‘We’re under pressure to deliver a big result’

Wednesday night’s clash against Chelsea will be the 60th time that Arsene Wenger has faced the Blues - and he believes the two teams could be closer than ever.

We are unbeaten in our last three games against our London rivals, but the Arsenal manager admits that his side are under pressure to win after their 1-1 draw at West Brom on New Year’s Eve.

This is what he told the media in his pre-match press conference:

on the significance of Wednesday’s game…

The gap is not big at the moment. We know that our home form will be absolutely vital and we just come home from West Brom frustrated because we lost two points. We know it puts us under even more pressure to deliver a big result tomorrow.

on if this is as close as it’s been between Arsenal and Chelsea since he joined…

Yes, it looks like it in the last two years. We’ve played Chelsea many times and the results were always tight, apart from at home last year, we beat them 3-0. We’ve played them many times and they were always big battles. Chelsea are coming back into good form. They’ve been consistent recently so it’s a big challenge for us tomorrow.

on how difficult it will be to face Chelsea three times in a month…

You worry about the next one and then you deal with the rest after. In football, there’s only one thing and that’s the next game. We just have to put the disappointment we had at West Brom behind us and then deal with the challenge against Chelsea.

on why Arsenal can’t play more consistently against Chelsea…

You’re a bit harsh with us because we made 75 points last year and you need some consistency to do that, and we won the FA Cup against a strong team. Just to get to the final of the FA Cup, you need to be consistent. I believe that the Premier League is very even and very difficult for everybody. The target in 2018 is to win every single game, and the next one is Chelsea.