Perfection needed for Arsenal, says Wenger

A 1-0 victory at Sunderland on Saturday kept the Gunners’ hopes of a top-four finish alive, although they remain four points adrift of arch-rivals Tottenham after their 2-1 home win over the Black Cats’ neighbours Newcastle.

Wenger’s men might have prevailed far more comfortably at the Stadium of Light had it not been for some less than effective finishing and the form of home goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, but the Frenchman admitted afterwards that the three points were all that mattered.

He said: “We were under pressure to win, and of course we could not afford to drop points.

“I said that after the Chelsea game, we are in a situation where we cannot drop points any more. No matter where we play, we need the three points.”

Mignolet had already denied Theo Walcott twice and Aaron Ramsey, as well as seeing Olivier Giroud fire across goal, when Santi Cazorla capitalised on good work by Jack Wilshere and Walcott to blast home what would prove to be the winner.

Ramsey would have doubled his side’s lead in first half stoppage time had it not been for Mignolet, and the visitors headed for the dressing room knowing the game was theirs for the taking.

However, Sunderland emerged in far more determined mood, and their hopes of salvaging a result increased significantly despite leading scorer Steven Fletcher having earlier wasted a glorious chance to level, when Carl Jenkinson was sent off for a second bookable offence with 28 minutes still to play.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Arsenal had enough chances to kill the game off with Walcott hitting the post 15 minutes from time.

But having failed to do so, they then found themselves defending for dear life and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had to make late saves from Fletcher and Adam Johnson.