Press conference

'We showed great solidarity and spirit'

It was as tight and fiercely-contested as we have come to expect from games against Chelsea - and the tie is goalless heading into the second leg.

Arsene Wenger was pleased with the way his side battled at Stamford Bridge and this is what he said in his post-match press conference:

on the performance…

I felt it was a game that was very intense physically, that was locked as well because the two teams were well organised and defended well. You could see it was the first leg of a decisive tie and overall I must say we had a great solidarity, spirit in the side and overall it was a deserved 0-0. We couldn’t score in the last 20 minutes there, where there were opportunities that we didn’t use well, but overall we now have a job to do at home and we will do it. We have played Chelsea so many times that the two teams know each other very well and that’s why when the two teams decide to block the game, they can do it

on where he watched the game…

I must say you are well treated, you have the best places in the stadium and you cannot complain. It was frustrating, but the position was quite interesting as I was close to the bench and not too far high up and that’s where I like to be.

on the delays from VAR…

There were only two opportunities for them to intervene, the first one was straight away because the ball went out, but the second one for me it would look a bit strange after the game has gone on for a while and then there is a corner and then to come back to a penalty would look strange, because if the referee is uncertain maybe he should be able to block straight away. If there is not penalty you give it to the defending team, because it looks a bit strange to go on for two minutes for example sometimes and then to come back, everybody forgot what happened basically. You cannot intervene straight away, it’s frustrating.

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