I’LL BE A MANAGER NEXT SEASON, SAYS ARSENE

ARSENE WENGER will remain in football management next season — even if he walks away from Arsenal. Sportsmail revealed yesterday that senior figures at the Emirates are convinced Wenger will call time on his 21-year reign at the end of the season. Speculation is intensifying over his future after Arsenal’s 5-1 humiliation in the first leg of the Champions League tie at Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. The Gunners are also ten points behind Chelsea in the Premier League title race. Wenger said: ‘No matter what happens, I will manage next season, whether it’s here or somewhere else. That’s absolutely for sure. On a night like that (in Munich), of course I hate defeat and I hate to lose games. I want to do extremely well for this club and I feel a big responsibility. ‘It is difficult to take, but I have the strength and experience to respond. It all went wrong for us after half-time. I think we looked quite defensively solid in the first half. We lost Laurent Koscielny in the second half and after that we lost our structure and our organisation. ‘We were a bit naive for the goals we conceded. At 3-1, I felt we were mentally affected by the result and much more vulnerable.’ Wenger woke up yesterday to reports that he is set to quit in the summer but declined to offer clarity on those suggestions. At the club’s London Colney training base, however, the Frenchman appeared measured and thoughtful while addressing the media. The Arsenal manager came out swinging, warning fans to be careful what they wish for, launching an impassioned defence of his record in European competitions — despite heading for a seventh consecutive Champions League last-16 exit — and claiming there is no guarantee of success if a new manager comes in. ‘Even if I go, Arsenal will not win every single game in the future,’ said Wenger. ‘If you look at the history of Arsenal, the club had less Champions League games when I arrived than I had in my career already. Since then we have done a few, so I hope in the future we can win this trophy, or Arsenal can win this trophy, but it is not like I arrived and Arsenal had already won the European Cup five times. They played maybe ten games in the history of the club. On the other hand, in the last 20 years in Europe only three clubs have managed to play every year in the Champions league — Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.’ In fact, Arsenal have the second-best streak of qualifying for the tournament, having reached at least the group stages for the last 19 seasons. Only Real Madrid, who have qualified in each of the last 20 seasons, have a superior record.