Wenger praises 'balanced' team

Wenger: Pleased with win

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the mix of youth and experience in his team after the 2-1 win over Liverpool.

The Gunners progress into the fourth round of the Carling Cup after the victory at the Emirates Stadium in what was an extremely entertaining game, with both sides playing attractive football.

Fran Merida opened his Arsenal account with an excellent strike which flew in off the post before Emiliano Insua equalised with an outstanding half-volley from way out which looped over the helpless Lukasz Fabianski.

Nicklas Bendtner sealed the win after he completed a lovely flowing move by smashing the ball into the roof of the net, and Wenger believes the mix of youngsters and older players was the key to victory.

"When you have the right mixture between experience and youth, you can not only play with young players against a team with the quality of Liverpool and overall I am very pleased," he told Sky Sports.

"I believe that the experience of the two centre-backs was important at vital moments of the game and of course going forward we had some good players as well up front and that made a difference.

"The quality of the game was outstanding. I believe the technical quality, the speed of the passing, both teams played very well.

"In the end there was very little between the two teams and of course we got the 2-1 and from then on we looked dangerous and we looked dangerous always and they did as well. But it was a very good game.

"But overall I believe that the team played in the way we want to play football and you could see that the style of play is respected and the quality was there."

Samir Nasri played 90 minutes for Arsenal after a spell on the sidelines with injury, and although he had an excellent game, Wenger conceded that he is likely to miss out on the Spurs game at the weekend.

"We'll see how he responds to the game tonight, he might be a little bit short for such a long time not having played but he gave a lot tonight," the Arsenal boss added.