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West Ham United v Arsenal
Laurent Koscielny equalised for Arsenal to earn a 3-3 draw at West Ham but they needed a win to keep their fading title hopes alive. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters
Laurent Koscielny equalised for Arsenal to earn a 3-3 draw at West Ham but they needed a win to keep their fading title hopes alive. Photograph: John Sibley/Reuters

Arsène Wenger admits Arsenal title hopes are fading after West Ham draw

This article is more than 7 years old
Arsenal drop two points in pulsating 3-3 draw at West Ham
‘We make it much more difficult to win the championship’ – Wenger

Arsène Wenger admitted Arsenal’s title hopes are fading after the surrender of a 2-0 lead at Upton Park. The Arsenal manager insisted he has not given up hope yet but his side’s pulsating 3-3 draw at West Ham United means they will be 13 points behind Leicester City with five games left if the leaders beat Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.

Arsenal needed a late equaliser from Laurent Koscielny after West Ham overhauled a two-goal deficit inside 35 minutes by hitting back with Andy Carroll’s hat-trick in eight minutes.

Both managers had grievances with the officials, with Slaven Bilic infuriated by the decision to rule out Manuel Lanzini’s first-half header for offside, and although Wenger felt that Carroll was lucky not to be shown a red card after the striker clashed with Koscielny and Gabriel, Arsenal’s manager was unhappy with his side’s defending.

“Third in the league, 59 points – that’s not where we want to be,” Wenger said. “We make it much more difficult to win the championship but we have to keep going and hope.

“You never know what can happen. You have to look behind us, clubs are chasing us and we have to be serious and focus. When you see the game that’s one of the places you feel guilty you dropped points.”

Carroll was booked for an early foul on Koscielny and later appeared to catch Gabriel with an elbow. Yet Wenger felt that Arsenal had to look at their weaknesses when defending crosses. “He [Carroll] is lucky to finish the game,” Wenger said. “That doesn’t mean we have to concede goals with the headers if he stays on the pitch. We have to look at ourselves. I believe we lost urgency when we were 2-0 up. We paid for a weakness.”

Bilic defended his striker after West Ham’s hopes of finishing in the top four received another blow. Replays suggested that Lanzini was onside when he headed past David Ospina and West Ham have been on the wrong end of controversial refereeing calls in each of their past four matches

“I decided not to talk about the referee, not because I have to defend his decisions but because we are not happy,” West Ham’s manager said.

West Ham host Manchester United in an FA Cup quarter-final replay on Wednesday and the West Ham manager said he had no fears about facing Louis van Gaal’s inconsistent side.

“We can’t wait,” Bilic said. “We are so confident. I am proud of everything. We were spectacular.”

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