Arsenal can gain title edge with 'massive' Man Utd win, Arsene Wenger says
Sunday 4 October 2015 08:15, UK
Arsene Wenger wants Arsenal to prove the doubters wrong by winning Sunday's "massive game" against Manchester United.
Wenger has been in unusually combative mood ahead of United's Super Sunday visit, threatening to walk out of one press conference and then launching a passionate defence of Arsenal's title credentials in another.
The Gunners are three points behind United and four off top spot heading into Sunday, in healthier shape than in the Champions League, where they have lost both group games and next face a double-header with Bayern Munich.
But Wenger is not prepared to admit defeat in Europe and believes his side can gain a title advantage at home by beating United.
"We are still in the Champions League, we are not out of the Champions League. Everybody writes us out, but we are not out," he said.
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"We have a big game at home [against United] and the advantage is to win the big game at home.
"It is the first maybe massive game for the top of the table. Without the home form, you don't win the championship, that is for sure."
Petr Cech is likely to be back in the Arsenal goal at the Emirates, but Wenger has again backed David Ospina in the wake of heavy criticism that followed the Colombian's midweek own goal against Olympiakos.
He said: "To kill a player like Ospina, he has been voted the best goalkeeper of the Copa America, he is on the Ballon d'Or list, he was by far the best goalkeeper of the Premier League in the second part of the season last year; I find that just sensationalism, it is not analysis of football."
The fire continues to burn for the Arsenal boss, who has a deal until 2017 and insists retirement is not currently on the agenda.
"I haven't decided yet [when I'll retire]," he said. "I think it can be more instinctive and impulsive than that.
"I am always scared - I have heard that so many times, 'next year I will retire' and then they continue or go somewhere else. "I think one thing is for sure that, when I retire, I will really retire."
