Arsenal manager focused on his own team’s performance
Arsene Wenger will not predict how many points Arsenal need to claim third place in the Premier League and just wants his players to focus on winning games.
Arsenal could open up a five-point advantage over fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur by winning at relegation-threatened Wolves on Wednesday night.
With just five more games remaining after the trip to Molineux, such an advantage would put the Gunners in a strong position to clinch automatic qualification for the UEFA Champions League group phase.
However, Wenger does not want to get involved in the business of predicting results and is solely concerned with the performance of his own side.
Wenger said: “The only target we know we can do is if we get our resources together for the next game. That is the only way to do it.
“You don’t know what the others will do, so let’s just win our games.”
Surprised
Pundits have been scouring the run-ins of Arsenal, Tottenham, fifth-placed Newcastle and sixth-placed Chelsea to try to glean where points may be won and lost.
Wenger said: “For some people these predictions are their job.
“Believe me, they don’t know much better than you or me and the result of every game is just a consequence of your performance on the day.
“Nobody can really predict that because your performance on the day depends on you, but also depends on the other team as well. To predict both is nearly impossible.
“You can have an idea but football has surprised us so many times, especially recently in the last two or three months.
“Let’s not anticipate, that is something else that is important.
“When it gets to the last sprint, focus on the next game becomes the most important part because you are always tempted to anticipate.”
