Wenger rues poor finishing as Arsenal´s title hopes stutter

Manager Arsene Wenger called for Arsenal to keep their belief after dropping five points behind Premier league leaders Leicester City following the 0-0 draw with Southampton.

A four-game winless streak in the league has seen Wenger’s men slip to fourth in the table after Tottenham’s 3-0 victory over Norwich City.

Frustration was evident around Emirates Stadium on Tuesday as the home side created chance after chance, only to be denied by the superb Fraser Forster.

Wenger, though, remains calm despite seeing his side’s title challenge stutter.

“We put the energy level in, we created chances but our finishing was poor and at the end of the day we paid for that,” he said. “We dropped two points.

“I cannot fault our focus, desire and energy levels but when you create the quality of chances we created you want to win the game, and that’s what we couldn’t do.

“At the moment we have played three [league] games without scoring goals but not creating chances. You go through patches like that, you have to keep the belief and solidarity and not drop our confidence.

“Of course we dropped points in the [title] race but we have to focus on winning games and not too much on what the opponents do.”

Wenger had particular praise for Forster, the goalkeeper making a string of fine saves to earn Southampton a point and leave Arsenal with one from the sides’ two meetings this season.

He added: “He [Forster] had a brilliant game, but the quality of our finishing was poor.”