Arsene Wenger was delighted to see former captain William Gallas grab the winner in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth.
Gunners boss delighted for former skipper
Arsene Wenger was delighted to see former captain William Gallas grab the winner in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth.
Gallas was on hand to head home the crucial goal after 81 minutes after the Gunners ground out a narrow victory.
Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy after comments in his controversial autobiography and there has been speculation the French defender may move on in January.
But Wenger insists he does not want to sell any players in the transfer window and praised the controversial defender for his contribution against Pompey.
Strength
The Arsenal boss said: "He (Gallas) answered everybody by his performance on the pitch and that's what you do when you are a great player. He started as a striker and looks most likely to score at set-pieces. He has good timing to attack the ball."
The Arsenal manager also believes his injury-hit side have received more unfair flak than any Gunners team he has managed.
He said: "The team are maturing and have shown great mental strength in the past few weeks.
"No team since I have been here have got as bad publicity and I don't think it is fair because they have got great character."
Wenger also admitted a win was crucial after conceding so late in the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Friday.
"We knew three points were important and we showed maturity not to make a mistake at the back and that we got a goal as well.
"It was a big three points for us because we gave a lot physically at Villa who got an equaliser in the last second."
