‘Blame me, not the players’ – Arsene Wenger accepts responsibility for Arsenal’s faltering title challenge

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By Greg Stobart at The Reebok Stadium

Arsene Wenger has accepted the blame for Arsenal‘s failure to win the Premier League this season.

The Gunners’ 2-1 defeat at Bolton on Sunday means their title challenge is all but over, as they sit nine points behind leaders Manchester United with four games to play.

And Wenger said: “The players are not to blame. If somebody is to blame, it’s me. I pick the team, I choose the players.

“For me, the players had an outstanding attitude all season.”

Arsenal have failed to win any of their three games in the last seven days – against Liverpool, Tottenham and Bolton – and have won just one of their last nine in all competitions.

The north Londoners’ poor form has resulted in questions over Wenger’s commitment to open attacking football and the lack of a defensive spine in his side.

The Frenchman was eager after the defeat to reiterate his commitment to his principles but admits it has been a ‘frustrating’ season of missed opportunities.

“If you can convince me that my principles are wrong then i’m ready to change,” he said.

“But I feel we try to play football the proper way, like we did today.

“When you don’t win, you are questioned in your principles. You have to take the right distance to see what is right and wrong in what you do.

“It is very frustrating because we should come home this week with nine points and we get two – it’s the story of our season.

“That was one of the easiest run-ins we’ve had for a long time but we didn’t take our chances many times during the season. That’s frustrating because we feel the potential is there.

“We live in a job where you have to take your chances and we still lack maturity, experience, calmness in key situations.”

Tamir Cohen won the game for Bolton with a last-minute header – the hosts’ second goal of the afternoon scored from a corner – and Wenger accepts his side have been too fragile defensively to win the Premier League.

He added: “We have not been stable enough defensively. The numbers are the numbers. We have conceded six goals this week – you cannot afford to concede six goals in three games in April if you want to win the championship.

“Defensively, we were too frail during the season.”