Welbeck targets Europa League for Wenger

Arsenal will be doing all they can to win the Europa League for Arsene Wenger before he steps down, according to Danny Welbeck.

Wenger announced last week that he would be leaving Arsenal at the end of the season, bringing to an end a 22-year spell that yielded three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and seven FA Community Shields.

Despite qualifying for the Champions League for 17 consecutive seasons, Wenger has yet to taste success in the European Cup – the Gunners were beaten by Barcelona in the 2005-06 final – but he has the opportunity to finally deliver a European title before leaving the club.

Ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Atletico Madrid, Welbeck admits it would be wonderful if the players could win the competition for the manager.

“Going into a semi-final in a European competition, you don’t need any extra incentive to win the game. I wanted to win the game before the manager announced he would be leaving, and I want to win it after,” he told reporters.

“With the lads, everyone’s focused on winning the tie but obviously at the end of the competition, there would be that icing on the cake to see the manager lift the trophy.

“We need to get a positive result. We know it’s not going to be over tomorrow. It’s two legs, so hopefully we get a positive result tomorrow night to take us into the second game with the mindset to get through to the final.”

Welbeck was at Manchester United when Alex Ferguson retired but left after a disappointing season under David Moyes and he is hoping Arsenal can move forward in a positive way once Wenger departs.

“It’s different [to Manchester United],” Welbeck said when asked what the club can expect after Wenger’s departure. “It’s kind of different because it’s a different situation. Obviously with managers leaving, different clubs have different ways of approaching these situations. Hopefully we can face that in the right way and then hopefully try to move forward in a positive way rather than go down.”

Arsenal face Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final, first leg on Thursday 26 April at the Emirates Stadium.