วันอาทิตย์ที่ 4 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2553

Premier League:Wenger sees 'spirit of champions'


Arsene Wenger maintains that his Arsenal side have the "spirit of champions" in both body and mind.

This after his young Gunners kept their Barclays Premier League title bid alive with a dramatic stoppage-time victory over 10-man Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.

Nicklas Bendtner's header deep into the five extra minutes proved the perfect tonic for Wenger's battle-weary squad ahead of the trip to Barcelona and the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

With Chelsea beating Manchester United earlier in the day to return to the top of the table, Wenger accepted Arsenal's hopes would have been finished had they not picked up maximum points against Wolves.

Despite dominating the game for large spells - much as Barcelona had done last Wednesday night - Arsenal, who made seven changes, failed to convert a string of chances.

Wenger's youngsters, however, do not know when they are beaten, and finally made the breakthrough when Bendtner powered home a deep cross from Bacary Sagna as Wolves' brave resistance was ended, the visitors having seen captain Karl Henry shown a straight red card in the 64th minute after clattering into Tomas Rosicky.

"It is the tenacity and the mental strength these players have in them - that is why I want them so much to be successful because I feel they have, in their bodies and in their heads, the spirit of champions," Wenger declared.

"Maybe we take advantage of the technical superiority we have and the fatigue of our opponents, but it is not as easy to continue to go no matter what happens.

"We have been 11 points behind, been written off by everybody and been dominated by Barcelona. To come back and not lose, you need something special."

Wenger feels Arsenal will have to win all of their remaining five games to stand a chance of lifting the trophy as the top three battle for supremacy.

"You can't say you give up if Chelsea have to go to Liverpool, and to Tottenham. Anything can happen," the Gunners boss said.

"If Manchester United want to give up, we have no problem with it - but I don't think they will."

Arsenal will check on the fitness of midfielder Alex Song (groin) ahead of the trip to Spain, and also whether veteran centre-back Sol Campbell can handle another big game with such a short recovery time.

Rosicky escaped serious injury when being caught from behind by Henry's lunge in the centre circle.

Wenger accepts his players may have somewhat over-reacted before Andre Marriner showed a red card, but believes given the double leg break suffered by team-mate Aaron Ramsey at Stoke, it is perhaps understandable.

"They were surrounding the referee, but with what happened to us it is still a trauma in the team," he said.

"Sometimes when you go into the tackles, the players have a hesitation to go in there."

Wenger added: "We have to be careful with surrounding the referee, we do not want that, but the referee has to make the decisions."

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy defended his skipper, whom he clapped off - which did not go down well with the Arsenal fans.

"I don't think it was a sending-off and the replays prove that. Karl has got the ball," he said.

"I felt bad for Karl, I ushered him off and congratulated him on his performance.

"The fans may have thought I was congratulating him on kicking one of their players, but I don't advocate that. I don't ask anyone to kick anyone."

McCarthy quipped: "I became the pantomime villain. Is that not part of the Premier League? They have won and they boo me off, probably because my team actually gave them a fright."

Wolves have put some daylight between the relegation zone following a four-match unbeaten run.

McCarthy feels his side can take great credit from their performance against one of the Premier League's big guns.

He said: "I will tell you how far we have come - there were seven of my 'reserves' who played against Manchester United and they have got beat 1-0 in the 94th minute, so if nothing else my reserve team has picked up."

McCarthy added: "If Arsenal had scored one of their many chances in the first half then I would have taken it on the chin, but the way it has happened, when we were down to 10 men and were knackered, I don't see it like that."

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