As Liverpool and Arsenal prepared for a night that will shape their seasons, Arsene Wenger insisted that his side were still fighting to win both the Premier League and the Champions League.
Some 48 hours after he virtually conceded the title, the Arsenal manager presented a bold statement of his belief in a team that is under extreme pressure. "I think we will finish as champions," he said before the second leg of tonight's Champions League quarter-final at Anfield.
"But it will be compulsory for us to win at Old Trafford and if I did not think we could win the Champions League, I would not be sat here at this press conference."
However, having gone to the San Siro and knocked out the European champions, AC Milan, in the previous round, Wenger believes Arsenal are capable of beating any team in the world.
''A similar spirit to the one we showed in Milan is needed and wanted," he said, adding that Cesc Fabregas, who has lost form since his heroic performance in Milan, "still had enough in the tank".
Wenger rejected a jibe from Rafa Benitez that his Arsenal side could no longer hide behind the argument that they were young and inexperienced.
The Liverpool manager pointed to half-a-dozen of Wenger's players being almost veterans by European standards.
"We are young, still very young," said Wenger.
"You cannot convince me otherwise. Adebayor is young, Fabregas is young. They'll be better in two or three more years because they'll be even more experienced. And they'll still be very young then."
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