London: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said on Tuesday his side can achieve a top-four Premier League finish despite their recent slump in form. The North London side, who are sixth in the league and trail fourth-placed Manchester City by seven points, will seek their first victory in four games when they host 14th-placed West Ham United on Wednesday.
Arsenal have never finished outside top-four under Wenger, who sees increased importance in finishing with one of the four Champions League qualification spots this season.
“It’s a good challenge but I think it’s certainly possible,” Wenger told a news conference. “For 20 years I have done it and it looked nothing. Suddenly now it’s important and people realise it is not as easy as it looked.
“We are fighting to have a positive end of season. That’s why you want the fans to stand behind the team.” Wenger said defender Laurent Koscielny, who was substituted at half-time during 2-2 draw with Man City on Sunday, suffered an Achilles injury and is set to have a scan later on Tuesday.
“It (the injury) is serious,” said Wenger. “If he has ruptured the fibres then he could be out for a few weeks, if not, he could be available to face Crystal Palace. I will tell you more tomorrow.” Defender Per Mertesacker and midfielders Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey return from injury layoff and could feature against West Ham.
Meanwhile, Michail Antonio is to be offered a pay rise as a reward for his outstanding performances this season, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic said on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old midfielder, who will return for Wednesday’s crucial game with Arsenal and bolster a side just six points above the relegation places after four successive defeats, already has a long term contract.
However, it is reported the board are to offer him a weekly wage of #65,000 (Dh297,536).
“The club and chairman appreciate the job he has done for us,” said Bilic.
“The club is offering him a new contract definitely, for sure, this summer.
“He wants to stay. To be fair, he has a long contract anyway, it’s not like he has one year left.
“But we appreciate what he has done and we want to keep him happy and keep him for a long time. The club are preparing for that.”
Antonio, who had a peripatetic career till he joined the Hammers in 2015 from Nottingham Forest, having spent time on loan at the likes of Tooting and Mitcham and Colchester whilst at Reading, is due for his first bit of action since a hamstring injury laid him low on March 18.
As a result, he missed England’s 1-0 friendly defeat by world champions Germany and the 2-0 win over Lithuania in a 2018 World Cup qualifier.
“Antonio has trained the last couple of days. He is definitely going to be involved in the game - whether he starts or not, we’ll see,” Bilic said.
“It’s a big boost for us because we are talking about our best player. He makes a difference week in and week out.
“He’s been doing that all the time and it’s a big boost for us ahead of a game like Arsenal.”
