Arsenal’s Alex Song: We learnt the importance of topping Champions League group the hard way against Barcelona

Cameroon international believes Arsene Wenger's side are proving their critics wrong after recording five straight wins in the Premier League following their poor domestic start

24 Nov 2011 17:04:00

By Simon Sinclair

More On :  Arsenal FC, Alexandre Song
UEFA Champions - Arsenal FC v Borussia Dortmund, Alex Song and Shinji Kagawa
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Arsenal midfielder Alex Song believes the club have learned from last year's mistakes in the Champions League after becoming the first English side to qualify for the last 16.

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The Gunners finished second in their group last year and drew eventual winners Barcelona in the first knockout round, and the Gunners midfielder insists his side were keen to bypass a similar clash by securing top-spot in the group.

"We didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time," Song told reporters. "We needed to finish the job because we know to finish top of the group is very important."

Song thinks Arsene Wenger's side's recent form proves critics were wrong to doubt them after a poor start to the season. The Gunners have won their last five games in a row in the Premier League after losing the north London derby to Tottenham early in October.

Song believes there is a good team spirit at the Emirates and hopes they can keep their recent form going to break back into the top four.

"Maybe some people are very hard on Arsenal, I don't know why," he continued. "We want to show everyone is wrong about us and we did very well - but we don't want to stay in the same situation now and just say, 'everything is working and we will just keep on like this'.

"We want to push ourselves to try to look forward. We started really badly, but it is not easy when you have new players - you need to give them time.

"Everyone tries to help each other and we have very good cohesion, which is important.

"When you play for a team like Arsenal you just want to finish all the time at the top of the league. That is what we try to do.

"We know we have the League Cup [quarter-final against Manchester City] coming soon and we just have to try to win every single game."

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