Arsenal travel to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon to face Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United and Arsene Wenger has been discussing a number of subjects ahead of the game, including the usual team news, the importance of a win, the memories from the historic tie and more.
Team news
One man that definitely won’t be playing for Arsenal at Old Trafford this Sunday is the man who scored the winner in the FA Cup tie; Danny Welbeck has been ruled out by the boss, who said: “He’s short a fraction but is not far away. I would love to have him available but we [may] have to do it without him.”
The Ox will also miss out with the boss saying “He will not play next week and after that there’s only one week to go for the cup final. I think he will be short but you never know. If he can be available for West Brom, maybe that’s the earliest he could be. It’s difficult to predict today.”
Mikel Arteta falls short for the game, as does Mathieu Debuchy, but Wenger said that he thinks Ramsey “will be alright”.
Progress
A win on Sunday at Old Trafford would secure a top three finish and importantly along with that, automatic qualification into next season’s UEFA Champions League and Wenger says that a top three finish would signal progress.
“We feel we have made progress, but we have a good opportunity to show that on Sunday because in every game that is questioned.
“Only one thing shows you have made progress and that is the continuity in your performances, and that you have a good level of cohesion. I believe as well that the way we respond to our disappointment on Monday night is a big indication of how strong we are.”
The Frenchman also discussed the importance of avoiding the Champions League qualifier.
“It’s very important for your season preparations to not have that kind of stress [about the Champions League qualifier] over your head from the first day you start again – it’s vital. The consequences are always dramatic if you don’t qualify.
“What is even more important now is that the international competitions force you most of the time to start the new season without your players.
“You cannot give them a long enough rest when they have played international games. You know that in England we have no break in the winter. That’s sometimes difficult to deal with.”
The fierce rivalry
In years gone by, the rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United has been one of the most hotly anticipated and high tempo fixtures to look forward to, with battles like Patrick Vieira vs. Roy Keane memorable for all the wrong reasons, not to mention the reaction from Martin Keown as Ruud Van Nistelrooy rifled the crossbar with his penalty in a game that could have meant ‘The Invincibles’ would not have happened.
But, with more clubs now able to challenge for Premier League supremacy and Arsenal having tailed off in recent years, Arsene Wenger believes that the rivalry between the two clubs has become more respectful.
“I believe the rivalry exists and there is a fierce rivalry between all the teams,” he said. “But is it a bit more respectful today? Maybe. It’s not too bad. It’s only the people who are not inside it who find it absolutely fantastic.
“It has [changed] because at the start it was mainly for a long period Man United and us, between 1998 and 2004. Then Chelsea joined, after you had Manchester City joining in, so it has changed, yes.
“We have been consistent on both sides. We have gone through some periods where we were really restricted in our finances when Man United were not.
“Sometimes I felt that we were fighting with three boxers who have much more resources than us, over the years, and on that front it was Chelsea, Man City and Man United for years who had a much higher calibre financially.”
Importance of a win on Sunday
A win on Sunday would secure automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League and Arsene Wenger believes that a win would convince him that the Gunners can put in a genuine challenge for the title next season.
“First of all we can mathematically put a distance between [Man United] and us in the top four and basically secure the top three.
“Also, we can make a symbolic statement because we won over there in the FA Cup. To reproduce that would be psychologically important.
“To do it again would convince us more that we have the strength and can be even stronger next season and show that we have made progress. In the recent years it was a difficult ground for us and that is what we want to show: that we have made progress.
“I like to go there and play well because it’s a great stadium.
“We have good, fantastic and very bad memories but that’s part of life in football. What we want is to show that we are a solid team.
“Since January we have produced consistent performances and we have also been very strong away from home. We have an opportunity to show that we have made progress. Any result will be a positive result. A draw or a win would be great for us.”
Tribute to Steven Gerrard
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is set to make his final ever appearance at Anfield on Saturday, with the midfielder making over 700 appearances in a spell that has lasted 17 years.
Gerrard will join LA Galaxy this summer and the Arsenal boss has paid a fitting tribute to a fantastic servant of Liverpool FC.
“I would just like to pay tribute to him for a fantastic career.
“For me he is a fantastic player and I would also like to do it because he has remained loyal to his club for his whole career.
“You don’t see that a lot, especially for that kind of quality player he was. It is a special day for English football, for Steven Gerrard and English football, because as well he was a great player for the national team.
“It would have been difficult for him to stay for such a long time at Liverpool and go somewhere else [in the Premier League],” added Wenger. “It is better maybe for him to promote football in America.”
Petr Cech & Thomas Vermaelen
Arsenal have been linked with Petr Cech recently and the boss was asked if he would sell the goalkeeper if in Jose Mourinho’s shoes.
Wenger responded: “That’s a very tricky question because we are not interested in anybody at the moment.”
Reports recently have said that should Barcelona win the Champions League, Arsenal will be paid £2.5m as part of the deal to sell Vermaelen to the Spanish side, but Wenger remained coy about the pay-out: “You have somebody who checks all our contracts! I have to [check] the contract, I cannot tell you that,” Wenger said.
Despite further potential income from Vermaelen’s transfer, the Belgian defender and former Arsenal captain has yet to make his debut, but Wenger said that he had no idea about his injury issues.
“Honestly no [I did not know about that]. Thomas Vermaelen left for one single reason, in the end he did not get the number of games and he is a top-quality player. Then we could not predict he would be injured for such long time.
I hope for him and for Barcelona next season he can play. He is back in full training and I am sure he will show next season that he can play.”
Arsenal face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, with kick off taking place at 16:00pm GMT.
