Now or never
Wenger says it’s make or break in match against West Ham
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes today’s match away to London rivals West Ham will prove the acid test of their lingering English Premier League title hopes. The Gunners are third in the table, 11 points behind leaders Leicester and with a game in hand ahead of their trip to face the sixth-placed Hammers at Upton Park. “West Ham is a tough proposal, yes, away from home,” said Wenger, whose side opened the season with a 2-0 home loss to West Ham. “They (have) had a very good campaign ... When you look at the quality of the players they have, individually they have a good mid eld, good strikers and they are solid at the back.”
LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes today’s match away to London rivals West Ham will prove the acid test of their lingering English Premier League title hopes.
The Gunners are currently third in the table, 11 points behind shock leaders Leicester and with a game in hand ahead of their trip to face the sixth-placed Hammers.
Arsenal have seven league games left to play this season and defeat this weekend would all but scupper their chances of overhauling Leicester.
“West Ham is a tough proposal, yes, away from home,” said Wenger, whose side opened the season with a 2-0 home loss to West Ham.
“They (have) had a very good campaign. When you look at the quality of the players they have, individually they have a good midfield, good strikers and they are solid at the back.
“I think the emergence of (Dimitri) Payet has given them a lot of creativity and efficiency. They have (Cheikhou) Kouyate, (Mark) Noble, Payet, (Manuel) Lanzini -they have a strong midfield and good strikers with (Diafra) Sakho.”
Veteran French manager Wenger has been particularly impressed by the form of compatriot Payet, with the Hammers playmaker recalled to the France squad ahead of this year’s European Championship on home soil.
However, the Gunners boss said he opted against signing Payet, who arrived at West Ham from Marseille, because he already had a number of similar players on the books at the Emirates.
“He has always had top talent, even when in periods he has been a bit up and down,” Wenger said. “But he has been very consistent (this season).
“Historically we always had a great number of creative players – we had (Mesut) Ozil, (Santi) Cazorla, (Jack) Wilshere, (Aaron) Ramsey – they are all offensive players and I’ve certainly forgotten a few, so we had the numbers.”
Ramsey (thigh) and fellow midfielder Mathieu Flamini (hamstring) could return against West Ham after injury lay-offs, while Petr Cech could start in goal in place of David Ospina after being an unused substitute in the victory against Watford.
Wenger insists he has not given up hope on the title yet but admits there are lessons to be learnt from Leicester’s dominance at the top of the table.
And if, as expected, Wenger is forced to contemplate another failed bid to deliver the title to the Emirates for the first time since 2004, the manager will point to Leicester’s recruitment strategy as the key to the leaders’ unexpected success.
“What we learn from Leicester is what I knew for a long time, which is that it’s not just only down to the amount of money you spend,” Wenger said.
“It’s down to the quality of players you bring in and sometimes the opportunities are not always necessarily linked with the amount of money.
“If you look well, they finished very strongly last season and on top of that they brought some players in who have given them something more, like N’Golo Kante. He had a huge impact.”
With games running out, Wenger acknowledges Arsenal need to win virtually all their remaining matches to have any chance of a stunning title triumph.
“We know that we need nearly the perfect run and we know as well that we don’t look only in front of us, we look behind us as well,” he added.
“We are chased by a group of teams who can make it very difficult for us so we have just to focus on our performance and hope we finish in a very strong way.
“As long as it’s mathematically possible, there’s a strong possibility we can catch Leicester.” — AFP