Wenger to extend Arsenal contract: The case for and against

Arsene Wenger 'ready for a fight' as FA Cup semi-final looms

21 April

Arsenal's season, and perhaps Arsene Wenger's job, depend on the outcome of Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. See off the Sky Blues and progress to the Wembley final next month and some of the pressure will ease on the Frenchman. Lose and Arsenal will finish the season with nothing for the second year running.

Worse, they're unlikely to have even the consolation of qualifying for next season's Champions League given that they lie sixth, seven points off the all-important fourth spot.

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Currently, it's City who occupy fourth and they, too, know how crucial is Sunday's game. Pep Guardiola's first season in charge at the Etihad has not gone according to plan, and the FA Cup also represents City's only chance of silverware this season.

But at least the Spaniard will be given another season to show what he can do, which might not be the case for Wenger after 21 years at Arsenal. "The FA Cup is a very important game for me... because it's an opportunity to win a trophy this season," Wenger said at the pre-match press conference, reports CityAM. "So of course we are all fully focused on that."

He refused to be drawn on any questions about his future, saying only: "My future is Sunday. My commitment is total and I am only focused on Arsenal."

The FA Cup is the one competition that Wenger can look back on with pride since becoming Arsenal manager in 1996. Although he won three Premier League titles in his first eight years at the club, the last of those crowns was in 2004, and since then it's been one disappointment after another. The same goes for the Champions League, with a runners-up medal in 2006 the only time the Gunners have come close to winning Europe's showpiece tournament.

But Wenger has six FA Cup victories to his credit, the first in 1998 against Newcastle, and the most recent the 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa two years ago. If Wenger can lead his side to a seventh, it will take the club's total number of FA Cup victories to 13, one more than Manchester United, who currently share with the Gunners the most wins in the competition.

"We are ambitious because we have done it before and we know we can do it," said Wenger in response to a question about making it a lucky 13 of titles. "In the previous semi-finals, we were super favourites, but in this game it is between two teams who are very close to each other in the Premier League so it is much more level on chances at the start. We know we absolutely have to be at our best to qualify.”

Wenger's squad returned to winning ways on Monday, beating Middlesbrough to record only their second win in five matches, and the Gunners did so by playing three at the back, the first time they've used such a formation for 20 years. Asked if he intended to repeat the strategy against Manchester City, Wenger said: “It is an option, yes. But… you will understand that I won’t tell you now. It was more designed to give us a bit more defensive solidity because recently away from home we conceded too many goals.”

Asked whether he would prefer the FA Cup or a top four Premier League finish, Wenger sidestepped the question with a dexterity rarely seen on the field by his players this season. "We are not in a position to make a choice, we have this game, it is a semi final," he said. "We have to give everything to get to the final… it is a good opportunity to show how much we are ready for a fight."

Arsenal face 'brutal' end to the season with five games in 14 days

12 April

Arsene Wenger's reign at Arsenal could end with a rush and a push after it was confirmed that the Gunners will face five games in the final 14 days of the season.

Rescheduled fixtures against Southampton and Sunderland were announced on Wednesday, with the game against Saints, postponed because of their appearance in the EFL Cup final, moved to 10 May and the match against the Black Cats to be played on 16 May because of the Gunners' appearance in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Consequently, Arsenal play Manchester United at home on Sunday 7 May, visit Southampton three days later, then travel to Stoke the following Saturday, before finishing the season with home games against Sunderland and Everton.

The Daily Telegraph describes it as a "brutal run of fixtures" which begins a week after Arsenal face rampant Spurs at White Hart Lane.

"If Arsenal's mission to earn Champions League qualification once again wasn't hard enough, it has now got even tougher," says the Daily Mail.

"This will come as very unwelcome news to Arsenal fans, the manager and the board as they look to overcome the odds and secure Champions League football for a 20th season running."

The game against Stoke will be shown on Sky. "It's as if television producers can see a script," says the Stoke Sentinal. "The pressure has been steadily building on Arsene Wenger... and his last away game of the season is at his own personal hell, Stoke."

The fixture pile-up creates even more pressure for the under-fire manager, who "has ceased to represent the safe, sensible option for an Arsenal board who treasure nothing more than stability", says Oliver Kay of The Times. "Results are suffering, his regime is crumbling, the mood is toxic and, where once Wenger was the figure who unified the club, now, sadly, he is the subject of divisions and rancour.

"If the worry has long been that Arsenal would fall into decline when Wenger departs, the inescapable truth is that it is already happening."

'Civil war' at Arsenal as fans fight over Arsene Wenger

4 April

Arsenal host West Ham United on Wednesday evening in a match that promises to an explosive encounter, off it the field if not on it.

With Arsenal having won just one of their last six Premier league games the fans have taken to creating their own entertainment by fighting each other. The spark? A certain Arsene Wenger.

The Frenchman is an increasingly divisive figure at the Emirates now, with 'Wenger In' and 'Wenger Out' camps at each other's throats. Protests first emerged a couple of seasons ago, gathering pace last year and culminating in a damp squib of a protest during a league match against Norwich.

This season, however, the demonstrators have grown in number as the club faces a 13th consecutive year without a league title. To compound the supporters' discontent, Arsenal look unlikely to maintain their record of qualifying for the Champions League for the last 19 seasons.

Last week a survey by the influential Arsenal Supporters' Trust found that 78 per cent of its membership wanted Wenger to quit at the end of the season.

It's all become too much for some fans, and while an estimated 1,000 marched to the Emirates before Sunday's match against Manchester City, inside the stadium scuffles broke out among rival factions.

Describing the scenes as "a civil war", the Daily Mail showed footage of the fighting on its website, including a confrontation outside the ground when a group of pro-Wenger fans squared up to members of ArsenalFanTV, a popular Youtube channel which has been prominent in its criticism of Wenger.

Meanwhile two members of the 2003-04 Invincibles squad have rallied to the support of their former manager. Speaking to ESPN, Gilberto Silva said Wenger didn't deserve the opprobrium on account of what he'd done for the club in the past: "[He's] someone who changed Arsenal's history, who put Arsenal on a different level in terms of philosophy and methodology," said Silva. "Where Arsenal were when he arrived, there wasn't even a proper training centre, and today there's a great training centre."

Asked what he thought of the fans protests, the Brazilian replied: "I find it a little bit ungrateful, in a way, because people forget what he did, where he took the club from and put it on a totally different stage... on my part, I'd like him to stay. At least for another year."

And there were similar sentiments from Gael Clichy, who spent eight years at Arsenal before joining Manchester City in 2011. "The manager does not really deserve what he is getting," the defender, who played for City in Sunday's 2-2 draw at the Emirates, told The Guardian. “You always want something new when you are used to something and what you get is probably most of the time not better than what you have, so you have to be careful what you wish for... I don't think many managers could have done what he has in the last ten years."

Which, as a 'Go Wenger' supporter might ask, is what exactly? In the past ten years Arsenal have won two FA Cups, and when Clichy left the club they hadn't won anything for six years. "I want to win things," he said in 2011, when asked why he'd joined City.

And he did, helping the Sky Blues to two league titles and two league cups. Clichy should perhaps consider himself fortunate he had the option of leaving Wenger; Arsenal fans don't.

Man City result will decide whether Wenger stays at Arsenal

30 March

Arsenal face Manchester City on Sunday in a game that could have a huge significance for the club's future as the result could determine the fate of Arsene Wenger.

The Gunners manager is out of contract at the end of season and under intense pressure to step down after another season of underachievement. However, the 67-year-old has been tipped to sign a new two-year deal.

Despite saying he has made up his mind over his future, he has yet to publicly announce his decision. That could be because the City game will be the deciding factor, reports the Daily Star.

"A good result at The Emirates would boost Arsenal's top four hopes and is likely to prompt Wenger to announce he will sign a new contract," it says. "But another defeat is likely to pave the way for the Frenchman to announce he will leave at the end of the season."

That scenario was reinforced on Thursday, when Wenger made it clear he wanted to see how "professional" his players would be in Sunday's match.

The Gunners have lost four of their past five league games and there are rumours that some stars, notably Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, want to leave. There have also been claims that uncertainty over Wenger's future has destabilised the club. Against that backdrop, the manager may well be watching to see if he still has the trust of his players.

But he said: "Being professional is to perform on the football pitch and not to find escape excuses where I think there are none."

He dropped another hint when he said his future was "a subject that is not completely sorted", despite his previous assertions.

With defeat possibly leaving Arsenal in seventh place in the league, it is clear the game "is vital on many levels", says The Guardian, which adds that his message ahead of the match was clear: "The players had to show their steel."

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