Arsene Wenger says he wants his Arsenal players to use their loss against Manchester United as motivation to improve for the rest of the campaign.

Arsenal lost 3-1 at home to United but were arguably the better team on the night, and the result certainly doesn’t reflect how the game went.

Goalkeeper David De Gea made sure of that, and defensive errors eventually cost the Gunners. But Wenger has rallied both fans and players saying that they must use the defeat as encouragement due to how well they played going forward.

“I believe from the game, it has to make us angry and even more determined,” said Wenger.

“If I am a player, and I think with what we produced, we have a huge potential, and we lose the game. We cannot accept that.

“That’s what you want, the players have produced a quality performance. What makes you angry is that you produce that performance and, in the end, you have nothing to show for it. That’s very difficult to accept.”

Wenger then went on to dismiss calls that his team are out of the title race. Rivals Tottenham have been ruled out of the race by their manager Mauricio Pochettino, but Wenger is determined not to count his side out – despite being 15 points behind leaders Manchester City.

“I am not Pochettino, I am Arsene Wenger,” the Frenchman added. “I am here to fight as long as I can.

“As long as mathematically it’s possible, you have to fight. You cannot give any other message out.”
[Quotes via Sky Sports]