Manager Arsene Wenger understands how Arsenal could have become complacent in expecting Champions League football as an automatic right, but warned it is ‘vital’ that the Gunners fight for their place in next season’s competition.
Arsenal will host West Ham on Tuesday night looking to move themselves above Everton on the back of what was a nerve-shredding FA Cup semi-final win over Wigan on penalties at Wembley.
Wenger feels his squad – which could well see the return of both Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere in time for the final on May 17 – have the needed character to see off the Toffees’ challenge and secure another crack at elite European football in 2014/2015.
Arsenal have played in the Champions League now for some 16 consecutive campaigns, an achievement which Wenger has always stressed was imperative to the club as they moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium if all played out under the spectre of what is now almost a decade without silverware.
“Maybe yes, we felt anyway ‘that is done’,” said Wenger, when asked if the squad had assumed they would be playing in the Champions League again.
“We have had a difficult schedule (this season) and the weight of a negative result, the mental aspect of a negative result in a big game, is massive. To deal with that is very difficult and when you have a succession of big games one after the other, if you lose the first one you are always in trouble.”
Wenger has often been lambasted for regarding a top-four finish as the minimum requirement at the start of the season, above winning a trophy.