Laurent Koscielny is refusing to give up hope of helping Arsenal to overcome Chelsea and their rivals in the Premier League title race.
The Gunners fought to a 1-0 win over West Brom today, following two successive defeats to Everton and Manchester City, with Olivier Giroud earning us all three points with a crucial winner.
Our stand-in skipper Koscielny has now moved to reveal that he still holds serious hope of returning to the top of the division, claiming this win will help his side to turn things around after a string of bad results.
The defender said: “The confidence will come back when you win and the most important thing now is to continue to win games in a row so that hopefully we can get into the first position.
“We lost the first game of the season and we came back with a good run and a lot of wins. We lost two games in a week last week and it was very important to come back with a win.
“We kept our calm and we know you can always find a solution at the beginning or end of games against teams like West Brom. [This time] it was a late goal.”
Kosc then moved to praise his French counterpart, whose first start of the season was rewarded with the winning goal.
“Olivier stayed focused with the team. We are not 11 or 18 players, there are 25 players [in the squad],” he added.
“All of the players who play for Arsenal have a big part to play during the season because of injuries and suspensions, and everyone needs to be ready to fight for this club.
“Olivier started and he tried to give his best on the pitch. He fought and it’s good for him to score the winning goal.”
Our win today may have put us back on track, but the favourites for the title Chelsea also won, and maintained a nine point lead over us on the top of the table.
They have a rough run of fixtures which include Tottenham, Liverpool and Leicester away from home in their next five, and should they earn seven points from these, the writing may well be on the wall.
Can we really overcome the Blues in the table? Will Olivier get an extended run up top?
Pat J