Wenger – Why February is a big month for us

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed that February will prove a big month for the club, as they bid to prove their title credentials.

The Gunners had a relatively poor January, having not won their previous three Premier League games, gaining just two points and losing at home to Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea.

With the north London side facing their best opportunity to win the top English division in over 10 seasons, and a number of players fighting their way back from injury in the coming weeks, Wenger, as reported by the club’s official website, believes that the upcoming month is a ‘big one’ for his side.

Arsenal fixtures in February:

– Southampton (h)
– Bournemouth (a)
– Leicester (h)
– Hull (h)
– Barcelona (h)
– Manchester United (a)#afc

— Read Arsenal (@ReadArsenalFC) February 1, 2016

The [coming weeks] can be pivotal but not decisive.

They will give a clear indication of the strength of the teams and who can cope with the importance of the games. At the end of the day somebody will win and the team who will win has to go through the important games with strong performances.

It’s a big month for us. I am quite confident, having everybody available, that we can do very well. What is important now is for us to be capable of focusing and coping with that kind of expectation level.

I don’t feel that we have really struggled recently because we had two difficult away games with Stoke and Liverpool and we didn’t lose. We had a bad result against Chelsea and of course, if you put the three results together, it looks like we’ve struggled but overall the Chelsea result is under special circumstances.

If you take the history of our season, we started with a defeat against West Ham and the way we responded and where we are today shows that this team has the capability of responding under pressure. I’m sure that we will show that in February.

Arsenal face Southampton on Tuesday night, before travelling south to face newly promoted Bournemouth and then welcome the visit of surprise league leaders Leicester City.

The Gunners also have the return of the UEFA Champions League to think about, with Lionel Messi and co. making the trip to north London.