The bigger picture

> Wenger insists Arsenal’s future will not be decided by a bad two weeks

ARSENE WENGER says his Arsenal future will be decided by the “bigger picture”, rather than a bad two weeks, as the 67-year-old revealed he still hasn’t made up his mind on whether to sign a two-year contract extension.

Doubt over whether the Emirates manager will stay has only grown in what has been a dismal spring spell, that has seen Arsenal lose 5-1 to Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 first leg and left them with a near-impossible task for Tuesday’s return in London.

Wenger, however, had stressed on the eve of the game that he deserves the time to make a decision given how he has “built up” the club.

Pressed on whether he has “boxed himself into a corner” due to maybe needing the right spell of form to announce he is staying if he did decide that, Wenger responded: “Well I guess to take a bigger picture, you know.

“It’s like, you do not make this kind of decision focusing on one result or two bad results. You have to take a bigger picture and see can you take this club to the next level, take yourself to the next level, are you ready to pay the price for that but as well this decision is not necessarily linked with two weeks out of 20 years you know so that’s basically… I don’t feel I box myself in a corner.”

Wenger accepted that this had been a tough time, but argued that some of it is a matter of perspective, in what appeared a slightly cheeky dig at clubs who have not reached the last 16 of the Champions League. The most obvious of those, of course, is Tottenham Hotspur.

“Yeah, everything is a negative at the moment, basically the teams that have gone