The Frenchman insists his side could have added to their four goals against the Premier League strugglers but the win shows their ability to make the Champions League places

Arsene Wenger has praised Arsenal’s performance and victory over Reading, and has backed his side to continue their good form in the race for a Champions League berth.

The Gunners notched a third consecutive Premier League win as they overcame the Royals, who sit bottom of the Premier League table, and the French manager believes all the momentum is with his side as the north London club push for a top-four finish.

“I’m very happy because it keeps our momentum going. The confidence looks to be there, and you could see when the confidence is there, we can play quality football,” he told the club’s official wesbite.

“Let’s keep that spirit, that attitude, that confidence, and we have a great chance. We want to do it and I’m confident we will.

“We had a good performance. We were technically sound and had a good balance between mastering the possession and being incisive.”

But Wenger bemoaned his side’s profligacy in the first half, with Gervinho scoring the only goal of a dominant opening 45 minutes, and the Frenchman felt his side should have been out of sight by the half-time whistle.

“The only regret we had at half-time is that we didn’t score the chances we created and that we didn’t get the penalty we deserved,” Wenger continued.

“But we scored the second goal straight after coming out for the second half and then it was quite comfortable.”

The win leaves the Gunners in fifth place, just two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, but Wenger is focussing only on making sure his own team can continue playing well.

“We have one target, to win our games,” added the Arsenal boss. “You cannot always look around you and see what the other teams do. Just play well and win your games. The best way to win games is to play well.”