Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal have the chance to reignite their Premier League title ambitions with victory at leaders Manchester City.
Arsenal manager looking to close gap against Man City
Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal have the chance to reignite their Premier League title ambitions with victory at leaders Manchester City.
Wenger admits that Arsenal are currently too far adrift of the leaders, but he feels there is enough time to get back into contention.
The Gunners have already hauled themselves back to within striking distance of the top four following seven wins from the last eight league games, fired by the goals of in-form captain Robin van Persie.
Inflicting a second straight defeat on the high-flying Blues would reduce the gap to just six points, although Manchester United could overtake their rivals if they win at QPR earlier on Sunday.
Wenger said: "We have to come close to Man City to be really in it.
"We are in the race for the Champions League places at the moment - and the purpose is to get closer. We have a good opportunity to do it on Sunday."
Special circumstances
Wenger's squad have certainly turned their season around from the last time they visited Manchester at the end of August when they were on the end of a humiliating 8-2 loss at Old Trafford.
While the Gunners boss accepts it was a difficult defeat to stomach at the time, it will not give his players nightmares when they head across the city this weekend.
"I never gave too much importance to big scores because they are always under special circumstances, and on the day every ball they hit went in the top corner," the Frenchman said.
"But it's part of football, and of course it's something we don't want, but I don't think that on Sunday it will even cross our minds."
Wenger feels his squad deserve great credit for their response, which has also seen the Gunners safely through to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, with both United and City failed to achieve.
"If you have a strong mental response from your players it can help," the Arsenal manager said.
"It took us a while to get over it - let's not fool ourselves - and we came back slowly, but there's something in the team that shows we have the resilience.
"We are on the way of recovery but we have a big, big test on Sunday and let's see how we survive that test."
"You just want to do as well as you can."
