Interview

'Our experience has to help us to stay together'

It has certainly been a difficult week for Arsene Wenger, his players and everyone connected with Arsenal.

Successive defeats to Manchester City have dented confidence, but the boss says the team must show their fighting spirit at Brighton on Sunday.

"[Our past two results] have taken out confidence and brought big disappointment," Wenger said. "In football, as I said yesterday, you lose confidence very quickly and you regain it very slowly.

"You have to always show that kind of strength not to give in. In organisations when big kinds of disappointments come, they divide and they split. Our experience has to help us to stay together and focus on the next games.

"Of course [we have a point to prove] - you quickly want to gain confidence back, because we play at Brighton and after that, we play straight away in the Europa League. They are difficult games and you want to respond as quickly as possible."

Our form on the road has been problematic this season, and Wenger admits he is worried about it.

"I’m concerned because traditionally it was our strong point, away from home," he said. "This season, we have not produced the results that we usually produce.

"It is a concern, of course, but we are in a position where we don’t have to think too much - we have just on the day to turn up and win the game."