Wenger blames pitches for title loss

ARSENE WENGER believes Arsenal’s title challenge suffered over the winter months - because the bad condition of the pitches harmed their passing game more than Chelsea’s.

Wenger claims that only now, with the pitches in better condition, can Arsenal impose themselves on opponents with their one-touch football.

And he has argued that it was their inability to grind out 1-0 wins, as Chelsea managed to do earlier this season, which effectively cost them the chance of retaining their league title.

Wenger said: “In November to January, I feel that you cannot play with the same quality of passing as you can in March or April as the grass and pitches are not as good.

“You need perfect pitches to play how we did against Spurs. Otherwise, you lose a fraction of a second and the opponents can recover in time.”

Indeed, Wenger believes that the climate may also have contributed to Jose Antonio Reyes’ loss of form after a stunning start to the season, with the Spaniard only now looking back to his best.

“With him, it might also be a climate problem. Seville or Bolton in winter is a big difference!” he remarked.

The onset of winter also coincided with Arsenal’s morale-sapping defeat at Old Trafford on October 24, which brought their 49-game unbeaten league run to an end.

And this, coupled with injuries to key players such as Patrick Vieira, Gilberto, Edu and Sol Campbell, ensured that Arsenal’s defensive record duly suffered.

However, now their confidence is renewed, Wenger insists that Arsenal, who kept their ninth clean sheet in 10 games in their 1-0 win against Tottenham, are back on a level with Chelsea again.

He maintained: “The confidence is high and we have a good defensive stability.

“But between November, December and January, we lost the title as we couldn’t win 1-0.

The gap to leaders Chelsea still stands at 11 points, with four games left, but Wenger stressed that Jose Mourinho’s side had built up an “exceptional total.”

He added: “We won the title with 78 points in 1998 and we have 74 points now with four games left.

“Chelsea have an exceptional total and we have to respect that. But I feel we have closed the gap, we have improved in the past three months and have come up again.

“Our points total would put us top of most other leagues in Europe, but Chelsea have even more. It doesn’t mean we have to give up yet though.”

The winning points totals in the era of a 20-team Premiership have been:

2005 - Chelsea 85 points from 34 games; 2004 - Arsenal 90; 2003 - Man Utd 83; 2002 - Arsenal 87; 2001 - Man Utd 80; 2000 - Man Utd 91; 1999 - Man Utd 79; 1998 - Arsenal 78; 1997 - Man Utd 75; 1996 - Man Utd 82.