Arsenal FC

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• Founded:1886
• Manager:Arsene Wenger

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Bendtner no surprise to Wenger

10 Mar 2010 - 07:44:31

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger claimed he never lost faith in Nicklas Bendtner before his hat-trick heroics in the Champions League.

Bendtner's hat-trick in Tuesday's 5-0 thrashing of FC Porto sent the Gunners through to the last eight of the Champions League via a 6-2 aggregate scoreline.

It marked a dramatic turnaround from Saturday's 3-1 league victory over Burnley when the Denmark striker missed a host of chances in a much-criticised performance.

Wenger kept faith with the 22-year-old for the European tie and was rewarded handsomely.

However, his three-goal performance came as no surprise to the Frenchman.

"It shows you how football can change very quickly," said Wenger.

"Nicklas had not lost the confidence, it remains relatively stable.

"He came back with good focus and the same belief - that is one of his strengths as well."

Speaking about the team display, he added: "We played fluent football with a positive start and the early goals gave us the belief we needed.

"We suffered a bit when we did not control the game at the start of the second half when we were not focused enough.

"Overall, though, we were good to watch and won with style."