Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted that his team can still win the Premier League title though has admitted that if Manchester United continue their excellent form then it will be impossible.
The Frenchman is currently enduring his most difficult spell in charge of the club with the Gunners languishing fourth from bottom after taking just four points from five games.
It leaves the Londoners a massive 11 points behind leaders United, who have a 100 percent record after five matches, which included a crushing 8-2 win over Arsenal last month.
Wenger insists however it is too early for any side to be written off despite United’s ominous form.
“Of course I am worried. It is absolutely not realistic not to be worried when you have a team like Manchester United in front of you,” the Frenchman said ahead of Saturday’s Premier League game with Bolton.
“The only thing we can do is focus on our performances, win our games and hope they will drop some points at some stage.
“However, at the moment I am more concerned by us than them. If they do a perfect season, they do a perfect season. Until now, only one team did that – Arsenal,” added Wenger, referring to Arsenal’s unbeaten 2003/2004 campaign.
Wenger’s immediate priority is trying to restore confidence to his team, which suffered another blow to morale last week when they were beaten 4-3 at Blackburn despite leading twice and dominating possession.
“What is important for us is to give absolutely everything to do it (win the title), but at the moment it is too early to speak about that,” he said.
“Let’s come back to a better distance with the top teams before we speak about that. If the team gets momentum, we can be very strong.”
Wenger also maintains Arsenal’s start to the season was complicated by having to face Italian league leaders Udinese in a play-off to reach the Champions League group phase.
“I still believe we paid a very heavy price for the Udinese (Champions League play-off) game, where we didn’t get any credit at all. Today, they are (joint) top of the (Italian) league,” he said.
“We had to give absolutely everything (in the Champions League game) against Dortmund and in the second half at Blackburn you could see that.
“Our start of the season was disturbed by the transfers (of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri) and by the fact that we had to qualify for the Champions League. We lost a lot of energy in these games.”
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