Arsene Wenger: 'This team has a good mentality. I’ve had many teams in my life and this team is top quality.'

Published: 7 April, 2016
by STEVE BARNETT

THE Gunners may be trailing league leaders Leicester by 11 points, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger still believes his current crop of players are very much top quality because they are “mentally pure”. 

The Gunners returned from the international break in style on Saturday, hitting four goals past Watford to secure back-to-back wins in the ­Premier League for the first time since February. 

Arsenal now travel to fifth-placed West Ham United in the early kick-off this Saturday and Wenger is confident his team will finish the season strongly.

“We have only one target now,” he said. “We have come through difficult periods and now want to win our remaining seven games and put pressure on the teams above us. 

“The team who finishes top is the team who can continue to perform and get results even when the period of the season is a bit more difficult. 

“This team has a good mentality. I’ve had many teams in my life and this team is top quality. They have gone through a bad period but when you play like we did against Watford that shows that mentally the players are pure. 

“You have to find a team who clicks at the right moment,” Wenger added. 

“You have a whole lot of different reasons for that happening, like your injured players come back like Danny Welbeck, and because of the emergence of players like Alex Iwobi.” 

Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny’s blossoming midfield partnership has also helped Arsenal return to their free-flowing best, and Wenger had plenty of praise for his midfield duo.

“Both of them are improving offensively,” he said. “When Coquelin plays with Cazorla, Coquelin is the defensive player, which make them a perfect pair. Then Coquelin focused more on defending and Cazorla more on attacking.

“Now both Elneny and Coquelin share the job so the balance is a bit better. They’re more similar. We have four attackers in front of them so we need people who can defend well in central midfield and they both certainly fit the bill.”