News

Wenger - We don't need to be down

Arsène Wenger
Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal have every reason to feel positive ahead of Sunday's big game against Manchester United.

The Gunners suffered a shock defeat in the Champions League in midweek but have been in strong form domestically, winning three of their last four Premier League fixtures.

"I don’t see why we should be absolutely down," said Wenger.

"It was disappointing to lose, but overall every competition is different, you have to go in a different competition in a different state of mind"

Arsene Wenger

"We are on the back of three or four good results in the Premier League. Yes, we had a disappointment in the Champions League, and we have to analyse it well. It was disappointing to lose, but overall every competition is different, you have to go in a different competition in a different state of mind and we have to be inspired by what we did at Leicester.

"If I say now that we are three points behind Man United, playing Man United at home and I don’t believe that we can win the Premier League, what would you [the media] tell me? You will slaughter me."

Wenger is also keen to put right the wrongs of Tuesday night, when Olympiacos inflicted a second straight defeat in Group F.

“It’s worrying because when you accept to take the initiative of the game you also have to accept you can lose the game," he said.

“I don’t explain the fact that we lost the two games in the Champions League by being inferior. We’ve played two teams who accepted our superiority at the start [and played defensively].

“If you play offensive football and you lose, everybody kills you. But if you sit for 10 games with a team which refuses to play then you will fall asleep and everybody says: ‘why don’t you attack?’"

 

Arsene Wenger