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'Anfield defeat gives us even greater motivation'

Arsene Wenger believes our the disappointing performance at Anfield before the international break has fuelled a fire in our players.

Following a pair of encouraging results against Bournemouth and Cologne, the boss is confident we will deliver a strong performance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

on whether the poor performance at Anfield puts more onus on Sunday’s game…

Of course. I believe that we had a bad performance at Liverpool, which I have never denied. That should be an even greater motivation for us to turn up with a quality performance on Sunday.

on just how important it is to get a result away at a top-four rival…

It is important, of course it’s very important. I believe that nobody would deny that and that if you look a bit at the league you know the positions in the top four will of course be decided by the quality of the results you make against your direct opponents.

on how important it’d be for confidence to get a result at Stamford Bridge…

Yes, of course. I believe that it was important for us to win, it was important for us to win against Bournemouth because we had two results that were very disappointing. So it was important that when we go into the big games like that, that you know that you can win.

on whether there was an inferiority complex with Chelsea until our recent three wins...

Personally I don’t think so, no. 

on whether the players are focused…

We do not look backwards too much. We know that we have analysed that well and we know what we missed [at Anfield] and it’s important that we correct it. I believe that basically it’s focus on our performance and give 100 per cent commitment.

on whether he feels his side lack confidence away to top four teams…

No. Look, if you look at my record you will see that I played two years in England, in the Premier League, without losing games away from home. Last year, until we lost at Everton, we had not lost away for the whole year. So after that, we lost at Man City after Everton, that’s true. It gave us a little bit of a problem of confidence away from home, but I don’t really believe in that. I believe the pitch is 105m long and 68m wide everywhere. Never in my life could I accept or understand that it is different away from home. It’s just a question of how much you want it. No matter where you play, it’s about football and so it’s as well a good opportunity to show that we have that quality.

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