We Are Still In Title Chase: Wenger

Sun 30 Mar, 01:09 PM
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists his young side have proved they have the mental toughness to remain Barclays Premier League title challengers.
The Frenchman witnessed that resolve on Saturday as they came from 2-0 down, having had Abou Diaby sent off, to win 3-2 with virtually the last kick of the match.
All the odds were against them - no wins at Bolton for six years, no victory for five league matches, reduced to 10 men for an hour and miserable driving rain at the Reebok.
However, Wenger's team put all that to one side to lift themselves back among leaders Manchester United - albeit six points behind - and Chelsea in the title race.
And the Frenchman saw something in his players which convinced him they could still have a significant part to play in deciding the outcome of the Premier League.
"It was a mental test because it looked like everything was going against us," said Wenger.
"It demanded a lot from us. They were not giving up. You have to go for it and we did it in a marvellous way.
"We wanted absolutely to win to stay in the race.
"This team is very mentally strong. We were hit hard by our defeat at Chelsea (last weekend), that was hard to take.
"But we will fight until the last minute of this championship and these players will do it."
Many lesser sides, and maybe even some Arsenal teams of the past, would have thrown in the towel faced with the situation they were in at the Reebok with less than 30 minutes to go.
But Wenger has instilled belief in his players and the manager was rewarded for maintaining a positive approach even when they lost Diaby for a high challenge on Gretar Steinsson.
Instead of sacrificing a striker he played with a narrower three-man midfield and then, with half an hour to go, unleashed leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor and winger Theo Walcott upon an unsuspecting Bolton.
The change was remarkable and within seven minutes of the duo's arrival the Gunners were level.
"We knew at half-time that even 2-2 was not good enough and we had to continue to believe, show mental strength and play our game as much as we could because 10 against 11 is not easy," added Wenger.
"It worked because Theo played as a right-back, right midfielder and right winger and he caused them a lot of problems.
"Adebayor, with his power, straightaway brought us something."
Wenger almost paid the penalty for leaving his 23-goal leading scorer on the bench as Arsenal squandered a number of chances before they fell behind to Matthew Taylor's 14th-minute header from Steinsson's right-wing cross.
Diaby was then dismissed for his lunge at the Icelandic full-back before Mathieu Flamini was robbed on the edge of his penalty area just before the interval and Taylor's long-range strike was deflected past Manuel Almunia by William Gallas.
It was a similar story in the second half until the arrival of the Arsenal substitutes on the hour.
The unmarked Gallas pulled one back and when Gary Cahill brought down Alexander Hleb six minutes later Robin Van Persie dispatched the penalty.
Panic spread through the Bolton ranks and seconds before the end of normal time Arsenal got the winner.
When Hleb crossed from the left Fabregas scuffed a shot goalwards which deflected off Andy O'Brien and then, crucially, Jlloyd Samuel and into the net.
It was a bitter blow for struggling Bolton, who remain third from bottom but now four points from safety after victory for Birmingham.
Boss Gary Megson has told his players it is time to stand up and be counted otherwise relegation is a certainty.
"There are two choices now; either the white flag goes up or the sleeves go up," he said.
"The fact we have gone four points from safety will not be lost on the players.
"All we can do is circle the wagons, put our tin helmets on and try to battle our way into a position where we can compete with the teams above us.
"We are running out of games but we will see what the immediate reaction is to this.
"You can't take any positives from the match. When you are 2-0 up to 10 men and you come off with no points it would be a bit churlish to suggest some of the things we did were okay."
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