Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson has revealed that all the player’s took the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the Premier League season personally.
The Gunners started the 2013/2014 campaign in sloppy fashion as they lost comfortably to Paul Lambert’s men, but they bounced back in superb fashion with a 3-0 win in Turkey against Fenerbache and a 3-1 win against Fulham in the Premier League.
The right-back, who has been featuring regularly because of the injuries at Arsenal, has put in two solid performances for the side and he has also admitted that all the players are feeling a lot more confident after the terrible start.
“Of course,” he said. “When you’re playing for Arsenal, you don’t want to lose any game and you’re not expected to [lose] so to lose the first game at home was very tough on everyone.
“I think everyone took it a bit personally and looked at themselves and thought ‘that isn’t good enough’. We’ve gone out since and I think in the last two games we’ve performed exceptionally.
“Everyone’s lifted their game, which was important, and we’ve got to continue to do that if we’re going to be successful this season.”
He added: “Everyone has done well and everyone has done their job. Defensively we’ve only conceded one goal and we’ve scored six so I think that speaks for itself.
“Of course after the first game, everyone was down and I think it was important that we responded quickly and we did that against Fenerbahce. I think the last couple of games have given everyone that extra confidence that you need. Hopefully we can go on a good, strong run now.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
