Arsene Wenger calls on his Arsenal stars to make home advantage count over Christmas

French connection: Mathieu Debuchy and Mathieu Flamini in training this week
James Olley18 December 2015

Arsene Wenger has challenged Arsenal to maximise their home advantage over the Christmas period to take control of the Premier League title race.

The Gunners host Manchester City on Monday and although they travel to Southampton on Boxing Day, they return to Emirates Stadium for League games against Bournemouth and Newcastle before a third successive home engagement against Sunderland in the FA Cup.

Arsenal have played just seven League games at home this season — that figure is the joint-fewest along with Stoke and Manchester United — and are unbeaten in the League in north London since losing to West Ham on the opening day of the season.

Wenger said: “Monday is a massive game and when you play at home you want to win because we are ambitious. We feel over Christmas we play many home games and we have the chance to come out in a strong position after Christmas.

“It will be a very tight game because if you look at the numbers since the start of the season, offensively and defensively, we are very close. Manchester City have huge individual potential with [David] Silva and [Sergio] Aguero coming back and so we will need a top, top level team performance.”

Although Leicester’s improbable stay at the summit has continued, Arsenal and City are the closest proven challengers but Wenger does not believe Manuel Pellegrini’s side are their main rivals this season.

Arsenal's midfield targets for January

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“I don’t know if they are the number one threat but City are a threat. If you look at what they have achieved in the last three or four years, their individual quality, you cannot dismiss them as not being a threat to winning the championship.

“I have always taken Leicester seriously but when we won 5-2 over there, nobody took our performance seriously. They just thought it was normal that we won at Leicester, but ever since you have been able to see that it was a great result and a great performance on the day.”

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