WENGER - GUNNERS MORE AT HOME NOW
Arsene Wenger intends for Arsenal to put the squeeze on teams at Emirates Stadium next season to force their way back into title contention.
The Gunners could yet finish third in the Barclays Premiership if they better Liverpool's result when they travel to Portsmouth on the final day of the campaign.
However, there remains a feeling of underachievement within the Arsenal camp, having ended another season without silverware.
Although reaching the Carling Cup final with a youthful squad may well bode well for the future, Wenger knows his first-team players must become more consistent to close the gap on the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as pressing for honours in the Champions League.
Part of the problem this season, in the Premiership at least, has been dropping too many points at their new Emirates Stadium home.
Converting those six draws into victories would have lifted the Gunners into contention for second place, albeit still lagging behind United because of seven costly away defeats.
Wenger believes things will be different next season, his men now familiar with the impressive surroundings of the 60,000-seater venue.
"Now we feel we are nearly there, not completely, but we feel much more at home now," said the Arsenal boss, whose men drew 1-1 with Chelsea on Sunday to end the visitors' own title hopes.
"At the start of the season we allowed too much space to our opponents, and we do not do that as much anymore.
"It is true that we have scored a lot of different types of goals here to the ones we scored at Highbury.
"We scored a lot more counter-attacking, direct goals there, because at Emirates teams have more time to regroup behind the ball. Also they tend to play 4-5-1 more here because they do not want to leave as much space for us to exploit.
Wenger added: "The size of the pitch has affected the way Arsenal have played this season too. More
The Gunners could yet finish third in the Barclays Premiership if they better Liverpool's result when they travel to Portsmouth on the final day of the campaign.
However, there remains a feeling of underachievement within the Arsenal camp, having ended another season without silverware.
Although reaching the Carling Cup final with a youthful squad may well bode well for the future, Wenger knows his first-team players must become more consistent to close the gap on the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as pressing for honours in the Champions League.
Part of the problem this season, in the Premiership at least, has been dropping too many points at their new Emirates Stadium home.
Converting those six draws into victories would have lifted the Gunners into contention for second place, albeit still lagging behind United because of seven costly away defeats.
Wenger believes things will be different next season, his men now familiar with the impressive surroundings of the 60,000-seater venue.
"Now we feel we are nearly there, not completely, but we feel much more at home now," said the Arsenal boss, whose men drew 1-1 with Chelsea on Sunday to end the visitors' own title hopes.
"At the start of the season we allowed too much space to our opponents, and we do not do that as much anymore.
"It is true that we have scored a lot of different types of goals here to the ones we scored at Highbury.
"We scored a lot more counter-attacking, direct goals there, because at Emirates teams have more time to regroup behind the ball. Also they tend to play 4-5-1 more here because they do not want to leave as much space for us to exploit.
Wenger added: "The size of the pitch has affected the way Arsenal have played this season too. More
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