Arsenal had the chance to return to the first place of the Premier League after Leicester dominated Stoke 3-0. The Gunners always have difficulties against Chelsea as they lost the first leg at Stamford Bridge as well. It was a disappoint night for Wenger and his squad when they conceded a goal only a few minutes after being down to 10 men so he did not have the chance to adjust and lost 1-0. Wenger comments:
“It was disappointing as we couldn’t really play with our real team for 90 minutes,” the boss told Arsenal Player. “I was very disappointed because in recent games we have lost we have had really harsh decisions against us [like] at Southampton and today.
“We had such high expectations today. To lose the game the way we did is really frustrating today and difficult to accept.
“The difficulty was that we went straight away down at 1-0 and we had to attack without being at 0-0 which means you expose yourself at 10 men, but what can you do? We are fighting for the title and it is frustrating. We gave it everything and it was not easy today against 11 men but what can I say?
“I think we had a good attitude and fantastic spirit despite the negative result today, I think we should come out [of this] with even more belief.”
Ranieri and Leicester enjoys the competition and they ready to fight for a title (even if they do not say it out loud!):
“Today I told the players, ‘this is our match’. We must win and we must win because it’s very important to go into the little break with three points and at the top of the league as now comes a strong February with three unbelievable matches, so it’s important to be ready.”
