Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says his side’s struggles this season prove finishing in the Premier League’s top four is “not as easy as it looks”.
The Frenchman has led the Gunners to a top-four spot and Champions League qualification for the past 20 seasons.
But with 10 games left, they are currently in sixth place, seven points off the league’s leading quartet.
“It [finishing in the top four] is a good challenge but I think it is perfectly possible,” said Wenger.
“I have done it for 20 years and it looked always like nothing. Suddenly, it becomes important so I’m quite pleased people realise that it is not as easy as it looks.”
In 2012, Wenger compared finishing in the top four to winning a trophy and that view was recently echoed by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
“If you listen to Guardiola, he said the other day that to finish in the top four in England is a trophy because it is so difficult,” he added.
Wenger’s contract at Arsenal expires at the end of the season and speaking ahead of Wednesday’s game with West Ham, he was again asked about whether he would extend his stay.
He has been offered a new two-year deal and reiterated he would make his decision public “soon”.
The Gunners will be without centre-back Laurent Koscielny on Wednesday, and Wenger fears the France international could face a lengthy absence.
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