Arsene Wenger held a press conference yesterday ahead of this weekend’s fixture against Liverpool with the much focus on Arsenal’s supposed interest in Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling, with the England man currently involved in a contract dispute
When questioned about Liverpool star Sterling, Wenger had a lot to say:
“Raheem Sterling is a top player; everybody in the country knows that now. He is a very important player for Liverpool of course.” The Arsenal Manager went on to discuss rumours of a move for the English forward, adding: “I do not want to speak about any move. We are not in a transfer period, we are in front of a big game. I respect Liverpool and I do not want to go into any supposed move for any of their players.”
The boss then confirmed news that Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Mathieu Debuchy are all back in full training. Arsene Wenger: “They are back available in training, a bit short still of top competitive level certainly but that’s normal.”
The Arsenal Manager went on to explain his shock at how fit the four looked in training and against Brentford for the reserves: “I was quite surprised by how fit they looked and the quality of their performance – it was good.”
Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain is still out injured and unavailable while Danny Welbeck may be just short after picking up a knee injury whilst on England duty. It appears that Arteta will also fall short; however Wenger may involve one of Wilshere, Diaby or Debuchy, saying “Will I involve any of them? I don’t know, I haven’t decided.”
Wenger has spoken of the importance of Welbeck, insisting that the England international is an important team player: “Not only does he now score goals, but as well contributes a lot to the team work.”
“He’s a team player and I believe technically he has improved a lot. When you look at him now I believe that technically he is much more mature, more composed in front of goal, the quality of his runs is getting better and he has huge, huge attributes.”
The boss then went on to discuss Arsenal’s good form of late, having won six in a row and insists that Arsenal must get “straight back on it” as the game against Liverpool approaches: “It’s a big game and an opportunity for us to continue our run, which is what we want to do.”
He continued: “We are on a strong run and we just want to focus on winning our games, winning the next one. Liverpool is a big opponent but we play at the Emirates and we want to do it.”
A win for Arsenal would hold vital importance in the hopes of securing a Champions League spot, knowing that three points would mean a nine-point gap is opened up between the two sides, however Wenger refused to entertain the prospect of the points difference.
“I’m not too much in mathematics now”, continuing “We do that after the game. What is important is just for us to win the game and produce the performance.”
The game against Arsenal sees Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard serve the first of his three game ban, having been sent off against Manchester United for a stamp on Ander Herrera.
When questioned about the Liverpool legend, Wenger was full of praise, claiming that Gerrard was the ‘midfielder of dreams’:
“When you look at his qualities, it’s difficult to see what he hasn’t got in the locker. He was quick, he had a good long pass, he had a good technique, he could score goals. He’s a dream midfielder, so overall I believe he had every single quality that you dream to have when you play in midfield.”
Ahead of the game, Arsene Wenger and Olivier Giroud were handed the Manager and player of the month awards respectively.
Arsenal face Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday at 12:45pm.
