Relief for Wenger
my age, you can change.” That could have been perceived as a dig at Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, who said Wenger must be a “catalyst for change” if he is going to stay, although Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain insisted it was not just the shape of the backline that altered.
“What we’ve done previously has not been good enough,” he said. “We need to take responsibility for that. We had to go back to the basics and it didn’t matter how we won. That’s by making sure the commitment levels were right. Maybe that had been slipping. That was the first thing we needed.”
Arsenal looked like a team who had lost four away games in a row, their worst run of results on the road for 88 years, and although Aaron Ramsey had a shot cleared off the line, they were well contained by their hosts until a moment of brilliance from Alexis Sánchez.
When Adam Clayton clattered into Granit Xhaka on the edge of the area, it was the ideal position for the Chilean to keep goalkeeper Brad Guzan guessing and the American duly stood, studs glued to the turf, as Sánchez curled a free-kick over the wall and beyond him to his right.
Given Boro had failed to score in six out of their last eight games, Arsenal might have cruised towards their first away win since Jan 14, but Boro were level four minutes into the second half. Sánchez lost the ball to Marten de Roon, who passed it on to Stewart Downing. He advanced, looked up and delivered a cross over Laurent Koscielny, which was stabbed in by Álvaro Negredo.
It lit a fuse and Boro should have taken the lead moments later when Downing benefited from a sliced clearance from Gabriel, but failed to keep his shot down. Arsenal were briefly in disarray and Petr Cech made an excellent save to keep out Daniel Ayala’s header at point-blank range. Agnew’s side needed the win, though. The Ayala miss felt costly and it was as Sánchez chipped a pass to Ramsey, who teed up Mesut Özil to restore Arsenal’s lead.
Ben Gibson had a good chance to snatch an equaliser late on, but the centre-back, who will surely leave his hometown club if they do go down, could not take it.
“I thought the players were amazing in terms of their effort, attitude and commitment,” said Agnew. “We played with an intensity and I couldn’t ask for anymore.
“This is a missed opportunity for us and we realise the size of the task ahead but we are six points behind with a game in hand and a terrific goal difference.” Gareth Bale will miss Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Bayern Munich tonight. The forward has not recovered from a leg-muscle injury. Robert Lewandowski returns for Bayern, who trail 2-1. Barcelona striker Neymar is confident the Catalans can launch another remarkable Champions League comeback as they look to overturn a 3-0 quarter-final deficit against Juventus tomorrow. “We can do it a second time,” he said. “If everything goes well, there will be another comeback. I believe in the team and in our power.” Ellen White scored the winning penalty as Birmingham City Ladies set up an FA Women’s Cup final against Manchester City Women with a tense shootout victory over Chelsea Ladies. The England forward kept her composure to ensure a 4-2 spot-kick success.