Arsene Wenger: 'Arsenal players owe themselves a performance'

Arsene Wenger has claimed that the Arsenal players owe it to themselves to put in a performance at Liverpool after a disappointing last few weeks.

At the end of January and going into February, the Gunners suffered successive Premier League defeats at the hands of Watford and Chelsea respectively.

Although they managed to claim a 2-0 win over Hull City, they were also routed 5-1 at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a result which prompted many fans to turn against Wenger.

Arsenal have won just three of their last 23 away games against the other sides making up the top six of the table, but with the Reds also struggling of late, Wenger senses an opportunity for his side to improve that record at Anfield.

He told Sky Sports News: "They owe themselves a performance. They are quality players and I think on the day [at Bayern] it all went against us because we were 1-1 at half time and in the second half everything went against us.

"We responded at Sutton, that was quite a tricky game and we want to respond again tomorrow. It is even more important because we have not done well recently in these kind of games.

"For us, this kind of game like Liverpool is of course an opportunity that we want to take. We have to go and take it and not wait for the result."

Arsenal, boosted by a return to fitness for both Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey, are currently 13 points adrift of leaders Chelsea having played a game fewer.