Gunners fired up again: Wenger

Arsenal 3 Blackburn 0

Wenger admitted Thierry Henry is expected to be missing from Wednesday’s game at Stamford Bridge with the groin injury that ruled him out of their FA Cup semi-final win against Blackburn.

However, even though Sol Campbell and Freddie Ljungberg could also be absent, the Arsenal boss is full of confidence about his side’s chances of interrupting Chelsea’s apparent march to the title.

Having gone through the last league campaign unbeaten, he declared: “I must say the most difficult thing when you’ve had an exceptional season is the season after. No matter what you do, it’s not good enough.

“We climbed Everest but, at some stage, you have to come down again. Then you have to go up again and that takes a while.”

Wenger therefore believes his players must prove at Stamford Bridge that Chelsea have not begun a new era of domination in English football.

“That’s what I deeply feel. You can see that in the way we play now,” he said.

“For a while, we were a bit disturbed but I feel that the team have found a good solidarity and unity again. This is a good occasion to show that. It will be a good game as we have a good belief and a good confidence, as Chelsea do.

“Although we’re proud to be in the FA Cup final again, the championship is the most important every year and we want to finish as close as we can to Chelsea.”

Henry’s presence would certainly help, even if Arsenal coped well without him against Blackburn, with Robert Pires on target and substitute Robin van Persie scoring twice.

However, when asked if his leading scorer would again be absent on Wednesday, Wenger admitted: “In my opinion, yes. We will miss him as he’s an exceptional player and you can’t replace him. But we can do more collectively and try to compensate.”

It remains to be seen whether Campbell is recalled at Stamford Bridge for the first time since February 1 after injury, with Arsenal having conceded just one goal in their past eight games.

Wenger revealed: “Sol is fit but I don’t know whether I will start with him. I feel that he needs to play again to find his level and get his confidence back. He is still not completely 100% with his ankle.”

Even if they win at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal’s deficit will still be eight points with just five games left, and the title is realistically beyond them. But even after going out of the Champions League in the last 16, Wenger refuses to concede this season has been one setback after another, with an FA Cup final to now look forward to.

“With the problems we’ve had this season and the experienced players we’ve been without, I still feel we’ve done remarkably well, apart from going out in Europe,” he said.

“We’ve got 70 points in the league, we’re in the FA Cup final, we’ve scored more goals than last season and we’ve played many young players. That’s why I still feel the season is more positive than negative.”