Arsenal vs Crystal Palace: Arsene Wenger admits attacking approach hasn't worked - but vows to stick with it

Gunners manager believes his side must play better rather than change their style

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger needs to understand his side's have not been good enough to win the Premier League (Getty)

Arsene Wenger says he feels duty-bound to persist with Arsenal’s attacking approach despite an acknowledgment that it has not worked for three of last season’s top three Premier League teams.

The Gunners' manager has claimed that teams visiting the Emirates have shown little desire to attack his own team and that his players have scored just 55 per cent of the goals they should have at home this season, despite outperforming during their previous Premier League campaign.

Wenger believes his side have lost focus against teams in the lower region of the division, coming unstuck trying to break them down with the prospect of Crystal Palace coming into that category when they travel across London on Sunday.

“I don’t think you can pretend to be a big club and say we only want to defend,” said Wenger. “We have that responsibility and we have to stand up for that and continue to develop the quality of our game.

“It doesn’t mean we have to change our style. It means we have to be better in the style we play.


 Arsenal have come unstuck against teams in the bottom half (Getty)
 (GETTY IMAGES)

“We had a big differential this season between the number of chances we created at home and the number of goals we scored. That was not the case last year.

“We had created two expected goals per game last year at home and this season we created 2.5 per game. Last season we scored 114 per cent of the expected goals we scored and this year we scored 55 per cent of the expected goals we scored.

“As long as the team sits back and waits for you to come out and you do not score they never come out. The defensive quality of the teams has become more efficient.

“Look at Manchester City , they take the game the opponent. So do Chelsea , but they all drop points by doing that.

“When we felt we were less under pressure we dropped more points against teams in the second half of the table than the top half.”

Wenger says Arsenal have cracked under pressure at times (Getty)

Victory over Palace would see the Gunners move within three points of Tottenham, having both played 33 matches, and Wenger admits overtaking their north London rivals is on his mind.

“The derby means a lot to us and the position compared to Tottenham means a lot as well,” he added. “But the most important thing is the overall achievement of the season.”