Arsene Wenger Confident Arsenal Can Salvage Their Season After Loss vs. City

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is confident the club can turn the remainder of their season around, despite witnessing his side lose 3-0 to Manchester City for the second time in five days on Thursday. 

The Frenchman was asked if the campaign can be salvaged after the result left them in sixth place in the Premier League, 10 points behind bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who occupy fourth place. 

Per Sky Sports, Wenger said:

"Yes. We want to focus on the next game and continue to put in the effort we put in tonight.

"We played twice against certainly the best side in the country at the moment and that was of course difficult for us because we didn't have a good performance in the first game.

"But we have quality and we want to show that."

It was a somewhat improved performance from the Gunners compared to the Carabao Cup final, but it was also a much stronger showing from City, who barely had to get out of second gear to outclass Arsenal in the first match.

The Sky Blues were sensational at the Emirates Stadium and were 3-0 up after 33 minutes thanks to goals from Bernardo Silva, David Silva and Leroy Sane.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had the chance to spark hopes of a comeback after Henrikh Mkhitaryan was fouled in the penalty area in the 53rd minute, but he missed the resulting spot-kick.

Football writer James McNicholas believed the result was the culmination of the Gunners' decline under Wenger:

Speaking on Sky Sports, pundit Jamie Carragher also discussed the supporters' feelings towards the manager:

Wenger believes the team's failure to challenge City is due to a crisis of confidence in the squad. He said:

"You come up by the stairs and go down by the lift. That's what is confidence. That's the level you have to show to play for Arsenal.

"When your confidence is low the first thing that goes is the fluidity and movement—the spontaneous side of the game. You could see that tonight. I don't deny City's quality, but we're going through a difficult patch. That's part of football. We must stay united inside and focus on the next game and put the effort in."

The Gunners have lost seven of 13 matches in 2018 and have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 league games.

Football.London's Charles Watts believes Wenger no longer has the players' full support:

He did not make a single substitution during Thursday's defeat, which ESPN FC's Mattias Karen took as a sign:

Wenger believes in himself to turn things around, though. "Yes, of course," he added. "Confidence is that you know that you have done it before. My confidence is in the quality of the players."

Normally, such an attitude would be admirable in the face of adversity, but Wenger's self-belief has seen him remain at the club long after the decline under his management began.

His confidence may also be Arsenal's downfall once more this season, as his refusal to concede the top four is out of reach could result in him not giving the UEFA Europa League the focus it deserves.

Winning the competition is the Gunners' only chance of finishing the campaign on a high with some silverware and most likely their only way back into the UEFA Champions League given the gap between them and their domestic rivals.

Arsenal are among the better sides remaining in the competition and so can have realistic ambitions of lifting the trophy, but it will require them to prioritise it over the Premier League, and Wenger seems unwilling to do that.