Wenger calls on the struggling Gunners players to bring the supporters back on side with a battling end-of-season run

ARSENE WENGER has urged his Arsenal stars to put the club’s turmoil aside and win back fans after last week’s surrender at Crystal Palace.

The Gunners go to Middlesbrough tonight, seventh in the table and 10 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, with only two games in hand.

Supporters remain angry that Wenger is set to pen a new twoyear deal, having presided over the club’s backward momentum.

Star forward Alexis Sanchez is likely to quit this summer with just a year left on his contract.

Fans vented their fury at Selhurst Park, calling for Wenger to go and rounding on the players.

The Arsenal boss has responded by calling on his stars to man up and make amends at the Riverside.

Wenger said: “The fans want to be behind the team, and the way we respond on the football pitch will decide the attitude of the fans.

“The fans love the club. It’s a good period to be united and not divided. Historically, Arsenal has been about that.”

Theo Walcott, captain on the night in south London, was criticised for his admission that the Palace players showed more desire in their 3-0 win.

Defender Hector Bellerin was slammed by the travelling supporters as he tried to applaud them afterwards.

Wenger defended the Spanish right-back – who suffered an ankle injury earlier this season – and urged fans to show unity through one of the toughest periods of his 21-year reign at the club.

He said: “One of our values is to be together. There’s no better period of the season than to show it now. Hector is a guy who is genuinely Arsenal and wants to do well. He is ready to play with pain. He has not come back to his usual level since he has been injured.

“I think (he has been feeling the ankle) for a while, yes. It has completely healed. There has been no surgery as he is completely clear.

“But you get into bad habits, and you forget that your job first is to defend and win challenges, because you protect yourself a little bit.

“Then you realise you have to come back and now he is trying to focus on what is important, to defend well, and after that he can give us that bit extra.

“I agree that for a while he was not the Hector Bellerin we saw at the start of the season.”

Wenger (left with defender Laurent Koscielny) is concerned Bellerin might be called up for this summer’s Under-21 European Championship with Spain, and admits he would be powerless to prevent the 22-year-old going.

He added: “It’s not ideal after a long season. He should have a rest and prepare for next season.

“The Spanish players love to play for their country, and I think he will go.”