News

Boss on big decisions, Giroud, Chelsea

Arsene Wenger faced the media after his team drew 0-0 with Chelsea at Emirates Stadium. Read on for a transcript of his press conference...

on the big decisions…
I can understand [why Chelsea think the referee did well]. I think the referee did not have a great game.

on the difference of opinion…
It's Christmas so let's give everyone his own opinion and I can have mine, but what can you say? We dropped two points tonight and that's what we want to focus on, to win the next game.

on the penalty shout…
I think it was a penalty, honestly. If I am wrong I apologise but from outside it looked a penalty. I haven't seen it on video. Chelsea defended well, they were well-organised and we didn't find our zippy movements to play through the lines as we can do. But I think in the second half there was room to win the game. Overall they were happy with a point, we were not happy with a point, but we couldn't take the few chances we created.

on the tackle on Arteta…
Honestly I have to watch that again on television. On the pitch it looked bad but the referee was in a good position. I have to watch that again.

on dealing with defensive opponents…
We have to find a way, to sort that problem out. I felt we were a bit edgy because we conceded six goals at Man City. It played a bit of a part in our head at the start of the game. In the second half we took control of the game and we had two or three chances where maybe we could have done better. You could still see that the two games we played at Napoli and at Man City had a little part, a little weight in our heads. But the fact that Chelsea gave us that problem, we want to be strong enough to deal with that.

on Giroud missing late chances…
The three games he played in six days had a big weight in our recent results, but since then we had nine days when we could recover and I think tonight he was not tired. I will have to rest everybody at some stage. Bendtner or somebody else [will have to start at some stage].

on not making substitutions…
Because I had plenty of offensive players on the pitch and we were in the need to attack. I had Walcott, I had Ramsey, I had Ozil, I had Giroud, I had Rosicky, and because we didn't play for nine days none of them looked really jaded. That's why… I felt we had the balance defensively and we had four or five offensive players on the pitch, let's continue to do that. And we had the chances, of course. When you don't score you don't score.

on how he sees the title race…
It's tight as you say. But it's down to consistency. We go through a patch that is a bit more difficult, I agree with you, but part of a successful season is how well you deal with that. I must say the spirit of the players is unbelievably focused, we have a great desire. We go through a period where it's a bit more difficult but with that spirit we'll come out of that.

on whether he will ever beat Mourinho…
That's good for the media story.

on whether four games without a win affects confidence…
Look, it doesn't help. But let's be serious. If after the first game against Aston Villa I would have told you that at Christmas we would be top of the league, you would have said you are absolutely mad, so let's not go completely overboard as well. We are where we are, we have gone through the last three games, which were a bit more difficult. We still have played Everton, we have played Man City and we have played Chelsea.