Arsene Wenger says Manchester City are "not unstoppable" and claims the referee had an "atrocious impact" in Arsenal's 3-1 defeat to the league-leaders earlier this month.
City
continued their blistering form in their win over the Gunners - who face Spurs
live on Sky Sports Premier League on Saturday - to move eight points clear at
the top of the Premier League, having won 10 of their 11 league encounters.
Arsenal sit sixth, 12 points off Pep Guardiola's side, but
Wenger insists City can be beaten. "They are a good side but they are not an
unstoppable side," he told BeIN Sports. "If you look at the expected goals, it was 0.7
for them and 0.6 for us, it was a very tight game. "They created very little and very little
shots on target, just one more than us."
Wenger felt the match was a tighter affair than the
scoreline suggested and inflicted blame on referee Michael Oliver for his role
in the match, after City's third goal was allowed despite goalscorer Gabriel
Jesus appearing to be in an offside position.
"The referee had an absolutely atrocious input
to the result of the game," the 68-year-old added. "Overall we were hugely punished by the third
goal because at 2-1 we would have been in the game. "I don't dispute that they are a good side,
but they are not an unstoppable side."
Touching on the possibility of City going the whole
season undefeated, Wenger cited his own 'Invincibles' - the side that completed
the 2003-04 Premier League season undefeated - as the only club to have
achieved the feat. "People always want to predict what will
happen in the game," he added. "I don't know more than you, maybe, maybe not,
but at the moment only one team has done it".
Source: Sky Sports