‘Eight wins and we have a chance’

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal will have “more than a chance” of claiming the title if they win their remaining eight games.

The Gunners trail Leicester City by 11 points - with one game in hand - but they can exert some pressure on the leaders and second-placed Tottenham with a win against Watford on Saturday.

Leicester need to lose three of their remaining fixtures for Arsenal to have any hope of the Premier League crown, but Wenger is not giving up.

“If we win all the eight games, we have more than a chance to win the league, but our target is to win the games,” he said. “Let’s start to be pragmatic, and win the next one which is [on Saturday].

“It depends on the results of Leicester City,” he went on. “We are depending on Leicester City and nobody knows how they will go in the last seven games. They have seven games, we have eight. What is important is that we play our eight games with complete commitment and passion, and see where we finish.

“Everyone says Leicester City is a team who have overachieved but now you see all their players go to play with their international teams and they are the best players in their national team. It is no coincidence that when a team does well, they have good players.

“The stress becomes bigger but Leicester are in a very strong position at the moment. They can still lose it. The only way we can achieve that is with us performing.”

Leicester were 5,000/1 for the title with some bookmakers at the start of the season, while Spurs were a 150/1 shot. This has been the most unpredictable Premier League campaign but Wenger does not think it’s a one-off.

“It could be more of a norm because all the English clubs will have a fantastic financial potential to buy the best players in Europe,” he said.

“Let’s not forget that at the moment we have 17 teams behind us who all have big potential. So let’s focus on doing well until the end of the season by giving our absolute best.”