Top four is not beyond us, says Gunners keeper Szczesny

Wojciech Szczesny has said he is confident Arsenal will finish in the top four this season, but admits they must improve their away form as soon as possible if they are to do so.

Sunday’s defeat at Swansea was Arsenal’s sixth in 11 Premier League away games, and leaves the Gunners four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.

With testing trips to Bolton and Sunderland in the coming weeks, Polish keeper Szczesny admitted the players need to rediscover the winning habit on the road to stay in contention.

“I have no idea why we can’t win away from home,” he said. “The results speak for themselves and we have been really poor away this season. I really can’t explain it.

“We go everywhere and try to do our best but the results don’t go our way. We have talked about it and cannot come up with an answer. We need to sort it out.

“We can’t take many positives out of it [the Swansea match] because we lost the game and we are disappointed about it.”

However Szczesny is adamant that Arsenal will maintain their record of finishing in the top four in every season under Arsene Wenger, and overhaul one of either Chelsea or third-placed Spurs by mid-May.

“I am confident we will get into the top four,” said Szczesny. “We don’t deserve to be outside the top four.

“We should be challenging for trophies every year and I believe the results will pick up and we will at least finish in the top four because we have the quality in the squad to succeed.”

Szczesny will face Manchester United on Sunday for the first time since he conceded eight goals at Old Trafford in August,