Arsène Wenger has suggested that Arsenal should regard the prospect of securing fourth place in the Premier League and entry into next season's Champions League qualifying round as comparable to winning a cup. "The first trophy is to finish in the top four," said Arsenal's manager in the wake of Saturday's 2-0 FA Cup fifth-round defeat at Sunderland. "And that's still possible. I believe finishing fourth is vital for us, so let's focus on that."
"That we lost here is basically down to the fact that we had to give a lot in Milan on Wednesday night and then we had to travel again, and that is difficult for any team in the world," Wenger said. "But I thought it was a good performance from us."
Arsenal's next game, at home to Tottenham on Sunday, has now assumed even greater importance than usual, but the manager is approaching it with confidence. "We put a lot of spirit into playing Sunderland and if we keep that spirit and recover a little bit physically then we can win the next game," he added.
Asked if Arsenal's squad requires rebuilding or tweaking during the summer, the manager indicated that evolution rather than revolution is his preferred option. "When everybody is available we have what it takes at the club and we will add what it takes," Wenger said. "But at the moment we're not making plans for next season, we're making plans for the next game.
"We have many missing: big, big players, too. We're in February and [Jack] Wilshere has played zero games, [Abou] Diaby has played zero games, [Per] Mertesacker is out for the season and [André] Santos for three months. That would be difficult for any club in the world to deal with. But let's win our next game and we'll be fine."
