Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger remains confident his side can still qualify for next season's Champions League by finishing third in the Premier League this season. The Gunners were given a major boost in their hope of qualifying for Europe's elite tournament, after Manchester City's 2-0 win over Chelsea, at the Etihad on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger
Reuters

Arsenal won their weekend fixture 2-1 against Aston Villa as Santi Cazorla's brace was sufficient for them to bag all three points. The Gunners are fifth in the league table with 47 points from 27 games, just one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who have a game in hand, and two points behind the European champions.

Andre Villas-Boas' side face West Ham United on Monday and a Spurs defeat could make the race for third and fourth spot wide open, with 11 games remaining. Wenger stressed on the fact that his side needs to keep on winning their upcoming games to keep their hope of finishing the season in top four alive.

"Chelsea are two points ahead of Arsenal. I'm not sure that it will only be a fight with Tottenham. But what is for sure is that if we can maintain our run, we'll get there, in front of Tottenham or anybody else. What is important is that we go to the end of the season in every game and try to win it," the Frenchman explained.

Arsenal left it till late on Saturday as Cazorla's strike in the 85th minute was the difference between his side and Villa. The Gunners bounced back with a win over Paul Lambert's side, after their successive defeats to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup and Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Wenger believes his side now needs to continue their performances shown against the Villans till the end of the season.

"We are ready to fight for the football we love to play. You could see that again, we continued to play going forward until the last second of the game and we will continue to do that until the end of the season," Wenger added.

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