The Gunners shot-stopper is determined to put a difficult week for the club in the past by defeating the resurgent Reds in the FA Cup this weekend.
Wojciech Szczesny has vowed to show the ‘real’ Arsenal this weekend when they entertain Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium in the FA Cup, as they look to get back to winning ways.
The Gunners failed to fire in a drab 0-0 draw with Manchester United yesterday evening as their week of woe continued.
Arsene Wenger’s side were hit for five against this weekend’s opposition at Anfield last week as the Reds ran riot against a wounded Arsenal outfit but Szczesny is confident his side can dish out revenge as they look to advance to the quarter-finals.
“We’re in a good position in the Cup and played a couple of important games already,” the Pole told reporters, as quoted by Evening Standard. “We’re confident.
“It will be a big game for us because we conceded five against them and it was a little bit humiliating. We want to recover as soon as possible and it’s a good chance that we play them a week afterwards. We’ll do our best to win.
“I’d like to say it was a one-off, but there were two of them [heavy defeats] this season [the other being 6-3 at Manchester City]. It was just an accident, it happened. They were terrific offensively. We were a little bit weak defensively and got punished. I certainly believe it’s over.
“It is out of our system now because we turned up against United with a good defensive system. We want to recover as soon as possible and it’s a good chance that we play them a week afterwards. We’ll do our best to win.
“People have seen the real Arsenal over the last year. We conceded five on Saturday but our defensive record over the last year or so has been amazing. You can’t say you saw the real Arsenal at Anfield, you have to judge us over a longer period of time. You saw that against United, we didn’t concede against a top side with fantastic strikers and we hope to do that against Liverpool.”
Szczesny helped preserve a point for his Gunners side with a stunning save to deny former striker Robin Van Persie late on but it was not enough to move above Chelsea, who remain at the summit despite dropping points at West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night.
And, while Arsenal missed an opportunity to move clear at the top, Szczesny believes the title race will go right down to the wire, possibly even to the extent of Manchester City’s last-minute title win two years ago.
“It could [be as close as 2012],” he added. “That was between two teams, but this is four. So it will be tight. It makes it more exciting, every game seems that little bit more important, especially in the games between the top four. It will be a very good end to the season. I’m not surprised it’s this close — there are a lot of quality teams.
“If we have a similar last 10 games like we did last year, we will be in a very good position. We’re still near the top of the table and will give it a go to push for the title. We’re still confident.”
image: © wonker
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