• Champions League

Wenger: Race for Europe tightest in Premier League history

The battle for a domestic top four spot and Champions League qualification has never been more fierce, says Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager's side confirmed their status as one of the favourites to continue their lengthy run of qualification for the Champions League with a battling 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday, as they moved to third in the Premier League.

With Manchester United, Southampton and Tottenham all dropping points at the weekend and Liverpool emerging as strong contenders to force their way back into the top-four mix after a slow start to the season, Wenger suggested the race for a prized place in the Champions League has never been hotter.

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"It's the first time that there's many more teams involved in the top-four race," Wenger said following his side's victory at Selhurst Park. "We fought like mad to come back in a strong position in the league and not to win [against Palace] would have been disastrous.

"The spirit is there and we want to keep that as a very strong basis. The team has come up a level and we see that with the results.

"You need to earn your points in the Premier League and I think we did it in a convincing way at Palace, even if at the end it was a bit dodgy.

"We did fight and play, and fighting without playing wouldn't have been enough, and playing without really fighting wouldn't have been enough either. They put in what was needed and we got the win."

Meanwhile, Wenger has moved to play down suggestions that Arsenal were fortunate to be drawn against Monaco in the last-16 of the Champions League, as he prepares to square off against his former club in the first leg of the tie at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.

Monaco were perceived to be the weakest of the sides that topped their group in the group stages of the competition, but the Frenchman claimed the match-up against the Ligue 1 side is finely balanced.

"The last 16 in recent years has been super tough," added Wenger. "This is a 50/50 game. We know that Monaco are very tight defensively - they didn't concede in the group stage against good teams.

"Of course it will be tricky but a possible tie. It's really a 50/50 because Monaco are in a similar position to us. They came back into a good position in the league and their confidence level will be high."

Arsene Wenger denied Arsenal had an easy last-16 tie against Ligue 1 side Monaco © Getty Images

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