London - Sixth-placed Arsenal can still finish in the
Premier League's top three, manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday, provided they
win their remaining game starting with Sunday's North London derby at Tottenham
Hotspur.
And with second-placed Spurs also chasing victory at White
Hart Lane as they look to stay in touch with Chelsea, four points clear at the
top of the table, few would bet on the match ending in a draw.
"I expect an open match, (a) committed match,"
Wenger told a news conference.
"A match with high pace but there could be goals in
there because both teams play positive football and try to go forward and to
play in offensive ways."
Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs hold the best home record in the
league this season, with 15 victories in 17 games. Striker Harry Kane scored in
the second half equalizer to rescue a point in the reverse fixture at Arsenal
last November.
Arsenal trail third-placed Liverpool by six points with two
games in hand and are also behind both Manchester clubs, but Wenger believes
his team could leapfrog all three.
"I don't think that the top three is decided,"
said the Arsenal manager, who will be taking charge of his 50th North London
encounter.
"We have an opportunity to be in there if we win our
games so we do not have to speculate on who is in and not in."
"The simple thing about being in our position is we
don't need to calculate, we just need to give everything and win our
games."
Wenger is hopeful defender Laurent Koscielny could recover from a knee injury in time for the derby clash, but he ruled out the other half of his central defensive pairing, Shkodran Mustafi, for two weeks with a thigh problem.