Arsene Wenger Pleased With Lucas Perez's Brace In EFL Cup Win Despite One Criticism

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Arsene Wenger praised Lucas Perez for his display in Tuesday’s EFL Cup win over Nottingham Forest – but believes the Arsenal striker uses his left foot too much, 90min reports.

The Gunners boss singled out Perez in the wake of the 4-0 third round triumph away to the Championship side. The summer recruit bagged his first Arsenal goals – the first a penalty, the second a jinking run and cool finish – either side of Granit Xhaka’s thunderous effort and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s late strike.

Wenger, however, tempered his eulogising of the 28-year-old by stating that Perez needed to stop being over-reliant on his favoured left foot.

He said:

“He (Perez) did well. He’s quick, he’s determined. He uses well his left foot – a bit too much in my taste. He doesn’t use his right enough. Overall he’s like all the left-footed players, you know.”

Wenger continued:

“But I like his second goal because he has shown not only technique but determination and fight for the ball and finishing and I like that. The part he played in the goal of Oxlade-Chamberlain shows his awareness of other people and it is intelligent play.

”But the most important thing for me is that we win the game. Who scores is not so important but for the player individually it’s good because he can convince people he can play for us. It will help himself as well to grow in belief.”

The Frenchman added that he had warned his charges about exiting the cup competition earlier than what is expected of them, and was pleased with the response that he was given.

He said:

“I told the players that; that last year, in the first round of this cup we won at Tottenham and after we went to Sheffield Wednesday and lost 3-0 because we were not ready mentally for the commitment of the Championship.

“The game was tough. It was played at a good pace. Nottingham Forest played with full commitment.”

Wenger continued:

“We needed to be patient and maybe as well, not to concede a goal. Overall, I felt that technically we played well. Our combinations worked well and we played at a high pace. That’s what made the difference in the game.”