Arsene Wenger fights to stay on the rails at Arsenal

THE fire was back in Arsene Wenger's eyes when, on arrival at Istanbul, he was instantly welcomed back to his very personal hell of just two days earlier.

Arsene Wenger is hoping to turn things around at ArsenalACTION

Arsene Wenger is hoping to turn things around at Arsenal

These days the physical "Welcome to Hell" banners that used to greet English teams at the airport gates ahead of European clashes are largely mementoes of the past.

But that is not to say Wenger was going to be given an easy mental ride of it at a press conference in an airport hotel minutes after getting off the plane.

"Does treatment you got on Stoke station begin to wear you down at all?" he was asked.

"No, not at all," he replied intently. "We have to cope with that. We are professional footballers and football is responsible. What is important is the next game and the desire to do it.

"I am a competitive person. What is important is the next game and responding in a strong way, to play to win the game. It is part of our job here, you cannot always look for excuses. We are down. Everyone feels it.

"When you have a disappointment you respond in a strong way, that is what competition is about.

"You cannot as well say there is a guarantee to anybody you will never lose a game. Many teams will lose at Stoke, you have to be realistic as well."

It was the manner of the defeat rather than the eventual 3-2 scoreline that so incensed Arsenal fans.

Wenger: Arsenal not good enough [AMBIENT]

Ever since their 2-1 defeat at the Britannia the first season Stoke were promoted to the Premier League, the club has never enjoyed its visits to the Potteries despite being fully aware of what awaits them there each time.

1-0 down inside 18 seconds. 3-0 down by half-time and lucky it was not four. Reason enough for a number of fans to congregate after the game at Stoke-on-Trent station to harangue the 65-year-old - one telling him to leave the club.

It had quickly become the most talked about platform send-off since Brief Encounter, albeit with much shakier footage on YouTube.

But unlike Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, the last word Wenger will be saying amid the outflow of passion is "goodbye".

"Look, the response after a defeat is always very important," said Wenger, Saturday behind him, ready to go again. "Against Stoke, I think we missed the start of the game and were punished for it. You expect that everyone is disappointed after that result.

"But the Premier League is difficult and we want to be judged at the end of the season, not after every single game where it is normal that emotion is always very high, let's get our stability back defensively and see at the end of the season where we are."

Tomorrow will be more a chance to see where Arsenal could be in a few seasons time.

Alongside a number of injuries, the fact that there is little to play for aside from an outside chance of leapfrogging Borussia Dortmund for top seeding in the knockout rounds means Wenger is taking to rest a number of senior players.

Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez and Kieran Gibbs will have their feet up alongside Danny Welbeck, who has a small knee problem to clear.

"To make it as simple as possible, I have 11 experienced players and six young field players on the bench," said Wenger. "That means I have nothing to hide."

Not that the seven names on the bench will mean much to Galatasaray boss Slaven Bilic - they barely register with even the keenest Arsenal fans.

Emiliano Martinez, Stefan O'Connor, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Gedion Zelalem, Glen Kamara, Chuba Akpom, Alex Iwobi.

"Chuba you know already and is close to the first team, yes," said Wenger.

"You know Zelalem as well, certainly. There are two others who are making big strides forward - Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is very good, and Stefan O'Connor, a central defender who in training has looked very promising in training.

"Let's be realistic. We do not play under too much pressure, we want to win the game but, as has already been mentioned, it does not only depend on us to finish top of the group."

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