Arsene Wenger claims he “sacrifices every day of his life” in pursuit of silverware.
Wenger has got a glorious chance to end Arsenal’s nine-year wait for a trophy in this season’s FA Cup, with a semi against Championship Wigan this weekend to decide who meets Hull or League One side Sheffield United in the final.
Victory at Wembley next month, ending a drought dating back to 2005, would go some way to relieving the mounting pressure on Wenger as doubts grow about his future as the Gunners' manager.
The Frenchman has said for years that finishing in the top four to secure Champions League football for the following season is more important for the North Londoners than winning one of the domestic cups.
But he admits his outlook has changed.
“The Champions League was vital for us until now and, for me, at the start of the season the minimum requirement,” said Wenger.
“But don’t imagine I sacrifice every day of my life not to win a trophy. Everybody fights for that. We all play to win something. If you are in the FA Cup everyone can dream of winning it at the start of the season.
“The championship... only seven clubs can dream of winning it at the start of the season. A cup is a dream open to everybody and that is the beauty of the FA Cup.
“We are back at Wembley and it’s great. It’s an important competition. You know we will not fight for the championship any more [this season], so it’s the only competition.”
Wenger insisted that his future - his contract expires in the summer - will not be decided by Arsenal winning the FA Cup or whether they finish in the top four.
But then he snapped and refused to answer further questions about whether he will stay - which perhaps only puts more pressure on his Gunners to win this season's FA Cup.
Unless they do so, their next chance of silverware will be the 2015 League Cup Final - two months short of a decade without a trophy - and the fans will grow increasingly frustrated.
That is the danger facing Wenger in Saturday’s showdown with Wigan, who are the FA Cup holders but also now a Championship side.
Wenger has fond memories of the FA Cup, from watching it on TV as a boy, to winning it four times.
Arsenal beat Manchester United on penalties after a 0-0 draw in Cardiff in May 2005 to lift the famous trophy - the last time they won anything - and Wenger confessed afterwards that match was the one and only time he put aside his attacking principles and set up a team not to lose.
How he must have wished he’d done that on a few occasions this season!
“In 2005, we did not deserve to win the final,” he admitted. “It was the only way we could win it. At the start I didn’t set up like that and suddenly they were all over us and I realised that physically we were not able to compete, so I said, ‘Okay, let’s defend as long as we can.’”
“I was not really [tempted to do that this season]. Maybe sometimes we have not had much of a choice but this season we have always tried to attack because we have a team that has that ability.
“What has been strange this season is that for a long time we looked very strong defensively, we had an outstanding defensive record, and we lost it suddenly. That’s the surprise of the season for me.
“It was a dream when I was a kid to watch the FA Cup. It was one of the competitions you could watch in black and white on television.
“I don’t remember the two teams who played in the first final I watched. What stays in my memory is exactly the place where I sat at school - because we had to pay one franc to watch.
“What struck me at the time was the ball was white and the pitch was perfect, because I played in a village where the pitch was a disaster.”