Arsene Wenger (left) still believes he can turn Arsenal's season around. Photo / Getty Images
Arsene Wenger (left) still believes he can turn Arsenal's season around. Photo / Getty Images
Arsene Wenger has told his players they must prove they belong at Arsenal amid a lengthy dressing-room inquest following Friday's 3-0 defeat by Manchester City.
It was Arsenal's joint heaviest Premier League loss at the Emirates and it is understood Wenger told the group their futures were collectively on the line and that they must unite following a sequence of seven defeats in eight weeks.
Arsenal supporters had earlier sung "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the players and Wenger then also said that they must all "show you have the level to be at Arsenal Football Club".
Wenger is understood to have included himself in that assessment and, while he has become increasingly concerned about the team's confidence, still believes the season can be salvaged.
"I am always ready for a fight — I am of course very disappointed but I have experienced these situations before," he said.
The mood inside the dressing-room on Thursday was not angry but there was a frank assessment of the challenge that now awaits as Wenger kept broadcasters and media waiting for their post-match interviews.
Majority owner Stan Kroenke has always been fully supportive of Wenger — and his son Josh, who is a director and expected eventually to take control of the club, has been in London recently to spend additional day-to-day time around Arsenal.
Wenger's position will be reviewed by the club at the end of the season and, while Arsenal have already begun assessing potential replacements for when their longest serving and most successful ever manager does leave, all options remain open.
I have been in these situations in my life and I know what it takes. It is the experience and the desire to change.
Kroenke jnr is due to return for another spell in London shortly and, in an interview on Thursday with ESPN basketball journalist Adrian Wojnarowski on the Woj Pod, he discussed more generally his family's approach to sports ownership.
The Kroenkes also own NFL, NBA, MLS and ice hockey teams and, in explaining how their different sports franchises might interact, he emphasised the importance of being realistic about a team's situation.
"We have a saying over at Arsenal — it's, 'victory through harmony'," he said. "I think that victory through harmony can take a lot of meanings but, for me, victory through harmony comes through communication.
"I harp on about that through all our different teams — you've got to have open and honest dialogue about the reality of everything we're in because if we are sugar coating anything about ourselves, about our team, about our direction, we're only kidding ourselves and we were going to be worse off for it in the long run.
"Open communication is one my fundamental principles," said Kroenke jnr in the interview.
Arsenal supporters demonstrated their apathy on Friday when swathes of the Emirates remained empty and, while the extremely cold weather was part of the explanation, the club know that recent form is also a factor.
Fans will be canvassed on what should happen next at a meeting tomorrow of the Arsenal Supporters' Trust that will also be attended by Lee Dixon, who was part of Wenger's Premier League title winning teams in 1998 and 2002.
There is a theory the club could be galvanised by an early announcement on Wenger's future but, with the Europa League potentially still offering a route back into the Champions League, Arsenal are highly unlikely to make sudden decisions.
Their Europa League last 16 tie against AC Milan over the next two Fridays, however, is assuming vital importance.
Wenger is confident he can oversee a dramatic upturn in form, just as he did last season in winning the FA Cup and nine of the last 10 games before signing a two-year contract extension.
"Yes, of course," he said. "I have been in these situations in my life and I know what it takes. It is the experience and the desire to change things. Does that desire still burn as strongly? Of course."
Wenger hopes midfielder Jack Wilshere will be available against Brighton when Arsenal will be aiming for only a fourth Premier League away win this season.
They are sixth in the Premier League table, 10 points behind fourth-placed north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who also have a far superior goal difference.
