PREMIER LEAGUE FAITH, HOPE & CHARITY
Holy trinity that could save Arsenal’s season
ARSENE WENGER has ordered his players not to give up hope of a Champions League finish and told them: Anything can happen on the final day of the season. Arsenal go into today’s game against Everton fifth in the Premier League and facing up to the prospect of missing out on Europe’s top knockout competition for the first time in 21 years. Crucially, though, they are j ust one point behind fourth-placed Liverpool and, while few expect Jurgen Klopp’s men to slip up against relegated Middlesbrough, Wenger knows it ain’t over till it’s over. Back at the end of the 2005- 06 season, Tottenham needed just to match the result recorded by Wenger’s Arsenal to beat them to a top-four finish. But when several Spurs first- teamers suffered food poisoning from a dodgy lasagne they lost to West Ham and the Gunners’ 4- 2 victory over Wigan meant they pipped them in the race for the Champions League. Wenger also recalled Sergio Aguero’s last-minute, title-winning goal (above) for Manchester City against QPR on the last day of the season in 2012. The Frenchman said: “It’s unpredictable. Liverpool will certainly be up for it, Middlesbrough will be up for it. “Are Liverpool favourites? Yes. But we drew 0-0 at home against Middlesbrough and it was not easy. “So let us do the job. If it’s not enough, it’s not enough. “But we have to focus on what we think is important to us and for us it’s important to win the game. “Strange things have happened, yes. Manchester City won the championship in the last minute against QPR. So, it can happen. But what we have to do is to win the game first. “What is always very difficult in these kind of games is to keep your focus on what you think is important. “Overall, what is vital is that we keep our focus on what we can influence and not too much on what is happening elsewhere. “We can do 75 points, so let’s do it. Will it be enough or not? I don’t know. If you had to bet, you would say ‘No’. But you never know.”
Impressive
Wenger’s record of qualifying for t he Champions League has been seriously impressive and the financial rewards that go with it have, naturally, been very welcome for the board.
But he insisted that missing out this time won’t be as problematic financially as it would have been in years gone by,
Wenger said “It has not the financial weight that it had before, for sure, because television money has gone up in t he Premier League. Financially you don’t suffer any more.
“I was sitting here during the period when we had to pay the stadium back and the income f rom the Champions League was absolutely vital.
“On the financial point, we are not in trouble. Financially, no, it’s not a disaster.
“It’s more the fact that we want to play in the best competition.”
Meanwhile, Alisher Usmanov won’t give up hope of buying Arsenal despite having a £1billion offer rejected by Stan Kroenke.
Metal magnate Usmanov, who already owns around 30 per cent of the club, made his play to take full control from the club’s American owner last month.
Kroenke, who also owns NFL side Los Angeles Rams, NBA side Denver Nuggets and NHL side Colorado Avalanche, is adamant he does not want to sell his majority share in Arsenal.
But the Uzbek businessman’s offer is parked in the hope the man dubbed ‘Silent Stan’ changes his mind.