Read some extra quotes from Arsène Wenger's pre-match press conference. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.
on spitting...
It’s not acceptable and it’s down to the FA to deal with that. We play on Monday night against Manchester United. I don’t think I have too much to influence in that - you leave it to the FA to deal with. Until now I felt that they dealt very well with this kind of incident.
on how managers behave towards each other...
It’s isolated incidents. Ideally you want us to behave in a perfect way so maybe you’ll have to build a wall between the two dugouts! The bigger the distance, the better it is. In the modern stadium it is much better. At the Emirates for example we have had zero incidents because we are far apart from each other. What happens when the dugouts are very close is that everyone speaks to the fourth official and then it becomes controversial very quickly. Because it’s always on a hype, the incidents can explode in physical controversy. Overall the distance between the two dug-outs is a very important part of the peace.
on media criticism of Van Gaal…
Today it’s like that. The rule is everyday you have to criticise somebody or you don’t sleep well overnight. Because we are in a public job, we have to accept that.
on what adjustments he made when he came to Arsenal…
You adapt first to your club, to your team, and after that the players who play for you are used to playing in the league. It’s less a problem of adapting to the league it’s more an adaptation to the style of play, to the quality of the players. It’s important you know well the players you have and I believe as well that Man United are in a construction because they got many new players this year. When I arrived here, I had a stable team who was used to playing in the Premier League. I don’t look too much at Man United - I look at my club, what we want to achieve and how I could achieve it. I leave [comments on Man United] to other people.
on having strength and depth…
We come down to that problem yes, that people always raise these kind of questions when you do not have enough players. I would just like to say that we have chosen a job where competition is part of our job. That means we can’t complain about that, because we have made that choice. I never understand completely this kind of question, because it’s part of our job. Our job is to serve the club and to compete with other people to do as well as we can to serve the club. The only important thing is what the club achieves. After, all of us are only here for that.
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