Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has likened Gunners full-back Kieran Gibbs to Ashley Cole, claiming that the youngster is "going into second gear" in his career.

Wenger handed Gibbs a chance to cement his place in the first team after Gael Clichy left for Manchester City, and the Frenchman stands by his decision.

"Kieran looks to me that he's going into second gear now and he realises that he can trust his body, he can trust his talent," he is quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner. "I let Gael Clichy go because he was a young, English left-back. That's the main reason I left Clichy go. I wanted to give him a chance.

"He has such a great potential that now if he just lets it go, because he can dribble as well, because when he arrived at the club he was 16 and he was a winger, midfielder, and I saw that potential didn't really come out.

"I saw he was intelligent and maybe I could transform him into a defender. It was a bit similar to Ashley Cole. We try always to show him confidence."

Gibbs is the only English left-back to have played in the Champions League this season.