Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits there is something “special” developing at the club after they cruised to a 4-1 victory over Liverpool at the weekend.

The Gunners swept aside the Reds with a stunning display at Ashburton Grove as goals from Hector Bellerin, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez gave them a 3-0 lead at the break.

Jordan Henderson’s penalty gave the visitors hope until Emre Can saw red for two bookable offences before Olivier Giroud completed the scoring in injury time with his sixth goal in as many games.

Speaking after the game Wenger commented on the growing optimism around the club.

“We have a good mentality and a good cohesion in the team and I feel there is something happening in the team, that shows you that they are ready to fight for each other,” the Frenchman said.

“You see that, you cannot cheat on that, people smell that and that’s of course a good basis.

“Defensively we are getting better and you have to give credit to players who get less like Coquelin, who especially in the first half broke up many attacks in a convincing way.”

The win makes it seven on the spin in all competitions for the north London outfit and Wenger wants his side to finish the season strongly with a top-two finish on the cards.

“Let’s give everything and see what happens. It’s too early. Seven games to go and what is good is we have four games at home and only three away games and we are on a good run,” the Gunners manager said.

“It will be down now to how we can maintain that focus, that urgency level until the end.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits qualifying for the Champions League next season will be difficult after the damaging defeat in London left them eight points behind Manchester United after their 3-1 victory over Aston Villa later on Saturday afternoon.

“If we could have taken something from today then obviously our chances would have been greater but I wouldn’t expect those two (Arsenal and Manchester United) to slip up,” the Northern Irishman said afterwards.

“Add to that the growing number of people that we have unavailable will make it very very difficult with only seven games to go.

“This year was always going to be difficult for us, just a little frustrating that we got ourselves into a position over the last three months to then come up short in the last two games,” he concluded.