Arsenal fans do not need me, or Olivier Giroud and Arsene Wenger for that matter, to tell you how important the Premier League clash at home to Liverpool tomorrow is. But the boss and our French striker, fresh from winning the awards for manager and player of the month for March, both spoke about how vital it was to win.
Wenger’s reasoning, as reported by Arsenal.com, was all about keeping up the momentum that six league wins in a row had given us before the international break. He is clearly desperate for his players to hit the ground running tomorrow and not break stride as our opponents did in their defeat by Man United in their last game.
Wenger said, “It’s a big game and an opportunity for us to continue our run, which is what we want to do. We are on a strong run and we just want to focus on winning our games, winning the next one. Liverpool is a big opponent but we play at the Emirates and we want to do it.
“You know after the international break it’s always important that you come back and straight away you are on it.”
The boss did not want to be drawn on whether beating Liverpool would give us a realistic chance of beating Chelsea to the title, preferring to focus on the single game this weekend, but Giroud was not so hesitant. The BPL player of the month had no problem talking up Arsenal’s title hopes, although he did admit that any slip ups by the Gunners now would probably finish those hopes.
Sky Sports report him saying, “We want to finish strongly, we need to focus on our game first and if we suceed to win all of our remaining eight games maybe we can have a look at the Chelsea and City results.
“Yes [we can win the title] but it will be difficult, I try to be honest, I believe we need to win every game. Let’s win every game and then see their results.
“If they win all their games, their destiny is in their hands. We know what we have to do and we want to keep it up.”
Surely a sniff of the title will be enough to ensure that everyone is right at it tomorrow, but is it realistic or clutching at straws?