Wojciech Szczesny believes Arsenal can still win Premier League title

Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Goalkeeper says Manchester United can be caught
• Arsenal 'owe fans' victory at Tottenham in next game

Wojciech Szczesny believes Arsenal can still catch Manchester United in the race for the Premier League title, despite drawing with Liverpool.

Wojciech Szczesny insists Arsenal will not give up as they battle to overhaul Manchester United's lead at the top of the Premier League – and declared the team owe their disappointed fans a response with victory at Tottenham on Wednesday night.

Arsenal are six points behind United after they were held to a 1-1 draw following a dramatic end to the game with Liverpool at Emirates Stadium, which saw two penalties scored deep into stoppage time. When Arsène Wenger's team run out at White Hart Lane, that gap could be widened if United get a result at Newcastle on Tuesday.

Szczesny returned to action after six weeks out with a finger injury suffered in the Champions League defeat at Barcelona but the young Pole, who turned 21 today, could do little to prevent the Liverpool equaliser as Dirk Kuyt drilled home a last-gasp penalty. Szczesny, though, maintains all is not yet lost as Arsenal, unbeaten in 15 matches, aim to stay in touch with United before their 1 May meeting at the Emirates.

"It is still possible for us to win the title, but we have to say we dropped two points and it's terribly disappointing. We are all gutted," he said. "However, we still have to play Manchester United and they also have to play Chelsea – they will drop points. We believe we are good enough to win every game from now until the end of the season, so we believe we can do it."

"Tottenham is a very good game for us to come back from a big disappointment, and we owe it to the fans as well because they are obviously very disappointed about what happened. We owe them a result at White Hart Lane."

Szczesny cannot wait to sample the atmosphere of an away north London derby.

"I am going to absolutely love it," he said. "I love when the crowd is really loud and the game is very tense so I am going to enjoy it. I did have a lot of fans behind me shouting and trying to disturb me when I played [on loan] with Brentford. I deal with the pressure well."

Should the Gunners lose again to their fierce rivals – who came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at the Emirates earlier this season – then that would open the door for Chelsea to claim the runners-up spot.

Szczesny, though, maintained: "We are only thinking about winning the title, not who is behind us. We go into everything to finish first. We are Arsenal – we don't want to finish second and we definitely don't want to finish third. We just think about winning."

Szczesny returned from a loan spell at Brentford determined to force his way into Wenger's first-team plans.After injuries to both Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski, Szczesny made his Premier League debut at Old Trafford and, apart from the disappointment of a costly late mix-up with Laurent Koscielny in the Carling Cup final against Birmingham, the young keeper has produced some impressive displays.

"I will always look at this as my breakthrough season and I want to cement my place in the team for a long, long time," he said. "Whatever happens this year, next year will be very important for me personally and for Arsenal as well.

"I am doing my best. Whatever decision the manager makes at the start of next season is completely down to him, but I will do my best to cement my position in goal."