Friday 1 May 2015 13:18, UK
Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal would have mounted a sustained push for the Premier League title had his squad not been hampered by injuries in the early part of the season.
The Gunners find themselves 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea who, having drawn 0-0 at the Emirates on Sunday to all-but end Arsenal’s title challenge, moved to within one win of the title with a 3-1 win at Leicester on Wednesday.
Arsenal have fallen victim to a number of long-term injuries setbacks this season, with only three of the Sunday’s starting line-up playing more than 25 Premier League games, compared to ten from Chelsea’s side.
And Wenger maintained his squad could have been challenging Jose Mourinho’s side had they navigated through the season injury-free.
“I think so, but it’s easy to say,” he told Sky Sports. “I’ve said many times we had big injuries at the start of the season after the World Cup.
“It took us some time to find a good balance in the team we dropped some points because of that.
“When you look at games like Stoke away, that was a big disappointment for us. We had a very young defence on the day and that was certainly detrimental to our results.
"But the gap is the gap. They [Chelsea] have been more consistent than us since the start. They had a very strong start and that kept them going until the end."
Early exits from the Capital One Cup and Champions League, coupled with their title challenge falling away, have drawn question marks over Arsenal’s season.
However, with the Gunners on course to finish second in the league and in with a shout of retaining the FA Cup, Wenger argued his side had made progress.
“To look at it in a realistic way, I feel personally that we have progressed so I look at it in a positive way,” Wenger added.
“What you want from a team is to show during a season is to grow together and become better.
“We faced a big challenge because Chelsea, who are in front of us, didn’t drop their level and were more consistent from the start to the end, that’s why we didn’t catch them. But overall we feel we have made progress.”
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