Interview

‘For the first time players have a Christmas Day'

Our calendar is always packed full of fixtures over the festive period, but this year is slightly different.

Instead of our usual Boxing Day match, this time we don’t play until December 28, which means a welcome Christmas break for Arsène Wenger and his first-team squad.

 

on how the different schedule affects training…

For the first time, the players will have a Christmas Day. We are very busy before and very busy after, so it’s good that this is the first time that we have six days between December 22 and December 28.

on how that affects his Christmas…

It’s new for me as well, I will have to adapt like the players. It’s also good to think that you can have a little breather over Christmas. Before that, let’s do the job.

on when the players celebrate…

For foreign players, it’s more the 24th at night and for the English players it’s the 25th.