http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-Maseru-c38430 boss Arsene Wenger refuses to concede the Premier League title after Tottenham Hotspur draw
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger refuses to admit defeat in the English Premier League title race despite dropping two points against derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The Gunners will certainly feel it’s an opportunity missed, to close the gap on Premier League leaders, Manchester United, as earlier the Red Devils were held to a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United.
Failure to win has seen the North London side slip to third position in the EPL table and they now trail http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 on goal difference.
The game started brightly for the Gunners as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tom-Huddlestone-c35227 enabled the Lilywhites to reduce the deficit to 3-2 at half time. The
game at White Hart Lane ended 3-3 as a 70th minute Van der Vaart penalty leveled the scores.
Wenger remains adamant that his side can still win the Premier League title and blamed fatigue for the Gunners’ under power performance in the second half.
He said, "It's not over... we'll fight. In the second half we dropped physically because we had a difficult game on Sunday (at home to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809). We've had two games in three days, our recovery was a bit short. We suffered physically in the second half
and were very unfortunate to concede the penalty.”
Arsenal have been heavily criticized for their inability to win games as they have failed to collect maximum points for the fifth time in six matches.
Nevertheless, the Frenchman maintains that his side are not out of the title race yet and showed outstanding mental strength against negative media coverage.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will also view the game as two points dropped rather than one taken. Spurs are making a charge for the fourth spot in the Premier League table and ultimately a UEFA Champions League berth next campaign.
A draw for Tottenham means that Manchester City are looking favourites to qualify ahead of the Lilywhites for next year’s Champions League as now the Citizens have a two point advantage over the Spurs.
Arsenal will travel to Bolton Wanderers for their next EPL fixture on 24 April, 2011.
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