Wenger sees promising signs of title bid

Arsene Wenger has backed his current crop of Arsernal youngsters to emulate the club’s most successful sides.

Wenger has built three title-winning teams during his 14-year reign at the north London club and he is beginning to see signs that his present group are good enough to follow in the footsteps of Arsenal legends like Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp.

It is five years since Arsenal last won a major trophy but the Gunners have been in fine form of late and sit second in the Premier League table – five points behind leaders Chelsea – going into Saturday’s London derby against West Ham at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger’s team crushed Newcastle 4-0 in the League Cup on Wednesday to maintain the confidence created by last weekend’s 3-0 win at Manchester City, which followed a 5-1 rout of Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.

After being written off in pre-season, Wenger believes his team, with Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin all in fine form, are close to fulfilling their potential at last.

“I feel the ingredients of teams which I had before who were successful are in there,” he said. “It is just how much we can get them out and of course we need to keep all of our players fit.

“There is a lot more to come out of this team. As long as the attitude is right and at the end of the season when you look back you think; ‘This team has given absolutely everything they could’, you will be proud of them.”

Wenger concedes that winning any trophy this season would be a step in the right direction after that barren run since lifting the FA Cup in 2005 and he doesn’t want to settle for anything less than a sustained challenge for the Premier League and Champions League.

“There are some basics which have to be respected,” he said. “It is important that priorities are there. For us it is vital to always be at the top level, and the top level is being in the Champions League.

“If you ask all of our fans, they will want to win every single trophy. They will not rule out the Champions League, nor the championship, and for me they are right, because I am exactly the same, which is why I say let’s give our best in every single competition and see where we stand at the end of the season.”