Extra: Wenger on Walcott and Pearson

Read some extra quotes from Arsène Wenger's pre-match press conference. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.

on Nigel Pearson winning Manager of the Month…
Nigel Pearson has won the elections so I’m happy for him! Congratulations.

on Theo Walcott’s contract…
No [there are not any updates]. 

on whether he plans to talk to Walcott at the end of the season…
Yes. We are already talking to him.

on whether Arsenal have to sell if Walcott doesn’t sign…
Today I’m not in that kind of mode of thinking because I just think I want him to stay. When you go into negotiations with a player it is with a desire for him to stay. He looks keen to do it and I am keen to do it, so let’s see what comes out. 

on whether he feels he has to sell him…
The press is always focusing on what you do in case of failure. We are always in the mode where we want to be successful. In case of failure, we’ll see but in case of failure - that will only be in December next year.

on the turning point this season…
I believe you just look at the stats, the results. Sometimes you have not to be too complicated. Since January we have only lost one game in the league. That was against Tottenham, 2-1 and we were 1-0 up on top of that. There are many turning points, one of them was that we had some players back and defensively we were much stronger in the second part of the season than the first part, and we still have room for improvement there. Maybe we have more stability and balance in the team.

on if injuries make him think about what might have been…
Maybe every club could say that. I just think there are two things that are important - that you feel you move forward and make progress, and as well that in the quality of the attitude of the players you have a chance to make progress because every day they come in focused to do better. I think these two ingredients are at the club at the moment but it’s very fragile as well and you have to take care of that. We were not consistent enough - after eight games we were 11 points behind Chelsea. If we win our game in hand today we are 10 points behind Chelsea. That means in the first eight games we lost our championship and that’s what we have to address next season and start strong.