Arsenal must end trophy drought: Adebayor

Emmanuel Adebayor insists Arsenal must end their four-year trophy drought if they are to reclaim their place among European football’s elite.

Arsene Wenger’s side will attempt to ease their way past Villarreal in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, the first leg ended 1-1, before facing Chelsea in the weekend FA Cup semi-final.

After a troubled campaign, the Gunners have rescued their season on the back of a 17-game unbeaten run.

And Adebayor – who is adamant he is settled at the Emirates Stadium after being strongly linked with a move AC Milan last summer – believes Wenger’s young squad is now ready to step up to the next level and restore the club as a trophy-winning force.

“If you want to be a big club, of course you have to win things, which is normal,” the striker said.

“If most of the people say Manchester United are a big club in Europe, it is because they won the Premier League and the Champions League.

“They are the reasons they are big. We are ready for that. We were unlucky to go out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Liverpool last season. This season we have the chance to do it and just have to take our chances.

“I’ve been here three years and saying we have to win things and achieve things and now I think it is a real chance to win something because we are in the semi-final of the FA Cup and quarter-final of the Champions League. We just have to stand up and go for it.”

The prospect of Arsenal lifting silverware looked remote after the loss of key players Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini last summer and the reports of a dressing room split that followed William Gallas’s demotion as skipper.

Gallas was critical of the efforts of some of his younger colleagues but Adebayor has no doubt that the squad is now fully united – and that he is ready to shoulder the responsibility for scoring the goals that could make the difference of success and failure this year.

He added: “The pressure is there: all the fans, the newspapers, journalists. That is normal. I can understand that.

“For me as a footballer the most important thing is how I am going to help my team to win. We know Villarreal will be one of the toughest games I will have in my life and we will have to give 100 percent. After that we will talk about other things.

“It’s been difficult with all the problems, Hleb going to Barcelona, Matthieu Flamini going to Milan and everything was struggling a little bit, are we going to buy or not, all these thing, myself going or staying.

“I know we’ve had a difficult season in the Premier League, but we’re still in the Champions League, still in the FA Cup and that’s fantastic.

“For me we are now playing quite well and we enjoy playing together as a team, we are as a team and we are back in business, that is the most important thing.”