silentassassin
Face Of The Franchise
Arsene Wenger was pleased that Arsenal swept aside Leyton Orient to aid the healing process from their Carling Cup final heartbreak.
A Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick at Emirates Stadium helped the Gunners to a 5-0 win in their FA Cup replay with Russell Slade's Orient and set up a quarter-final against Premier League title rivals Manchester United.
The comfortable victory not only kept Wenger's side on course for a possible Treble this season, with next week bringing the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg in Barcelona, it also eased some Wembley blues.
Arsenal had suffered a late defeat to Birmingham in last weekend's Carling Cup final, as their six-year trophy drought continued, and so their manager was delighted to return to winning ways.
Wenger said of the demolition of Orient: "It was a good response, we took the game in a serious way. It was good to win the game.
"We are in a fantastic run. On Sunday we lost a game in special circumstances."
The only blemish for Arsenal from the straightforward success over Orient, which was also achieved by goals from Marouane Chamakh and Gael Clichy, was a second-half injury to Tomas Rosicky.
The midfielder took a knock to the head and had to be helped from the field at the Emirates, but Wenger, who is already without the injured Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas, insists the scare is nothing overly serious.
The Frenchman said Rosicky had "a little concussion from an accidental elbow" but he expected the Czech to be "all right".
Wenger also welcomed the goalscoring efforts of Chamakh and Bendtner, especially given Van Persie's absence.
"We cannot afford other injuries and for them to score is a bonus for us as we have so many games," said Arsenal's manager, who will now focus on defeating Sunderland at the weekend.
He added: "It will be interesting until the end of the season.
"Every game now is a cup game - we had one tonight and will have one on Saturday."
A Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick at Emirates Stadium helped the Gunners to a 5-0 win in their FA Cup replay with Russell Slade's Orient and set up a quarter-final against Premier League title rivals Manchester United.
The comfortable victory not only kept Wenger's side on course for a possible Treble this season, with next week bringing the UEFA Champions League last 16 second leg in Barcelona, it also eased some Wembley blues.
Arsenal had suffered a late defeat to Birmingham in last weekend's Carling Cup final, as their six-year trophy drought continued, and so their manager was delighted to return to winning ways.
Wenger said of the demolition of Orient: "It was a good response, we took the game in a serious way. It was good to win the game.
"We are in a fantastic run. On Sunday we lost a game in special circumstances."
The only blemish for Arsenal from the straightforward success over Orient, which was also achieved by goals from Marouane Chamakh and Gael Clichy, was a second-half injury to Tomas Rosicky.
The midfielder took a knock to the head and had to be helped from the field at the Emirates, but Wenger, who is already without the injured Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas, insists the scare is nothing overly serious.
The Frenchman said Rosicky had "a little concussion from an accidental elbow" but he expected the Czech to be "all right".
Wenger also welcomed the goalscoring efforts of Chamakh and Bendtner, especially given Van Persie's absence.
"We cannot afford other injuries and for them to score is a bonus for us as we have so many games," said Arsenal's manager, who will now focus on defeating Sunderland at the weekend.
He added: "It will be interesting until the end of the season.
"Every game now is a cup game - we had one tonight and will have one on Saturday."