Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that the fight for a top four finish in the Premier League will go down to the last minute. The manager urges the top side’s adversaries to put on a good display … just like Sunderland did.
There is only one week left to go in the Premier League. And there are only two points that separate the three Champions League hopefuls. Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool all won their games fairly easily. Arsenal won 2-0 against lowly Sunderland with a brace from striker Alexis Sanchez.
Arsene Wenger thinks Sunderland did a good job and felt like congratulating them. The manager used the team as a model for dedication. He urged his rivals’ opponents to fight as hard as Sunderland did. “What you want is for everybody to fight like Sunderland did tonight. Then you accept your result, that’s it. You have to give Sunderland credit, they tackled for every ball, didn’t try to waste time at 0-0, and they had fight.”
Of course, Arsenal need to have either Liverpool or City not win their last game. However, it is remarkable in some sense how Wenger’s team turned their game around. Using a new formation the team has been quite successful and could meet their usual objective of offering fans a Champions League qualification. This was not something many fans of the Gunners expected two months ago.
Some fans may still be angry with Wenger. There have been many voices asking for the manager to step down. This was especially true at the lowest point in Arsenal’s season. It looks like the team may have transcended this and be back on track. Wenger will end his 20th season in charge of the team and his 17th in which the team earns more than 70 points in the season. Huge transfers are promised for next season and it is most likely the Frenchman will continue to be in charge of the team.
Speaking about the high number of empty seats, Arsene Wenger had this to say. “When you play football you want to play ideally with a packed stadium, but we are quite spoilt with that overall. It’s a Tuesday night maybe, people think Sunderland is an easy game, so there were less people.”
Alexis Sanchez scored the team’s two goals. It is difficult at this point imagining the current Arsenal squad without him. The player is expected to enter new contract negotiations with the club at the end of the season.
Wenger had this to say about Sanchez’s performance against Sunderland. “Sanchez was maybe not completely 100 per cent tonight but he dug deep. I want to give credit also to the players who gave him the ball, Mesut [Ozil] and [Olivier] Giroud, and a good ball from [Granit] Xhaka to Ozil. He just had to tap it in but he knows where to be and that’s not easy.“
