Football
Mattias Karen, Arsenal correspondent 7y

Arsene Wenger: Arsenal can use Liverpool loss as motivation at Chelsea

LONDON -- Arsenal must use their humiliating 4-0 defeat at Liverpool as "motivation" for Sunday's trip to Chelsea, manager Arsene Wenger has said.

Wenger said the defeat should make his players determined to put things right when they take on another big rival away from home.

"We had a bad performance at Liverpool, which I never denied, and that should be even a greater motivation for us to turn up with a quality performance on Sunday," he said.

"If you look at the league, you know that the positions in the top four will of course be decided by the quality of the results you make against your direct opponents."

Arsenal have earned convincing home victories over all their main Premier League rivals in recent seasons but have continued to struggle in big games away from the Emirates.

They have not won at Stamford Bridge since 2011, and also lost at Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham last season, drawing at Manchester United.

But Wenger defended his record in big away games over his 21-year tenure at Arsenal, saying: "If you look at my record, you will see that I played two years in England in the Premier League without losing a game away from home.

"Last year, until we lost at Everton [in December], we had not lost away the whole year. After that we lost at Man City, and it's true that it gave us a problem of confidence away from home.

"But I don't really believe in that. I believe the pitch is 105 metres long and 68 metres wide everywhere, and never in my life could I accept or understand that it's different away from home.

"It's just a question of how much you want it, no matter where you play."

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