Sam turns up the heat on Arsenal

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Victory for a resurgent Bolton would move them ahead of Arsenal into fourth, and the Gunners are right out of form after taking just a point from their last four games.

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You're in the driving seat: Sam Allardyce points to Europe

Allardyce said: "I'd have thought Arsenal would be budgeting for the Champions League every year, so it would be devastating to miss out from their point of view.

"Building a new stadium has obviously affected Arsenal's spending on top players and means they are now struggling to live with Manchester United and Chelsea.

"Arsenal's power has waned slightly while Chelsea have raised the bar. Now they will consider us a worry as well, and that is how things have changed."

However, he admitted that teams just outside the top four had recently failed to exert enough pressure on the big guns for a prized Champions League slot.

"In the last few weeks, though, neither us, Everton or Tottenham have given them much competition. We have let them off the hook.

"It would still be a very difficult job for us to finish in fourth even if we were fortunate to beat them. It would be nice to put the pressure on them but we've already blown it once. So I'm not putting the same pressure on our players as I did before because we didn't cope with it well. I'm just glad the players are back to their best form."

With so much ground to make up after a hugely disappointing season, Wenger admits Champions League failure is not an option.

He said: "It's the minimum target we want to reach at the start of every season, and it will be like that every year. It's not just the money, we want to be in the Champions League because we want to win it.

"This season we have shown both a lack of maturity and also huge potential. Next year we will be much more mature but must be in the Champions League to show it.

"We have been hit at the same time by injuries, because in January and February, we were flying. We were then hit very hard in a short space of time, especially up front, and that takes time to heal."