Read extra quotes from Arsène Wenger's press conference ahead of the Swansea game. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.
I’m convinced that he’s the frontrunner. There are some problems to sort out there with his assistants, who work for Lyon as well. I don’t know if he will manage to sort that out or not. It is a challenge that he should take. Are assistants of Lyon free or not? It doesn’t matter, it’s a challenge he should take.
on what advice he’d give Garde…
You know our job is to be faithful to your personality and have the courage to live with your ideas.
on what Garde will offer...
Honestly I have a lot of respect for all the managers who have worked at Villa. I think they are all quality managers. But they had no technical stability at Villa until now. It shows that the club, as long as it doesn’t manage to get technical stability, the results are up and down. Hopefully he will be given time. I believe Sherwood wasn’t given time, Lambert wasn’t given time to turn things round and many very good managers have failed there. I don’t know why exactly, you need to know the internal problems inside the club that I don’t know.
on Garde's qualities
Remi is an intelligent man who has experience in Lyon now. He will try to get his ideas through, the ideas he got through in Lyon and hopefully it can work. They have five or six French players there who haven’t all had an impact, maybe he will give them a chance, I don’t know.
on reaching 1,999 goals as Arsenal manager...
I will score the 2,000th one myself!
on what he still wants to achieve with Arsenal...
I want to continue to develop our results and the way we play football and the club as well. I have an influence on how fast and how well the club moves forward. I think if I look back to when I arrived here and where the club is today, I think I have contributed to that. I want to continue to develop our team and to play football as close to perfection as possible, I know that’s a nice illusion, but it’s what keeps every manager going.
on watching Chelsea v Liverpool…
I don’t think I can watch the game, maybe 45 minutes - the first half. Of course I watch a big game when I can, and Chelsea v Liverpool is an interesting one because they are two strong sides who play against each other.
on it being good time to play Swansea...
I don't know, honestly. We expect our opponents always to turn up with full commitment so we prepare ourselves to be at our best. I believe that's the only way to prepare nowadays in the Premier League, not to expect any weakness in your opponent.
on Garry Monk...
He has surprisingly been questioned very quickly. I think he has done extremely well. Very quickly some rumours came up last week that he could be questioned. I was surprised because I think he’s done extremely well.
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