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Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wenger laud Welbeck

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hailed Danny Welbeck as a "great player" after he fired Arsenal FC to the win against Galatasaray AŞ, with Arsène Wenger also heaping on praise.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain embraces Danny Welbeck
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain embraces Danny Welbeck ©AFP/Getty Images

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hails hat-trick scorer Danny Welbeck
Wenger also praises Welbeck while Cesare Prandell rues a lack of aggression
Welbeck's first senior hat-trick earned the home side a commanding win
The match marks Arsène Wenger's 18th anniversary as Arsenal manager
Next games: Anderlecht v Arsenal, Galatasaray v Dortmund (22 October)

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal midfielder
It was really nice to get out there and play some of the football we did and obviously to go 4-0 up was a really nice feeling. I felt the boys were playing some good football, the crowd were behind us and more importantly it feels good to get the points.

It's nice to see 'Welbs' do so well tonight. Danny is a great player and he has shown it for many years at Manchester United. I knew when he came to this club, the way we like to play football and try and find through balls, with his pace and his intelligent runs we'll find a lot of him. The boys did that tonight and I was glad to help assist him for his last goal. Tonight was all about him, he did really well for us on and off the ball. I try and create goals so I am happy I was able to help him.

It's really good [for Wenger to mark 18 years]. Obviously we know how much the boss has given this club, given numerous players over the years and the fans and the back-room staff as well. He has been absolutely unbelievable for me and everyone I have seen play with me as well. It is really nice to see him get to this milestone and hopefully he has got many more years to come – we all really love working with him. It was important to get three points tonight and obviously he will have been really happy with that.

Oxlade-Chamberlain lauds Welbeck display

We're looking forward to [playing Anderlecht]. We're going to go there and we know we need to back this performance up. We knew after the Dortmund game that we weren't good enough that night so we knew we had to come out tonight and put things right. It is important we don't take our foot off the gas now. We need to go to Anderlecht and hopefully get another three points.

Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
[Welbeck] was on the end of good movement tonight. We had good pace in our game, our transition was good, and Danny was at the end of many collective movements. It's nice to see he is gaining potential and hopefully this hat-trick will help him gain confidence.

It always helps that you have the confidence to play in the next game. What is good for me is that his work rate is good, his link play is also very good and his attitude is always very positive. He is not only a finisher, he is a team player.

He is a good finisher. I believe that technically he is very sound. It was a surprise that he was technically very clean and he's a good passer of the ball. I didn't know he was so quick, honestly – I knew he was quick but he has such great pace.

You never know how difficult it is going to be. I felt we had a good start and we controlled the pace of the game. We lost control at 4-1 because we lost our goalkeeper. When they were allowed to play you could see the quality they had and maybe the pace at the beginning of the game was a problem for them.

I believe our game in Turkey will be much more difficult as there is a lot of talent in the team.

Cesare Prandelli, Galatastaray coach
Before the match we explained that [Selçuk İnan] had a few problems. He had a fever and it was a risk to play him so we decided not to.

I had to make some decisions and the main thing is that we tried to pick quality in the middle and at the back. It is my responsibility – it is a new system and the players are trying to do what I asked of them. Unfortunately tonight it was not enough of a performance. Arsenal played wider than we thought and Felipe Melo had to play one against one on many occasions. In the second half we changed our system.

Dzemaili: Galatasaray 'have to improve'

We should have played more aggressively. The Champions League is a big tournament and we should come ready. We made a lot of mistakes and we did not represent our quality tonight. It is important for us to understand where we made mistakes and where we can develop – it is up to us to correct it.

We will find a system that our players believe in and that will allow us to play a lot more compactly. It will take time but we will do this. We have to believe before anything else. I am hoping that everybody will help us along but I have to make sure that I make the players believe and explain to them how they should play. I believe we have a very good team and we need to put our character onto the pitch. 

Blerim Dzemaili, Galatasaray midfielder
It was not a good game. The thing is, we let them play too easily in the first half. If you let Arsenal play like this you get a lot of goals. They got a lot of chances and they scored three goals in the first half. We have to improve from these mistakes. If you go 1-0 down against Arsenal here, it is always difficult but the team showed character in the second half.

We played good football and we had a lot of chances to score. We have to improve from this and go on from the second half as we played a great second half. Now it is important for us to have some good games in the league, then we can do better against Dortmund.