Vermaelen – With everyone fit Arsenal can compete with anybody

The Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen was part of the back line that stopped the prolific Man City team from even getting a shot on goal in the 1-0 win on Sunday, and now believes that the Gunners should be considered as certain challengers for the Premiership title next season.

The only worry he has is that Arsenal need to maintain some consistency and, most importantly, remain injury free next year.

“In some games we have shown a lot of quality and that we can compete with everybody,” said Vermaelen. “But you have to be consistent in the league and sometimes that’s not been the case for us. But we will try to do that better next year. I’m confident we can do that.

“Defensively it’s about the organisation of the team. It’s not just about the defenders who defend, the whole shape of the team, and that’s really good at the moment so we must be really pleased with that. When everybody is fit we have a really good team and we can compete with everybody. The momentum we had, climbing the table by winning seven games in a row before losing at Queens Park Rangers, was really important so it was vital we won again, especially against City who are contenders for the title.

“We deserved it. We were dominant in the game and it was a really important result because we are in a big fight for that third place. That is so important because finishing third gives you direct qualification for the Champions League. That is very important for the club and is our main target at the moment and I know about the rivalry between us and Tottenham. I hear it every day on the streets, people asking us to finish above Tottenham at the end of the season. We look to ourselves: if we win every game, we will finish above them.”

“But, while each game is important for us at the moment, they’re all hard matches as well,” added Vermaelen. “You could see that at QPR, where we dropped points. So Wolves will be the same. We will have to be on the top of our toes and play well there.”

It was definitely a good time to play Man City this week, and Wolves are in the dire position of having lost their last six games. It will be the shock of the season if an in-form Arsenal lose on Wednesday. But we saw last week against QPR that Arsenal do not always play at their expected level. Vermaelen is right, inject some consistency into the side and we could surely have a new set of Invincibles.