Europa League is the goal.
Arsenal are still alive. In the lost domestic season and out of Champions League spots, Arsenal can still save their season by winning the Europa League after another English club, Manchester United did it last year. With a 4-1 victory over the Russian of CSKA, Arsenal have their destiny in hands to advance to the last remaining four.
As a reminder the winner of the Europa League will be automatically awarded a Champions League invitation for next season, giving all the necessary motivation for the squad.
Coach Wenger reacts on a comfortable win:
It was a difficult game because they looked very good going forward and came out very quickly every time we lost the ball. They took advantage of every mistake we made to go forward. I felt that it was a spectacular first half played at a high pace, but also an uncomfortable one for me because they looked dangerous as well. I’d always hoped that we could score, but I was also worried that they could score as well.
We played against a side who was technically very good, but we had scored some great goals in the first half and at half-time we were 4-1 up. Then the target was not to concede any more and, if possible, add another one. We did the first part of the job in the second half but not the second part of the job.
On the other hand, it will help us to completely focus in the second game by not thinking it’s job done. We know it’s not over. We have to go there with the right focus and try to win the game.
It was a good challenge, so it was good to see how we responded to it. I think we were in an uncomfortable position against Milan at home when they scored the first goal. Every time here, we found the answer in the game.
I think CSKA Moscow is a good team with a very good technical level, who are very quick going forward. Every time they won the ball, they gave us many problems in the first half. That’s all I can say. They have a very good technical level and are very mobile, very intelligent with their use of the ball as well.
They played in a very offensive style. We are not used to seeing that at the Emirates in the Premier League. Teams come here, play in their half and wait for us. They had a go at us and it was uncomfortable.”
How Arsenal responded following the cycle of bad performances:
“We responded well. People forget that we lost three games in a week because the first game we lost was a final and it takes time to recover from that.
The mentality is good in the side and that’s why we recovered. You’re always worried when you don’t win games that people expect you to win, but as I said many times there’s only one way to respond: with the quality of the performance on the pitch.
We are in the quarter-final and it is a long way to go – we still have to finish the job. We are not qualified for the semi-finals, so it is too early to talk about that. we have suffered a lot recently, so that will help us to keep our feet on the ground and be humble and try to do our job well.”
