Wenger looks to maintain momentum against Burnley

Arsene Wenger is hoping he will not have to deliver another blast at his players when they take on Burnley on Wednesday looking to maintain the momentum that has put them back in the Premier League title race.

Wenger was credited with inspiring the Gunners to a 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday with a half-time tirade in the dressing room.

But he admits that such an approach cannot work all the time or with every player.

“As a manager, you must first of all love to help people, to give them a chance in life, and to develop players, then you must have a big resistance to stress – all the rest, you learn,” the Frenchman reflected on Tuesday.

“It has always been the same. Every player is under big pressure, despite the fact they are idolised, they need help. At a young age, people treat you like a mature man, but you are not.”

With Chelsea and Manchester United both dropping points at the weekend, Arsenal are back within striking distance of the leaders and Wenger expects the title race to remain wide open for the rest of the season.

“Instead of having four teams, I believe you have six, seven or eight teams who can all cause a surprise at any weekend.

“Things change very quickly. What looks for definite in this league is just short-term. No situation is definitely established.

“Chelsea looked to be running away with it two weeks ago, today it is different. That is why, certainly since I have been here, this is the most open championship.”

Wenger believes the weekend’s events will have sent out a message that his current crop of Arsenal stars are more resilient than they have been given credit for, but he underlined the importance of not letting performance levels slip against Burnley.

“If we have learned one thing from the beginning of the season until now, it is that every single team has to be considered very seriously and we have to be highly committed and focused,” he added.

Midwinter fixtures in England’s northwest have proved something of a minefield for Arsenal in the past with Bolton and Blackburn notably adopting a physical approach that has infuriated Wenger.

But Burnley boss Owen Coyle insists his players will attempt to take on the Londoners at their own game as they seek to repeat last season’s League Cup win over them.

The Scotsman said: “If you watch our team, we look to play football. We don’t have overly-physical players in our team.

“We like to think we are competitive but there has always been good football in games between ourselves and Arsenal and I don’t see any reason why that should be any different tomorrow night.”

Burnley have lost just once at Turf Moor this season and memorably took all three points against Manchester United at the start of the campaign.

“Derby were relegated with 11 points with double the budget that we have got so we are doing this against all the odds,” Coyle said.

“We know we have moved the goalposts in terms of expectation now, but we have only spent four milion pounds to assemble this team, which is the smallest budget known to the Premier League and the players have not had the credit they deserve.”

He added: “We have shown at Turf Moor in particular we can go toe to toe with the very best and we are sitting here with 18 points having worked our socks off to get them.”