• Premier League

Wenger hits back at disgruntled Arsenal fans

Arsene Wenger has called on Arsenal's disgruntled fans to get behind the team for the visit of Newcastle to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening.

Wenger continues to see his position questioned by some Arsenal supporters, and came in for harsh personal criticism following the 3-2 defeat at Stoke last Saturday, when he was jeered by a small group of fans as the players boarded their train back to London.

After a banner calling for him to leave the club was held up by travelling supporters at West Bromwich Albion last month, another anti-Wenger banner was confiscated in the away end ahead of the 4-1 Champions League win against Galatasaray in Istanbul on Tuesday night.

Arsene Wenger has reminded Arsenal fans of how far the club has come under him © Getty Images

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Should things not go to plan in Saturday's late kick-off against Newcastle, there are likely to be more rumblings among the home support.

But Wenger called on Arsenal's fans to remain committed to the cause and reminded them of how far the club had come in his time at the club.

"What is in the word support? Support. It says what it says," Wenger said. "I am not a politician who makes a poll every week to see if you support me. I am paid to win football games. My sense is to focus on my job.

"I just can repeat that you want respect in society and you want to legally make sure that respect is applied to everybody. Everybody has the right to be respected. I don't think that anybody likes not to be respected.

"Honestly, you don't think I will find 20 people who say that you are rubbish? Do they represent the majority of people? I don't know, but you have to win your football games - that's all.

"Look at the history. You have to look realistically at the number of games we lost. One in 25 games at home.

"What I expect is to give my best. And if you will look at the history of Arsenal and what we have achieved in the last 18 years, we have moved forward and that what is what we want to continue to do.

"I have played my 180th Champions league game. Look at how many Champions League games before I arrived, you will see the number is very restricted."

Wenger also believes that now Arsenal have their Champions League group fixtures completed, an upturn in domestic form can follow.

"People don't realise that you go away to Turkey on Wednesday night and then to Sunderland on Saturday morning and after you lose the game everybody says 'what a scandal is that!', but [let them try to] do it," he said.

"Look at some teams who qualified surprisingly for the Europa League, they play in the Europa League and the year after they nearly go down."

Wenger added: "Everybody now is on the same schedule. For example when we lost at Stoke you can say 'well, you can send a complete reserve team to Galatasaray', but if you lose again you face a storm so at least you have to go there to have a chance to win the game."

With Calum Chambers suspended, Wenger is facing defensive problems and right-back Mathieu Debuchy could be asked to move over to centre-back, despite having just returned from three months out with an ankle problem.

Laurent Koscielny is also out with a calf injury, but it is his on-going troublesome Achilles which is of concern.

"Nobody can guarantee that will not come back and no doctor says to me 'it is over'," said Wenger.

"You need to give him complete rest for two or three months, but he didn't rest completely because to find back the strength in the Achilles you have to load it and work on it, so it is not a complete rest."

Wenger admits the concerns over Koscielny may force his hand to bring in some cover when the January transfer window opens.

"If everybody is fit and available we don't need to go on the transfer market, but we have to consider that Koscielny could be a question mark with his fitness and we have to go out on the transfer market, yes."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd