Arsene Wenger has insisted that he haslearned from the last time Swansea visited the Emirates back in March, a 2-1 win for the Welsh side which torpedoed the Gunners' outside title hopes.
The defeat was the catalyst for a feeling of apathy towards the team, and for anumber of fan protests against Wenger himself - and the Frenchman warned against a similar 'negativity' in hispre-match press conferenceon Friday.
1) Arsenal boss Wenger has claimed this aspect of football is like a virus before Swansea's visit #ARShttps://t.co/dWKVPRjkwk pic.twitter.com/o91M5dtKdk
He said:I must say that the negativity comes very quickly. It is a virus that travels very quickly and goes away very slowly.We had two low points that week. The first was to lose at Manchester United and that was straight before Swansea. We damaged our chances then. We put ourselves in a position where we absolutely had to win.
We drew at Tottenham next and we were really criticised a lot after that game. With ten men we came back to 2-2 and played extremely well. But by then we had the negative environment after Swansea.�
He also took a slight dig at 'strange' fan attitudes to the club's performances, saying:Fans are part of our game and they have the right to be happy or not to be happy. My role is to focus on my job and trying to make them happy.
Bob Bradley likens Arsene Wenger's influence to Johan Cruyff ahead of Swansea debut against Arsenal https://t.co/cIb9quYQ16
I believe our fans are behind us now. It is strange because in 2016 how many games have we lost away from home? Just that one at Man United. When you listen to people you'd never believe it.
We have shown mental strength to respond. I believe at the moment the vibes are positive. We have reduced our distance from the top teams. We have to create a positive environment and to do that we have to perform. The rest we have to ignore. Let's focus on the way we play.�
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