Wenger: I will not step down

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he will not walk away from the club despite conceding he is under increasing pressure.

The Gunners suffered a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Swansea over the weekend, leaving Wenger’s men without a win in their last three league games.

The result leaves them in 10th place in the table after 15 games but Wenger, who has 18 months left to run on his current deal, believes he will see out his contract despite growing discontent from fans.

“If you ask me always about my future, I can only give you one answer: I always respected my contracts, and that is it,” Wenger told reporters.

“At home we have struggled with confidence and belief. It’s difficult to put a finger on it because we won 5-2 against Tottenham and we had not lost for a while.

“You look at the moment at this uncertainty amongst the fans, where there is not complete confidence that we will win games.

“I don’t know if it has an influence on our performance – we have to look at the solution from inside and not expect too much from outside.

“I believe that at the moment we cannot be satisfied with the quality of our game. But at the moment that is more important than the psychological side. But this was a more physical factor than psychological.”

Wenger said he understands fan unrest, but argued that the increasingly competitive nature of the top flight makes it more difficult to be consistent.

He added: “I want our fans to be happy and to be over the moon, but I cannot say it affects the way I feel because I feel I have to focus on the job to see how we can sort our problems out.

“We lost a game and even though it is a massive disappointment, I do not want to go straight away to general conclusions. We want to win the next one.

“You can see from the results that it is difficult for everybody at the moment. All the teams. Even those who have invested a lot of money, it’s difficult for everybody.

“You have to keep the focus and the desire, and the ambition and turn it round. That’s how it works. You cannot go to definite conclusions from one game.”