Wojciech Szczesny has not condemned Arsenal's fans for booing during Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
Arsenal keeper understands fans' frustration after latest loss
Wojciech Szczesny has not condemned Arsenal's fans for booing during Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The home faithful voiced their disapproval when Arsene Wenger substituted the impressive Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Andrey Arshavin in the 74th minute, despite the teenage winger having just set up the equaliser.
Arshavin then failed to stop Antonio Valencia in the build-up to United's winner as the fifth-placed Gunners lost their third league game in a row to sit five points off the top four.
While Szczesny can understand the fans' frustration, he insists the Gunners can still make the UEFA Champions League places.
"I don't want to say something that I shouldn't be saying," he said.
"They're entitled to their opinion and they show it in the way they do. That's fine with me.
Pressure
"There's a lot of pressure. Obviously, fans expect us to do better than what we've been doing.
"All we can do is work hard, which we have been doing, and I'm positive the results will come sooner rather than later."
Wenger has declared it would be a "disaster" if Arsenal failed to qualify for the Champions League and Szczesny remains confident they can.
"This club should be in the Champions League, year in, year out," he added.
"So I understand the manager's point, absolutely.
"I'm confident we will pick ourselves up, we'll win games and we'll get our position in the Champions League. So I'm not worried. I'm disappointed, obviously, but I'm still confident we can do it."
Return
Szczesny admitted the return of Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs would be a huge boost to Arsenal's makeshift defence.
"They're very important players for us and if you can have them back in the team as soon as possible, it will give us a lot of confidence and hopefully it will help us to get the results that this club deserves," he said.
Szczesny hailed captain Robin van Persie after his goal at the Emirates and hopes the club can quickly end their losing league run.
He added: "Robin is a great player. I've said it a lot of times before, I think he's the best player in the Premier League at the moment.
"Listen, we are disappointed. But we're still confident we have the quality. And it's not only Robin van Persie. I think the whole team is good enough to go on and finish in the top four.
"Having a leader like this - because he's a great skipper - helps the team. It makes us confident that we can score in every single game.
"Hopefully, we can deal with all the pressure that's around us at the moment and live up to the expectations because these fans and this club deserve better results than it is has got in the last few weeks."
