Thursday 24 September 2015 01:45, UK
Arsene Wenger heaped praise on Mathieu Flamini after his two goals against Tottenham sent Arsenal into the Capital One Cup fourth round.
Flamini almost left the Gunners in the summer and his manager expressed his delight that the Frenchman chose to stay and fight for his place after firing his side to a 2-1 win at White Hart Lane.
Wenger said: "I told him it might be difficult to be a starter this season, but he decided to stay and fight.
"I thought to keep him but he's at an age when you always consider a sale. It's important at his age to stay focused and sometimes it's better to let them go.
"But Mathieu is a fighter and a winner and I'm happy for him. He's certainly been frustrated for a long time but he went for it today and scored two good goals, specially the second one - it was a great goal.
"I brought him in because I wanted to rotate the team and wanted to strengthen the defensive midfield a little. Flamini and Mikel Arteta together gave us some guarantees there.
"Mathieu has worked very hard recently in training. He was focused."
The 31-year-old Flamini, in his second spell at the Gunners, pounced in the box for his opener in the first half before volleying home the winner with 12 minutes left after Calum Chambers had equalised for Spurs with an own goal.
Wenger said: "We responded well to the challenge we faced, mentally and physically, and we were unlucky to score an own goal.
"But afterwards we found resources to score a second. Tottenham gave us some scares around 70 minutes but then they dropped a little but in intensity, and we created an opportunities."
