Press conference

Wenger - This team can play against anybody

Arsène Wenger made 11 changes to the starting lineup for Thursday night's game against BATE Borisov, and the replacements didn't disappoint, running in six goals without reply.

The manager spoke to the media after the game, about the low attendance for the game, and how he will approach the knock out rounds of the competition.

Here's what he said…

on whether the low crowd affected the players…

No, I think you forget about that once you are on the pitch. It’s true that you prefer the ground to be full, but tonight there was not a lot at stake on the competitive side. No matter how many sit in the stands, you have to give them what they expect - and that’s what we did.

on what he’d say to the fans who didn’t go…

You respect the decision of your fans. They knew we were top of the group anyway and you could basically expect that. You have looked around last night in the Champions League in game number six, I have seen many grounds not full, or half empty. That's a bit the problem of the group stage.

Theo Walcott struck his second goal of the season

on teams dropping from the Champions League…

Yeah, Napoli, Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, so it will be interesting.

on the draw…

We spoke about that. I thought that basically we were never in the Europa League because we always qualified out of the group stage, but I was never a big fan of teams going to the Europa League.

on team selection for the knockout stages…

I will adapt every time the team to the team we face. It depends. I just select the team I think can win the next game. It’s difficult because this team can play against anybody.

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