Gunners must ‘fight like mad’ to clinch top-four spot

LONDON: Arsenal will need to show consistency in their final seven Premier League matches if they are to qualify for next season’s Champions League, manager Arsene Wenger has said.

The North London club have seven games to go, are seventh in the league and seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, who have played one more game than them.

“We have to fight like mad to win our games,” the Frenchman told a news conference before they host 15th-placed Leicester City in the league tomorrow night.

Wenger has led his side to a top-four finish every season since joining the club in 1996.

“The door is open but it demands a consistency from us,” Wenger said.

“It is still possible, but we need a near perfect run-in. We need to keep the level of desire and hunger for every game of the season.”

The British media reported on Monday that French club Olympique de Marseille are looking to sign Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud at the end of the season.

Wenger, however, said he had heard no such thing and the 30-year-old France international signed a contract in January which keeps him at the Emirates until 2020.

“I have had no approach from Marseille, and we want to keep Olivier Giroud at the club.”

The 67-year-old Wenger, whose own contract expires at the end of the season, gave no updates on his future but said he was evaluating transfer targets for Arsenal’s next campaign.

“Yes, of course. I work until the last day of the season for the present and the future.

“What happens with me is a bit secondary, what is important is the future of the club,” said Wenger.

Following the Leicester encounter, Arsenal travel on Sunday to their north London rivals, second-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

Leicester should be able to hold on to their key players as they prepare for the upcoming season without European football, rather than just selling them off, manager Craig Shakespeare has said.

Reigning Premier League champions Leicester were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Atletico Madrid last week and are currently 15th in the Premier League.

Shakespeare has led Leicester to five league victories in their last seven games, moving the club six points clear of the relegation zone. – Reuters