Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal can attack the challenges ahead now that his strikers have rediscovered a knack for scoring. In the past two weeks Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Alexis Sánchez and Danny Welbeck have re-established an eye for goal, and the Arsenal manager is hoping that will make a difference during a pivotal week, with three competitions on the line.
“It is a weight on the shoulders when the players don’t score,” he said. “Giroud has cycles so it was a weight off his shoulders. Walcott too, and it’s the same for Alexis as well who scored against Tottenham. He suffers maybe more than everybody when he doesn’t score.
“Football has to be instinctive somewhere and you have to play with freedom, when the goals are natural. Every striker will tell you that. Sometimes what you forget, when you get in the final third you have 0.1 to 0.2 seconds to make the right decision – in midfield you have one to two seconds to make a decision sometimes – and when you have a little hesitation, just a fraction short, when the ball gets there, decisiveness can go when you are not successful for a while. The speed of decision-making is linked a little bit with just that fraction of a second when you’re truly in [tune with] what you do.”
Wenger is an admirer of the Watford front two of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney. “They have a very good understanding between the strikers and the quality between our two centre-backs will be vital,” he says, recalling how Ighalo and Deeney gave Arsenal “a tough time” when they met earlier in the season in the league. The pair left an impression on him, even though Arsenal ran out winners.
This is a tricky week to prepare, with short recovery time and long distance travel between three challenging games. After Watford in the FA Cup on Sunday lunchtime, Arsenal travel to Barcelona for an assignment that looks like the longest of shots on Wednesday night, then back to Premier League action at Goodison Park with an early kick off on Saturday. Is the Everton game the most vital? “I haven’t decided yet,” Wenger said. “Let’s see how Sunday goes. I haven’t given up for Barcelona yet.”
The Premier League remains a major focus. “The players are not in the comfort zone and want to do well and they’ve not given up,” Wenger said. “At the moment it can look pretentious to say we are still in the fight but mentally we are. Now we need to keep focus and go as high as we can. We are not in the mode to finish just in the top four. That may be the case, but if we don’t play well we won’t even be in the top four. We want to continue to fight for a chance in the Premiership.
“I feel we can have a run but we know how quickly it can change – we lost two games and suddenly looked like we would be in the Championship next year so it is game by game and all we know is we can not afford any more slips-ups like we did against Swansea.”