Wenger: We’re a new team

ARSENE WENGER insists that some selfreflection and good oldfashioned home truths has led to the six-match unbeaten run which Arsenal have strung together since the debacle of losing 4-0 at Anfield.

Arsenal were humiliated by Liverpool at the end of August, with Wenger blaming the result on the unsettling effect of the transfer window, and that defeat followed a 1-0 reverse at Stoke.

Since then Arsenal have won two Premier League games, drawn impressively at Chelsea, won twice in the Europa League and won in the League Cup. They take on Brighton today, a chance to make up more ground on the top four.

The defeat to Liverpool preceded an international break, meaning that the players had two weeks away before they could put things right and Wenger (below) said that the squad knew they had to improve. ‘We realised what we produced was not good enough,’ he said. ‘But that game [against Liverpool] was a special day for us as well, it was just before the transfer window closed and before an international break and overall we stayed united and responded on the pitch. For me the weight of the transfer market was much heavier than the international break. It was a very difficult international break as well because you have two weeks to think about everything that happened.

‘It feels like a different team [now]. You see the way we play football. You need to have a united group to do that. The opportunity we have is to go into this international break differently.’

And Wenger says he and his team remain energised for the challenge of closing the gap on Manchester City and Manchester United. ‘Mentally I am very fresh,’ he insisted. ‘I focus on the next game. I love football and the way we want to play football so I am always motivated by that.’