Arsene Wenger won’t compromise attacking philosophy against Manchester City despite huge pressure

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James Olley31 March 2017

Arsene Wenger may continue to be defensive about his future but the Frenchman has vowed to go on the attack against Manchester City.

The 67-year-old is in a precarious position with fan opposition growing towards him as the team continue to fall further from grace in the Premier League.

Four defeats from their last five games have left the Gunners six points outside the top four; another damaging result on Sunday at Emirates Stadium is almost unthinkable given it would leave them 10 points behind City and potentially even further behind north London rivals Tottenham.

Wenger has rarely compromised his expansive philosophy, even under the most acute pressure. Ironically, Arsenal’s visit to City in January 2015 was one such occasion as Arsenal soaked up pressure and picked their opponents off on the counter-attack to register a 2-0 win which felt like a watershed moment proving Wenger was still capable of reinventing himself.

It has not turned out that way. And, once again, Wenger is backing his forwards to fire the Gunners out of trouble. “We come out of a difficult period and we play at home in a very big game,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for us to bounce back. I think it’s two teams who have the best numbers of the final third in the League. That promises to be a very positive game. Both teams will attack, so it should be a promising game.”

Both Liverpool (61) and Chelsea (59) have scored more goals than Arsenal (56) and City (54) this season. Nobody has registered a higher number of away goals in the League than Pep Guardiola’s side (30) — a figure matched by Arsenal — and if the Gunners are to prove more effective in the final third, they must produce a display of far greater productivity than at West Brom prior to the break.

Arsenal monopolised the ball yet created little of note and were punished for some absent-minded defending in a 3-1 loss.

Wenger added: “We had two shots and when you have 70 per cent of the ball, that’s not good enough. We were caught where West Brom are strong and where we are usually quite good, defending set-pieces. Something was missing there.”

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