuesday night.
"That shows that our group is united and very strong as well. From goalkeeper to number nine, everybody played very well.
"Everybody was very good and Sanchez was very efficient on top of that."
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