Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger cools favourites talk ahead of Man United game

Arsene Wenger hinted that Danny Welbeck could be a doubt for Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Manchester United. “Because when it looked like we could win this game, we just gave it away”.

However, they were put to the sword by Lionel Messi, who scored a brace to help the Catalans nearly guarantee qualification via 2-0 away victory.

“They are better than us, everybody knows that, but we could’ve won the game if we kept the discipline until the end”.

Arsenal are now third in the Premier League, level on points with north London rivals Tottenham and only two points off leaders Leicester City.

“If we’d lost 4-0 or 5-0, I’d say no – but I think two goals is doable”, the goalkeeper said, as quoted by ESPN.

Wenger praised his team’s effort and energy but said that “technically we were very average overall”. I think the famous MSN combination is over-rated based on the game at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday. We work the whole season for this period and that’s where you are really tested but it’s where you have an opportunity to show your quality as well. Big players are highly motivated going into such big games and that’s what happened when Messi opened the scoring against the run of play for Barcelona from a breath-taking counter attack. That is why it took a lapse in concentration on our side and more than 70 minutes for them to get their first goal.

In his postgame news conference, Wenger added: “I feel that we were extremely guilty and have no excuses for that goal”.

“We have a lot of respect for Arsenal because they’re a great team”.

‘Rashford I didn’t know but all the other players I knew.

Keown was a part of some famous title-winning sides during his time with Arsenal.

‘It’s always a hard place to go.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is out for the Gunners with a knee injury suffered against Barca, but Gabriel (hamstring) is in contention and will undergo a late fitness test.