Wenger frustrated by Arsenal´s poor finish

Arsene Wenger has been left frustrated by his Arsenal’s team latest failure to sustain their challenge for major honours at home and abroad.

Arsenal are in action at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, but they would prefer to be contesting the FA Cup final at Wembley the day before.

Wenger’s side bowed out of the competition against Manchester United in the quarter-finals.

They had already suffered a shock defeat to Birmingham in the League Cup final, before also exiting the Champions League against Barcelona for the second successive season.

And a run of frustrating results saw the north London side drop out of contention for the English Premier League title yet again.

“We just felt we could not get over the line,” Wenger said.

“We want to analyse why that was.”

“It is very frustrating for us because we were very close in every competition. We feel very flat because we wanted to be involved in the FA Cup final this weekend.”

“We do not feel that we under-performed overall because we were in the Carling Cup Final, the quarter-final of the FA Cup against Manchester United, we lost three days after Barcelona, so we produced quality games and at the end of the day there are objective signs for us that show we have the quality.”

Boasting some of the more impressive statistics in the Premier League, Wenger believes his team are agonisingly close to finally turning potential into prizes.

“We are the best team in the league away from home and we have the best defence in open play,” he said.

“We feel we have made up some of the gap between us and the top teams from the seasons before – we are top of the league in the top four of Man United, Chelsea and Man City. So we have every reason to be frustrated.”

Wenger thinks Arsenal could still overhaul Chelsea and claim second place, provided other results go their way in the final two matches.

“We can still catch the second place and we can finish second, third or fourth, depending on our results.”

“Of course we want to finish in the top three and if possible second. It is not unrealistic to finish second when you are just three points behind.”

“If Man City can want third place because they are only two points behind, so it’s open.”

Midfielders Cesc Fabregas (thigh) and Samir Nasri (hamstring) are doubts for Villa’s visit to the Emirates Stadium.

Defender Laurent Koscielny (thigh) and midfielders Abou Diaby (calf) and Tomas Rosicky (thigh) are all out.