Wenger eyes more points in title race

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is optimistic about their title challenge coming up to the final furlong in the Premier League.

Arsenal have been eliminated from three competitions this season, losing in the final of the Carling Cup to Birmingham, the Champions League last-16 to Barcelona and a sixth-round FA Cup tie to Manchester United.

But the Gunners have gone on a 12-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and Wenger believes wins will determine the title.

“Our target is to continue our unbeaten run and to win a game, because we haven’t beaten Sunderland, we haven’t beaten West Brom so it’s important for us,” he said.

“Of course it’s good for us to be on an unbeaten run but what will make the difference at the end of the season is three points.”

Wenger was also looking forward to having a less congested fixture list.

“It can be helpful for us, for three months we played every three days. December, January and February we played nine games per month, so in the end it was too much because we lost important players for key games. We now have a week to recover for key games,” he said.

Wenger will be boosted by the returns of captain Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby, Alex Song and Robin Van Persie for the Blackburn clash this weekend and the final run in.

“We are in the final sprint for the championship so you want all your players available,” he said.

“I think what will decide our season now is our performances until the end of the season and therefore you want of course your key players.”

Arsenal will be without long-term injury victims Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Thomas Vermaelen and midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong who are all out for the rest of the season.