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Wenger driven by Carling Cup pain

Arsene Wenger is aiming to guide Arsenal into a third Carling Cup final © PA Photos

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Arsene Wenger revealed last season's Carling Cup final defeat to Birmingham will forever haunt the Arsenal manager.

Wenger last guided the Gunners to a trophy in 2005, but the Frenchman was expected to end the drought in February, only for Obafemi Martins' 89th-minute goal to shatter the dreams of the Arsenal faithful.

Arsenal's hunt for Carling Cup redemption resumes on Tuesday as they welcome Bolton hoping to reach the quarter-finals, and Wenger admits he is spurred on by the anguish of their last campaign.

"It will hurt me forever because we never forget disappointments," he said. "That's part of life at a managerial level, you do not only have successes but disappointments too.

"People forget that we did fight very hard to get there and overall we produced great performances in the Carling Cup last year. That's very important as well.

"There is hunger in this team no matter what competition. We want to do well in the Carling Cup, the championship, the Champions League, in every single competition.

"I don't question the hunger of my team, they have an exceptional attitude. You can see now at the Emirates that our fans are behind the team because the attitude of the players is right."

Wenger could also be boosted this week by the return of Thomas Vermaelen from a two-month lay-off. The Belgium international has been out with an Achilles injury but could feature at the Emirates on Tuesday, even if only as a substitute at this stage of his recovery.

With one eye on Saturday's derby at Chelsea, Wenger is expected to rest the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker and Robin van Persie. Fringe players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Francis Coquelin, Emmanuel Frimpong and Park Chu-Young are likely to receive valuable game time as a result.

The latter has yet to show Gunners supporters his true capabilities since his summer arrival from Monaco, but Wenger is confident he will soon adapt to English football.

"Some players like [Robert] Pires and [Thierry] Henry took four, five, six months and they became exceptional players," he said.

"Park arrived two months ago so that's normal. Some people judged our players very quickly in a negative way and slowly they changed their mind through their performances. I prefer it that way round than the other. Some players make you jump off your seat in the early stages and then disappoint you after.

"These players will win over all the sceptical people and Park is one of them. It is hard in the Premier League but Park is a player with quality and intelligence. On the longer term that will always come out and I am confident he will do that in the Premier League as well."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.