EPL: Arsene Wenger worried as Arsenal fans stay away

Arsene Wenger PicAFPArsene Wenger admits Arsenal are struggling to win back their furious fans after thousands stayed away from the 30 Premier League win over Watford For the second successive game at the Emirates Stadium Arsenal played in front of vast swathes of empty red seats on Sunday Arsenal blamed heavy snow for the low attendance in their recent defeat against Manchester City but the noshow against Watford could only be put down to a fatal combination of anger and apathy after another miserable seasonMust be 4 and snowing again at the Emirates Manchester United legend Gary Neville now a prominent pundit tweeted soon after kickoff But Wenger as he fights to keep his job conceded he could understand why Arsenal supporters are so frustrated by their teams wretched run There is a lot of negativity It is like rain in England it is easy to get he said Of course I worry because I want our fans to be behind the team but after what happened in that week it is understandable We want to have the fans on our side and we do everything to make that happen I respect everyones opinion but I focus totally on my jobThe stayaways missed a solid Arsenal performance as goals from Shkodran Mustafi PierreEmerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan ended a run of three successive Premier League defeats But the win did little to improve Arsenals prospects of a topfour finish which brings qualification for the Champions League and wont carry much weight with supporters who feel ending Wengers 22year reign is the only way to get their club back on track Without a league title since 2004 Wenger is clinging to the hope that reaching the Champions League by winning this seasons Europa League will spare him the axeBut the drab atmosphere at Sundays game gave it an end of an era feel that will persist until Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke and chief executive Ivan Gazidis conduct the endofseason review that will decide Wengers fate For now all Wenger can do is focus on leading Arsenal on a long winning run starting with protecting a 20 lead when AC Milan visit the Emirates in the Europa League last 16 second leg on Thursday Wenger is encouraged by the way his players have stayed united in a difficult timeVindicationWe suffered a bit at the start of the second half but after that with our spirit we stuck together and in the end it was a convincing win he said It gets us out of this negative spiral a little bit We had a nightmare week There is still some work to do but overall we are in a good way In a dismal year there was a rare moment of vindication for Arsenal when Watford captain Troy Deeney saw his secondhalf penalty saved by Petr Cech Deeney had questioned Arsenals spirit after Watford beat them in October and Wenger said a desire to prove the striker wrong had motivated their performanceCech had to wait a while to save a penalty Its quite fortunate that its against Deeney he said Watford boss Javi Gracia refused to blame the defeat on Deeneys jibes which came before he was in charge Troy was concentrated on playing well and helping the team Gracia said He had a chance to score the penalty but he didnt do it I dont know what Arsenal were thinking but Im happy with him Im responsible for my words I respect all the teams Arsenal as wellCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever