Wenger tips Arsenal response

Arsene Wenger is convinced Arsenal can bounce back from their shock Carling Cup defeat to Ipswich and get their title hopes back on track against West Ham.

The north London club were the strong favourites to beat the Championship side in the first leg of the semi-final but suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at Portman Road.

Wenger is adamant that his players have not been affected by the result and they will show their quality once again in a big London derby at Upton Park.

Arsenal are just four points behind leaders Manchester United and Wenger feels they have the belief to challenge for major silverware this season.

“We were not at our best against Ipswich and we completely accept that. It can happen. We play so many games that sometimes even if you don’t want it to happen we are below-par. We are conscious of that,” Wenger said.

“We are on a good run in the Premier League and we want to continue that. We have produced fantastic games, quality-wise, during the Christmas period. I think we switched off a bit mentally during the Cup games, I am confident we will switch on against West Ham.”

“We have belief. We are on a good run in the Premier League, we believe in our strengths, that is why it is always important to respond strongly to disappointments.”

Wenger is well aware that his team need to improve on their defensive qualities if they are to maintain their challenge for the Premier League title this season.

“I have seen many games where it is the Achilles’ heel of any team – we have to deal with that and we wanted to deal with that at Ipswich,” he said.

‘That was the only problem we faced and they did that in a consistent way – we had 70 percent of the ball and when you have that you want to create more than we did.”

Wenger will be without keeper Lukasz Fabianski who has a shoulder injury, while Sebastien Squillaci is sidelined with a hamstring injury. Bacary Sagna is also missing through suspension.