London, Oct 26 (IANS): Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has asserted that his players are confident of winning the English Premier League (EPL) title this season.
Arsenal, who last won the Premiership in the 2003-04 season, are currently in second place on the EPL table. They are level on points with league leaders Manchester City, but trail them on goal difference.
The EPL win over Everton last Saturday in particular, has pleased Wenger who was all praise for the Arsenal midfield. That victory saw the Gunners climb to the top of the table -- albeit only until Manchester City regained the top spot after their goalless draw with Manchester United on Sunday -- for the first time since February last year.
Two moments of high quality inside three minutes, courtesy of assists from midfielders Mesut Özil and Santi Cazorla for Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny respectively, settled the issue in favour of Arsenal.
"They are all on board and they have the belief. Cazorla won many balls and blocked many tackles, even Özil. Once you have that in the team, it is not easy to get it, but it shows the belief is there and then you need enough humility to keep it in there. You need to convince the players that you have to work hard to win football games in the Premier League and that you need all 11 to do that," the Frenchman was quoted as saying by the Guardian on Sunday.
Wenger's views were echoed by Giroud who felt that the current squad has a belief and team spirit that was missing in previous seasons.
"I think we are stronger mentally this year. We are all fighting for each other. We have a great togetherness and we want to achieve big things all together. We are showing a lot of leadership, we have team meetings and we all want to contribute and bring qualities to the big matches. We are all looking in the same direction and we know we need to be 100 percent in every game," the centre forward said.
"If someone is a bit tired then someone else will battle and fight for each other. That’s the mentality we need to show through the season. If we carry on like that then we will be difficult to beat," he added.