‘You have to be a bit of a gambler’

“The love for the game, the passion for football, the passion for the club, the love of the uncertainty. You have to be a little bit of a gambler.”

That was Arsène Wenger’s response when a journalist asked him what drives him on after 20 years at the club.

Having been knocked out of one cup competition on Tuesday, attention turns to another this weekend, when Lincoln City visit in the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final.

While our defeat against Bayern Munich in midweek left the manager “very angry, very frustrated”, he was keen to address one positive from the evening - the manner in which the fans at Emirates Stadium stuck with the team throughout.

“It was fantastic,” he added. “They were there for a great night.

“Would we have made it or not [if Walcott had been awarded a penalty]? I don't know. Maybe not. But it could have been close because it was a penalty on Walcott, Giroud had a great chance with a header just after half-time from six yards.

“They were wobbling a little bit at 1-0. At 2-0 it would have changed. You could see that with Paris Saint-Germain, they froze suddenly, players with experience.

“The mental aspect in these kind of games is very important.”