WENGER’S BELIEF

back each time. “Again we have shown the mental strength to come back and win the game,” the Frenchman said.

“I’m convinced that we have proved people wrong at Everton, Norwich and today – and that it can only make the team stronger.”

The Gunners are now level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea and Wenger added: “We started from deep but have recovered and I think there is more to come from us.”

Watford chief Marco Silva was left bemused by his side’s sluggish performance as they slumped 1-0 at home to Stoke.

“In the first half we gave 45 minutes to our opponents. [We were] too slow and not in our normal image,” Silva said

“We gave one gift, the goal. In that moment we lost our focus and they scored a good goal. The second half was mostly our team, they played with 10 men behind the ball.

“It is normal when a team is in that position in the table.

“We created some chances to change the score, but didn’t. We tried until the end.

“We needed to do something different and in the first half we didn’t do that.”