Wednesday 21 September 2016 07:35, UK
Arsene Wenger was delighted with the performance of striker Lucas Perez after the Spaniard scored his first Arsenal goals in the 4-0 EFL Cup victory at Nottingham Forest.
Granit Xhaka gave Arsenal the lead in the first half but it was Lucas, who joined from Deportivo la Coruna for a reported fee of £17.1m, who made the EFL Cup third-round tie safe with a second-half double.
The 27-year-old scored from the penalty spot in the 60th minute before showing great strength and determination to add his second 11 minutes later.
Perez also had a hand in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's fourth goal and Wenger was delighted with his new striker's showing at the City Ground.
"He has shown what I expected from him," Wenger told Sky Sports.
"He has shown he works hard for the team and he can score goals but he has shown he can also be a team player, especially for the fourth goal that Oxlade-Chamberlain scored. He played a big part in that.
"I'm very pleased with the effort he put in and with the quality he showed."
Wenger was also delighted with another new signing in Xhaka, who scored his second goal in as many games.
The Switzerland international scored a superb long-range strike in the Gunners' 4-1 win at Hull last weekend and he repeated the trick against Forest.
And when asked if he knew about Xhaka's goalscoring ability, Wenger said: "Honestly, not really. I knew he had a good shot but he played very deep last year and didn't get forward a lot.
"I hope that will give him a taste for more but it's great for him to get confidence as well and to know that he can score goals."
On the performances of both Perez and Xhaka, Wenger said: "They have shown they have the quality to play for Arsenal.
"That's never easy because the demands are very high on the players.
"I hope they've convinced our supporters and everybody that loves our club that they can be part of us."
Former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, making his first start for Forest against the club with whom he spent nine years, almost scored his first Forest goal by flashing a fierce right-footed shot narrowly wide of the far post from the left edge of the penalty area.
The Dane also set up Pajtim Kasami early on as a good chance to take the lead went begging.
Asked about Bendtner's display, Forest boss Philippe Montanier said: "Like the team he started very well at the beginning and then after it was very difficult for him because Arsenal had the ball and he did not have a lot of opportunity to play.
"But physically I am surprised he is so fit because he had not a big pre-season with Copenhagen.
"It was a good experience not only for Nicklas but for all the players because Arsenal have great technique, better than us, and it was difficult for us but my players, they gave everything."
