Press conference

Wenger on Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Lacazette

What is Arsene Wenger’s early assessment of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan? What is the latest on Alexandre Lacazette?

This is what the boss had to say in his press conference ahead of Saturday’s north London derby at Wembley Stadium:

on Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan having to keep their emotions in check for their first derby…

Just by focusing on their performance and on our team play. We want them focusing on how we want to play the game, tactically and technically. Once the game has started, these guys have experience, they have played top-level games. They know what is important and they know that the most important thing is to focus on the performance.

on playing Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan in a big game this early…

I think we are in the middle of the season, and they are top-quality players so why should they not repeat that type of performance?

on Mkhitaryan helping the strikers with practice after training…

He has a very professional attitude and overall I think that is what you want from every player. I am not surprised about that because I find that absolutely normal.

on comments from Borussia Dortmund’s CEO about Aubameyang…

If you look well at the history, he played only one game. He played. They suspended him for two or three games. One before the break and one after the break. So he played only one game at home, where they played a 2-2 against Werder Bremen, I believe. So maybe he was not ready physically to perform at his best, but I don’t believe that he didn’t want to perform.

on Alexandre Lacazette not getting off the bench against Everton…

You do not have to understand too much [about not being able to play]. What you want is that everybody focuses on winning the game. Do they start the game or not? In this game he didn’t come on because we had a problem with the goalkeeper. You do not want the players to understand too much about why they don’t play. They don’t understand. I completely agree with them because they want to play. That’s natural and normal.