Arsene Wenger today warned Tottenham the battle for north London supremacy is not over but insisted it can only be considered a “one-off” if Spurs finish above Arsenal this season.
The Gunners have secured a higher Premier League placing every year since 1995 but find themselves three points behind Mauricio Pochettino’s side with two games remaining.
Arsenal travel to Manchester City on Sunday while Tottenham play Southampton earlier in the day and Wenger told Standard Sport: “Look, it’s not over. Let’s see what happens until the end of the season. Tottenham had a good season. They didn’t manage to finish very strongly recently but overall they’ve had a good season and they have a strong team. But our target is still to get in front of them if possible.
“If they do that, you can at least say it’s a one off, because in 20 years, it [will have] happened once. At the moment it’s not done. If they do it, well done. We’ll fight until the end to make sure that we have a chance that we get in front of them.”
Arsenal’s first task is to secure third place and automatic entry to next season’s Champions League group stage. The Gunners have faced a two-legged play-off in six of the last ten seasons and Wenger is already mindful of the lack of rest his players will have with international tournaments taking place over the summer.
“There’s a European Championship, there’s a Copa America,” he said. “To get our players back, we made a schedule. It’s absolutely very difficult because the European Championship finishes on July 10. If you think that you have to give at least three to four weeks of holiday to the players who go to the end [of the tournament], that means they come back at the beginning of August.
“Our target now is to secure a position in the Champions League next year. If possible, to get second place and at least secure third place, and on Sunday we can achieve that. We still have two games, and if we win those two games we will be alright.
“It is still an important game, even if Leicester are champions today and we are second best. It is still a very important game because part of the responsibility of being professional is to prepare the future. The future of Arsenal football club depends on this game.”
The Copa America took place only last year but organisers have abandoned the usual four-year cycle to create a special competition – entitled Copa America Centenario – to make the tournament’s centenary and with Alexis Sanchez set to take part once more for Chile, Wenger added: “It had an impact on him this season I think. Of course Chile won it as well, so after some big achievement like that you always have a bit of decompression. I think he suffered physically this season from that.”
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