Top-four finish the priority for Arsene Wenger

FA Cup Fifth Round

ABSENT AGAIN: Aaron Ramsey’s latest injury setback has left Arsene Wenger baffled. Picture: Getty

Arsene Wenger claims every Premier League match is like a cup contest for Arsenal in their bid to secure a top-four finish and a place in next season’s Champions League.

The Gunners play Monaco later this month after qualifying for the knockout stages of Europe’s elite competition for a 15th consecutive season, but their participation in next term’s Champions League is in doubt.

Arsenal continue their FA Cup defence in tomorrow’s fifth-round clash with Middlesbrough, but Wenger knows priorities lie elsewhere.

“Our basic (aim) is always to finish in the top four and then win a trophy on top of that,” said Wenger.

“We want always to be in the Champions League and this season it will be very difficult, because it’s very tight — every game now becomes a cup game.”

The FA Cup is a competition Wenger wants to do well in, though.

“We have won (the FA Cup) five times during my period here,” he added.

“Nobody has won it more in the last 18 years, so we have always taken the competition seriously.”

Wenger plans to rotate his options and could give January signing Gabriel Paulista his debut in defence and rest Germany World Cup winner Per Mertesacker.

Wenger has no doubt Gabriel has the ability to swiftly adapt to English football, but the Arsenal boss has concerns that the language barrier could make life difficult.

Gabriel’s English is “very bad”, Wenger said.

“It is a problem,” he added. “When you don’t speak English and you don’t understand ‘Come out, come back, right, left’, it is a problem for a defender.

“You need to know the key words. Offside. Referee. Foul. (But) he has the physicality and motivation. He has an opportunity to show that now.”

Wenger has experienced his own language barrier before, when he was boss of Grampus Eight in Japan, and sympathises with Gabriel, while stating there is one major plus of not knowing the lingo.

“The players are always under tremendous pressure because everything they do is analysed by the pundits and the press,” Wenger added.

“The modern player has to live with that — resistance to stress has to be stronger than it was. He (Gabriel) will not read the press. He will just focus on his game.”

Wenger has confidence his Arsenal squad has the strength to challenge on three fronts as he searches for an explanation for Aaron Ramsey’s latest injury.

“We have the squad to do it,” Wenger said. “How dedicated, how focused, how motivated, how united we’ll be until the end of the season will decide that.”

It was a Ramsey goal which ended Wenger and Arsenal’s nine-year wait for silverware at Wembley last May, but their bid to retain the trophy continues without the Wales midfielder.

The 24-year-old appeared as asecond-half substitute for Tuesday night’s Premier League win over Leicester, but was replaced after only nine minutes due to a hamstring problem.

Ramsey’s promising career has been punctuated by injury and Wenger believes there is a reason Arsenal are still to discover.

“We haven’t found the underlying reason,” Wenger said. “There’s no obvious reason why he should have muscular problems.”

Forward Alexis Sanchez may also be absent tomorrow after receiving a blow to the knee against Leicester, but Wenger could have midfielder Jack Wilshere available after a lengthy spell out following ankle surgery.

Wenger refuses to underestimate Boro, conquerors of Manchester City in the last round as part of the Championship leaders’ 10-game unbeaten run.

“We will not have the excuse to be surprised because they beat City in a convincing way,” Wenger said. “That is a good warning for us.”

Boro boss Aitor Karanka is looking to maintain the form that has pushed his side top of the Championship.

He said: “When you are on a good run, it’s always important to keep going in the same way.”