Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Wenger: Arsenal are tired
ARSENE Wenger complained that Arsenal’s busy fixture schedule was causing their slump as criticism of the Frenchman intensified.
Arsenal’s top-four Premier League hopes are all but over after a 2-1 loss to Brighton, with the Gunners now 13 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham.
Wenger’s explanation may not wash with many Arsenal fans, plenty of whom have long been calling for his departure.
Those shouts will intensify on the back of another damp defeat, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a consolation after Lewis Dunk and Glenn Murray had put Brighton in control.
Arsenal have now lost eight of their last 13 games across all competitions since the turn of the year, with speculation about Wenger’s future now rife.
Thierry Henry refused to call on his former Gunners boss to quit but, when asked whether he would want the job should it become available, the Belgium assistant manager said: “Listen, I’m a competitor, you don’t back down from a challenge.
“We are hypothetically speaking before people jump ahead of everything. I have never backed down from a challenge since I was young.”
Arsenal’s record goalscorer added: “If you love a place and they ask — I repeat, they ask – for help, you are always going to say yes.”
For his part, Wenger says his players are suffering physically.
“We lacked a bit of sharpness and freshness physically, to make the difference,” he said.
“At the moment, we play too many games and are charged negatively on top of that because we lose them.”