In the press conference ahead of saturday’s lunchtime fixture, Arsene Wenger refused to comment on his relationship with old foe Jose Mourinho, and said he will make a late call with regards to his striking options against Chelsea.
Arsenal’s preparation for the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge has been far from ideal, and he will be hoping to get back to winning ways against the Blues.
The Community Shield win over Chelsea has removed the mental block
Wenger admitted that Arsenal’s community shield win over Chelsea was important to the players’ psyche, and it helped remove a mental block. Wenger suggested, a It can sometimes be a mental block for the players or the team when they do not win against certain teams. On that front it was good.”
a I wona t tell you more that I just told you.”
a I dona t want to talk about that.a Wenger said when he was asked why he didn’t shake hands with Jose Mourinho in the Community Shield. Although a lot of journalists asked him about his relationship with Mourinho, all attempts proved to be futile as the Frenchman put an end to the discussion by saying, a I have nothing more to say about this situation.a
Are Chelsea in decline?
The Arsenal manager was also asked about a possibly ‘in-decline’ Chelsea. He said, a I dona t know, I leave that to the specialists. I take care of my team and my own problems.a
a Realistically people come to watch football and all the rest is a little bit secondary. What is important is the quality of what we will see tomorrow at 12.45pm and you want people to focus on that. For us ita s a big game and we know our position at the end of the season will depend on how well we do in the big games. I do not think too much about where Chelsea stand in the league at the moment. I focus more on us performing well with full power tomorrow.”
. Will make a late call on striker
Who will start upfront for the gunners tomorrow, is a decision Wenger has to make. a At the moment I must say that is a decision I still have to make tomorrow morning,a . He was also quick to praise Theo Walcott for his great performance in midweek. “Every game is different and that is why I dona t deny at all the quality of Walcott. I am very happy that he scored so many goals in so many starts. He shows as well that when he comes on, he can score as well, which he did in Zagreb.a