Wenger relieved after late winner

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal's title chances would have been "finished" if they had not produced a dramatic stoppage-time winner against 10-man Wolves at the Emirates Stadium.

Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner came off the bench to head a crucial goal which keeps the Gunners in touch as the race for Barclays Premier League supremacy enters a thrilling conclusion.

"It keeps us in the title race, yes. If we had not won, it would have been finished," said Wenger. "You know if you are five points behind Chelsea with five games to go, you can forget it, but with three points it is feasible."

He added: "We have a difficult programme but they have a difficult programme as well."

The Gunners - who were outplayed by Barcelona for large spells during a thrilling 2-2 draw on Tuesday night - made seven changes to their starting XI as Wenger clearly had one eye on next week's trip to the Nou Camp.

However, despite dominating the home side could not find a breakthrough, as visiting goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann was in top form.

Wolves defended bravely and looked to have overcome the sending-off of captain Karl Henry for a rash challenge on Tomas Rosicky before Bendtner's late, late intervention sent the home crowd into delirium.

Wenger continued: "It was important to forget Barcelona for 24 hours and focus on this game, and that was not easy. But we did it well - I think we had a good focus.

"We were a bit jaded physically, but we kept going and we were serious, we didn't make a mistake at the back.

"In the end we got a deserved victory against a resilient Wolves team who had a great goalkeeper. We kept it late, as with many times, but overall we deserved to win the game."