Sokratis Papastathopoulos has admitted Arsenal’s players are furious at their poor away form but backed his team-mates to bounce back with a perfect end to their Premier League campaign.
The Gunners were 3-0 down at half-time against Wolves last night before Sokratis scored with a header 10 minutes from time.
Arsenal remain a point outside the top four in fifth place, after Manchester United lost 2-0 to Manchester City at Old Trafford, and play at Leicester on Sunday before concluding their domestic campaign with a home game against Brighton and a final day visit to Burnley.
Unai Emery’s side have kept just one League clean sheet on the road this season and picked up fewer points (22) than Crystal Palace (26), Leicester (25) and Watford (23) on their travels.
When asked whether the players got angry with each other in processing their ninth Premier League defeat of the campaign, Sokratis told Standard Sport: “Of course, of course, but the players first they like to play Champions League, they like to win but it is not easy.
“[Wednesday night] was a bad moment for us. We cannot change it now. So we look forward to the next game. All the players take responsibility. We are not stupid. We know that we didn’t play good. We have to win all the games and be there.
“Maybe a little bit [of the problem is physical and mental] but it is not time to have excuses. We have to look forward: three games more. We need to win all the games and get nine points and we’ll see if we can be in the top four. I trust 100 per cent my team and the players and I think we can do it.”
Arsenal also have a two-legged Europa League semi-final against Valencia to come, with a possible final against Chelsea in Baku at the end of May, but Sokratis warned they cannot afford to rely on winning the competition to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“For us we have to be in the best four teams in the Premier League and then after to win also the Europa League,” he said. “We cannot wait only for our one chance. We have two chances and we have to fight for both.
“Leicester is another difficult game and if we face [it] like this, we will lose. It’s clear. It is not the problem of the coach, the system, it is nothing. It is just us. We have to win the next [League] three games and it is finished.”
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