Wenger: Arsenal going for three titles

LONDON: Arsene Wenger peered down from the top of the Premiership pile and backed his Double-winners for a tilt at the Treble.

Arsenal are disappearing over the horizon in their championship defence, eight points clear of Manchester United and strong favourites to clinch back-to-back titles. But Wenger, a manager who has carved a reputation for demanding ultra-high standards from his team, has far more lofty ambitions. The Frenchman has his sights set on victory on all three fronts — the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League. Bookmakers William Hill rank Arsenal at 14/1 to pull off that magnificent trio of titles.

Wenger, whose side face Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals at Highbury on Saturday and Roma in the Champions League on home turf a week on Tuesday, said: “Listen — we’re in a position where we’re going for everything. “And when you’re in that position in March, it means you have a cup game every three or four days. “So Chelsea’s just another cup game for us and we have another cup game three days after that, against Roma. “What’s good for us is that most of the injured players are back and we’ve only lost Ashley Cole with a longer-term injury. “Now it’s how we use our resources and how we keep fit.” In Sunday’s 2-0 home victory against Charlton, Freddie Ljungberg made a successful return after two months of Achilles problems. Left-back Cole’s hernia operation, sidelining him for six weeks, is the Gunners’ only serious injury concern and Wenger added: “Yesterday, we gained a player in Kolo Toure who played very well at right-back. “He can also play left-back, so we have cover everywhere.” Now Wenger’s dreams of the Treble hang on the cup double-header with their London rivals from Stamford Bridge and the men from the Italian capital.

The two sides will arrive at Highbury in vastly differing moods. Chelsea’s back-to-back 2-1 defeats against Blackburn and Newcastle sent them spiralling out of the top four for the first time in more than four months. But Fabio Capello’s side are resurgent, shocking Valencia in the Champions League last week and beating Empoli 3-1 in Serie A on Sunday.