FOOTBALL : Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger talked up his team’s Barclays Premier League title chances after brushing aside Tottenham 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium and denting their rivals’ hopes of sustaining a top-four challenge.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger talked up his team’s Barclays Premier League title chances after brushing aside Tottenham 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium and denting their rivals’ hopes of sustaining a top-four challenge.
Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas struck just before the break within a minute of each other and van Persie added the third in the second half, with Wenger’s men unbeaten in 11 games in all competitions and establishing their title challenge.
“Do we have enough? I say yes,” the Frenchman said. “I’ve said that since the first day of the season and it won’t change now. We want to show consistency and intelligence and that is not easy. I believe we have the opportunity and it will be down to our attitude.”
Robbie Keane suggested earlier in the week that Spurs’ squad had a greater strength in depth, although the defeat puts a question mark over whether they will compete with the traditional heavyweights.
“We have to see over a longer period,” Wenger said. “I am positive for us because we have the minimum points with the performances we have produced. Will Tottenham be up there? I don’t know. It’s too early.
“It is not about opinion, it is about performance on the pitch. That is what is important.”
Van Persie’s 42nd-minute opener crept in at the near post from Bacary Sagna’s cross, then Wilson Palacios lost the ball from the kick-off and Fabregas brushed past the Honduras international and Tom Huddlestone before skipping around Ledley King and finishing.
Van Persie said: “They played with the right attitude and a good spirit, it was tight and tough to start with but they died after our first goal.”
Wenger also saw the period before half-time as crucial.
“We took advantage of the shock of the first goal and in the second half we always played a little restricted,” he said. “After the third there wasn’t the impression that Spurs would come back.”
