While official figures for tickets sold put the attendance at 59,563, in reality there were far fewer supporters inside the ground as two first-half goals from Alexis Sanchez sealed the win for Arsenal.
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“I don’t know why the fans stayed away”, replied Arsene Wenger when asked for this thoughts on the rows of empty seats. You see that when you see them play football – they would not care like that or behave like that [unless they had the right mentality].
Wenger admits that he is unsure why fans chose to remain away, days after seeing his side held to another disappointing draw against Crystal Palace, and has now called for them to return for the final two home games of the season.
But the north London club were in the race for the Premier League title at the start of this month, before their games against Crystal Palace and West Ham United ended in draws, despite the Frenchman’s side being in the lead on both occasions.
“Certainly the early goal helped to focus us more on our game”.
“Our overall defending is getting better, even from the top and we work together but to finish things off, we need to score more goals”. When you have to play Champions League qualifiers the European Championship is still going on.
“That said, I could have never managed to achieve it without my team-mates”.
“Of course we have regrets”, he said. “They are a fantastic team with a fantastic mentality but let’s finish well and see where we have not done enough”.
“We have to concentrate on ourselves and get maximum points”. Everyone behind us won in the last two days so it was a must-win for us.
The old rivals go head-to-head for the third time this season when relegation-threatened Sunderland face Arsenal at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
“We are in a position where we want the three points and they want the three points, so it should be an interesting battle”.
“This is the first time we have played on a Thursday night so we will look at the preparation”.
Speaking after the West Brom match, he said: ‘He is a key member of our team and if he is fully fit, he makes the difference and that is always the case.
And Sanchez’s driven free-kick secured the win for Arsenal, who move up to third, five points behind Tottenham.
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“He will be hurting badly, I think, knowing this season was his best chance to win the Premier League again”.
