Following our 2-0 win over Southampton on Wednesday night, Arsène Wenger spoke to the media.
Having won by the same scoreline against Manchester United on Sunday, Wenger was quizzed on a number of topics including just how important securing all three points was on this occasion for Arsenal’s top-four hopes.
Despite a relatively slow and measured start to proceedings at St. Mary’s, second-half goals from Alexis Sánchez and Olivier Giroud helped the Gunners to a much-needed victory.
Wenger stressed the importance of continuing Arsenal’s winning form. As quoted by the club’s official website he said, “We had to [win], because the play started at a strong pace and the first half was quite even but we were focused, determined, maintained the pace and in the second half we found space to create chances and finish the game off, I believe overall, in a convincing way.”
Having lost to Spurs on April 30, it’s the side’s only loss since changing to a three-at-the-back formation in mid-April. Wenger said he felt the team is now more ‘stable defensively’ with players’ morale levels gradually increasing – it has translated on the pitch too.
“Yes, I felt that you should look at the performances. You couldn’t be disappointed from the goalkeeper [Petr Cech] to Danny Welbeck, everybody played well,” Wenger continued.
Despite this important result, the pressure is very much on Arsenal to continue winning between now and the end of the season. Matches against Stoke, Sunderland and Everton are set to appear in quick succession between now and the FA Cup final clash with champions-elect Chelsea on May 27.
When questioned about pressure during this run-in, Wenger said: “I don’t know. But we know that we can only win our games and we had a strong performance on Sunday, we had a strong performance today. So let’s just continue.”
Having always been in the top four positions since he began at Arsenal, he was also asked about the significance that experience can have on chasing the club’s rivals.
“Experience can help, but I believe that for us it’s a big point to maintain the focus and the intensity in every single game because we play Saturday again at Stoke. We need to have a strong performance there. We came to a difficult ground today and we go to another difficult ground on Saturday.”
Wenger himself has been under scrutiny in recent months and with his current contract set to expire this summer, was asked about whether gatecrashing the top four now would be one of his biggest achievements at the club.
Unsurprisingly he replied by saying, “I don’t know. I let people talk and I do my job.”
One thing is for sure though. Arsenal cannot afford to drop any more points if they are to have a chance of an unlikely top-four finish this term.