Wenger's not giving up on the title despite 15-point gap

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger refuses to concede defeat in the Premier League title race.

Mauricio Pochettino has ruled Tottenham out of contention, but Wenger will not be doing likewise despite Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Manchester United.

The Gunners, who last won the trophy in 2003-04 and have three more points than rivals Spurs, are 15 points behind leaders Manchester City after five defeats in their first 15 games.

“I am not Pochettino, I am Arsene Wenger,” the Frenchman said.

“I am here to fight as long as I can. As long as mathematically it’s possible you have to fight. You cannot give any other message out.”

Wenger believes the performance in the loss to United, who capitalised on two defensive howlers, has revived belief within his squad.

“I believe from the game, it has to make us angry and even more determined,” Wenger added.

“If I am a player, and I think with what we produced, we have a huge potential, and we lose the game. We cannot accept that.

“That’s what you want, the players have produced a quality performance.

“What makes you angry is that you produce that performance and in the end you have nothing to show for it. That’s very difficult to accept.”

Despite a title bid appearing unlikely for another year, Wenger welcomed the positive reaction of the Emirates Stadium crowd to Arsenal’s performance in a breathless bout.

He added: “The crowd sees as well that the team produced what is expected from them.

“The crowd was outstanding. And the team was outstanding. But, we were not efficient. I cannot deny that. They have scored three, we have scored one.”

Although Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi gifted United goals in the opening 11 minutes, Wenger refused to point fingers, preferring to shoulder the responsibility.

“I am not here to especially blame people,” Wenger added.

“I want Arsenal Football Club to win. When the performance is of that quality, we have to be efficient.

“We are in this job to be efficient, you know. So I blame first myself.”

Source: PA


Published at Sun, 03 Dec 2017 23:24:03 +0000