• Premier League

Arsene Wenger: I'll deliver title for Arsenal by 2017

Arsene Wenger signed a new three-year deal at Arsenal after winning the FA Cup in May © Getty Images

Enlarge

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he can lead the club to Premier League glory again within the next three years.

Wenger signed a new, three-year contract in May shortly after winning the FA Cup, and insists that claiming a fourth league title for Arsenal during that period is a realistic target.

Asked if his current side could lift the title between now and 2017, when his deal expires, he said: "Of course. We have not started very well, but we never had the squad together since the start of the season. It was a post-World Cup start typically.

"We have what is requested to do it. We have to fight like mad now to come back as much as possible to show that we can compete in every single game."

Arsenal are seventh in the Premier League table, 13 points behind London rivals Chelsea, who remain on course to emulate their predecessors' achievement of winning the title unbeaten.

Arsenal's feat in the 2003-4 season was the last of their three league titles under Wenger. Since then, the Frenchman's teams have largely fallen behind Manchester United, the competition's most successful club, and struggled in the shadow of the financial powerhouses Chelsea and Manchester City at the top of the table.

They have not finished higher than second in the table since the season after their last title, and have often left it late before securing fourth place and an all-important place in the Champions League.

The past few years have seen Arsenal mount early challenges only to fall away in the second half of the campaign. They face Southampton on Wednesday evening, at the same time as Chelsea host Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge, and Wenger was bullish about his side's chances.

"We have fought many times for the title," he said. "People always remember who won it, but the fight has been very tight for long periods in the last eight or nine years.

"We have a big competition in England, we have to accept that. The Premier League level goes always up and this season Chelsea have started very well. They will be difficult to catch, but everybody will fight to come back on them. After 13 or 14 games, you cannot say that the title race is over. You cannot say that is not catchable."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd