Arsene Wenger targets Premier League title for Arsenal within three years

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that he can lead the
Gunners to Premier League glory again within the next three
years.
Wenger signed a new, three-year contract in May shortly
after winning the FA Cup, and insists that claiming a fourth
league championship for Arsenal during that period is a
realistic target.
Arsenal are currently seventh in the Premier League table, 13
points behind London rivals Chelsea, who remain on course to
emulate the Gunners' achievement of winning the title unbeaten.
That triumph in the 2003-04 season was the last of Arsenal's
three league titles under Wenger. Since then, the Gunners
have been unable to break the hegemony of Manchester
United, the competition's most successful club, or the financially
powerful duo of Chelsea and Manchester City at the top of the
table.
Arsenal host Southampton on Wednesday evening, at the same
time as Chelsea welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Stamford
Bridge, and Wenger hinted at a belief that his side may even
have a chance of catching the Blues in this season's title race.
Asked if his current side could lift the title between now and
2017, when his current deal expires, he told reporters: "Of
course. We have not started very well, but we never had the
squad together since the start of the season. It was a post-
World Cup start typically.
"I think we have what is requested to do it. We have to fight
like mad now to come back as much as possible to show that
we can compete in every single game."
Arsenal have not finished in the top two since the season after
their last title, and have often left it late in recent years before
securing fourth place and with it a place in the Champions
League. However, the past several years have seen them
involved in title races only to see them fall away in the second
half of the campaign.
As such, Wenger knows that Chelsea's six-point lead over
defending champions City after 13 matches could count for
nothing in the final reckoning.
"We have fought many times for the title," he said. "People
always remember who won it, but the fight has been very tight
for long periods in the last eight or nine years.
"We have a big competition in England, we have to accept
that. The Premier League level goes always up and this
season Chelsea have started very well. They will be difficult
to catch, but everybody will fight to come back on them. After
13 or 14 games, you cannot say that the title race is over. You
cannot say that is not catchable."