Title credentials strengthened, says Wenger

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says his side are showing all the signs of genuine title contenders after their 3-0 win over of Wigan.

Wenger watched his men dismantle Wigan at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, with Robin van Persie firing a hat-trick and missing a penalty in an eventful afternoon.

The result saw Arsenal remain just two points behind Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table, which Wenger says his side are in with a good chance of topping.

“We know we now have eight home games and it’s important to win the home games – then we have a good chance (of winning the title),” Wenger told SkySports.

“We are up for it. We are hungry, we want to do well, we play well so it will be interesting.”

Wenger also admitted he would rest some players for Arsenal’s second-leg Carling Cup semi-final against Ipswich this week, despite the fact his side trails by a goal.

“We rotate from game to game. We play nine games in January which is a historical record for Arsenal.”

“We have a strong squad, some great players have not played today. Some of them might play on Tuesday,” Wenger said. “When you are in many competitions you just think about your next game.”

“We have some knocks and bruises. Fabregas, Nasri, Djourou has a shoulder problem – we will have to assess that on Sunday and Monday.”

“(Lukasz) Fabianski will still be out for Tuesday, (Manuel) Almunia maybe is coming back into the squad on Monday so he will be available.”

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was disappointed with the referee’s decision to send Gary Caldwell off in the second half, when he was adjudged to have fouled Cesc Fabregas in the penalty box.

“I know Cesc very well. He is a wonderful player and very clever, and he knows how to buy decisions off referees,” Martinez said.

“There is contact, but you do not know how much of that comes from Cesc looking for it, or from Gary’s leg. I don’t think that contact is intentional to bring Cesc down.”

“Cesc comes from different culture – you do not cheat, if you take a decision from the referee it is because you are clever and you are getting something for your team.”