Benitez, Simeone and Tuchel lined up should Wenger go
that.’ Wenger confirmed he spent time with Wright in a small group on Thursday at a question-and-answer session for the corporate fans from the Emirates Stadium’s swanky Diamond Club. ‘That’s true,’ the Arsenal boss confirmed, but he dismissed Wright’s comments on BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday, when the former Arsenal striker said the 67-year-old appeared ‘tired’ and ‘winded’ and ‘coming to the end’.
Wenger continued: ‘It was questions and answers in the evening. So there were many people there.
‘But I didn’t give any indication about my future. We had a little dinner before but not the two of us, we were four or five. I could be tired because I get up early in the morning and I finish late at night,’ he quipped.
It has been a long week for Arsenal, which saw back-toback defeats against Watford and Chelsea but they eased the pressure with a win at Hull yesterday.
‘When you lose two games on the trot at Arsenal you face a good storm and there’s only one answer — to win the next game or you face more.’
‘I am at Arsenal for 20 years, I know that. And when you look one day to see if I lost three Premier League games on the trot you will be surprised.’
Wenger talked well, but senior Emirates figures fear he will quit at the end of the season, to bring an end to his extraordinary reign of almost 21 years.
The concern is so great that managers such as Borussia Dortmund’s Thomas Tuchel, Newcastle’s Rafa Benitez and Simeone have been sounded out. Everton’s Ronald Koeman, Barcelona’s Luis Enrique, who could leave the Nou Camp at the end of the season, and Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim may also be consulted.
While there is still hope among some that Wenger will stay, preparations are being made in case he doesn’t. Sources at the club are convinced that if a significant majority of fans at The Emirates turn on him in coming weeks, Wenger will leave at the end of his contract this season.
There is still a two-year contract ready to be agreed but the Champions League tie against Bayern Munich and forthcoming FA Cup fixtures will be crucial in determining whether Wenger feels that he has the support to carry on. Yesterday Alexis Sanchez scored both goals. The first-half opener rebounded into the net off the Chilean’s right hand, prompting referee Mark Clattenburg to later apologise to the Hull players for his mistake, according to full back Andrew Robertson.
The second was a penalty in stoppage-time after Hull’s Sam Clucas had been sent off for handling Lucas Perez’s goal-bound header.
‘I’m sorry for Hull but I feel that we had as well to cope recently with some decisions. There are goals we have conceded — like at Man City — where nobody said it was offside. I am sorry, I want the right decisions to be made,’ Wenger said after the game.