Wenger - Mentally this side is pure

Arsene Wenger believes his current Arsenal squad is top quality because it is “mentally pure”.

The Gunners returned from the international break in style, hitting four goals past Watford on Saturday to secure back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time since February.

Arsenal’s next test comes against fifth-placed West Ham United and, after coming out of a testing spell in March, Wenger is confident his team will finish the season strongly.

“We have only one target now,” he said. “We have come through difficult periods and the team who finishes top is the team who can continue to perform and get results even when the period is a bit more difficult.

“This team has a good mentality. I’ve had many teams in my life and this team is top quality. They have gone through a bad period but, when you play like that [against Watford], that shows that mentally they are pure.

“You have to find a team who clicks at the right moment. You have a whole lot of different reasons [for it happening], because your injured players come back like Welbeck and because of the emergence of players like Iwobi.”

Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny’s blossoming midfield partnership has also helped Arsenal return to their free-flowing best, and Wenger had plenty of praise for his midfield duo.

“Both of them are improving offensively,” he said. “When Coquelin plays with Cazorla, Coquelin is the defensive player which made them a perfect pair. Then Coquelin focused more on defending and Cazorla more on attacking.

“Now both [Elneny and Coquelin] share the job, so the balance is a bit [better]. They’re more similar. We have four attackers in front of them so we need people who can defend well in central midfield.”