Wojciech Szczesny: Gunners are on the brink of humiliation

Posted Tuesday, March 19, 2013 by The Sun

BENCHED ... Wojciech Szczesny watches from sidelines with Thomas Vermaelen

WOJCIECH SZCZESNY insists Arsenal must clinch a Champions League place to save the club from the most humiliating season of all time.

The Gunners’ trophy-less run now stretches to eight years following this season’s dismal failures.

And keeper Szcsesny confessed: “It is halfway through March and we have lost everything.

“We are going through the most difficult time since I came here. But there are nine matches left to save the club against the humiliation of all time.”

Fifth-placed Arsenal suffered the ignominy of being dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship side Blackburn and the Capital One Cup by League Two minnows Bradford.

Their Champions League bid was ended by Bayern Munich before the quarter-final stage and they are four points behind bitter rivals Spurs in the race for fourth spot in the Premier League.

Szczesny, 22, added: “It would be a disaster to be without Champions League football next year. We now have the nine most important games in our careers.”

The Pole was dropped for last week’s Champions League last-16 second leg clash against Bayern with manager Arsene Wenger claiming his keeper had been “mentally affected” by the number of games played.

Wenger again took him out of the firing line for Saturday’s trip to Swansea where Lukasz Fabianski kept a second straight clean sheet as the Gunners won 2-0.

But Szczesny, who came through Arsenal’s youth ranks after joining the club’s Academy from hometown side Legia Warsaw in 2006, insists he has no thoughts of leaving the Emirates.

In an interview with Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, he added: “I believe in the philosophy of the club and that Arsenal will start to win again.

“I have a debt to pay here. I owe them. I don’t want to go anywhere else. As long as they want me here, there is no ‘somewhere else’ and I have a contract until June 2015.”

Defender Carl Jenkinson feels Arsenal must focus on delivering consistent performances from their own remaining matches — and not worry about their top-four chasing rivals.

The full-back said: “We need to concentrate on ourselves because we know other teams are going to drop points.

“We’re capable of winning every game and we just need to get on a good run. If we do that, we’ll end up where we need to be.”

Laurent Koscielny last night committed his long-term future to the club.

The French centre-back, 27, said: “My contract lasts for another four years. I have no wish to be elsewhere.”