Arsene Wenger was accompanied by Theo Walcott for his regular pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s match against FC Basel. The pair were quizzed on everything from team news, the allegations surrounding Sam Allardyce and the impressive form of Arsenal’s number 14 this season. As always we have the press conference in full (via Arsenal.com).
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Match: Arsenal v FC Basel
Stadium: Emirates Stadium
Kick Off (GMT): Tue 28 Sep 19:45
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Wenger
Coquelin Injury
It’s positive because last year in this period we had a few long term injuries and it was a handicap in our season after you always play the same players in the same positions and you lose a little bit your edge physically, the fact is that we have a compact squad but of top quality so to keep everyone together is a big plus.
Have You Relied On Xhaka And Elneny For Information On Basel?
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Yes, of course a little bit. Xhaka plays against Xhaka tomorrow so it’s a family job basically. I think they may hide from each other some truth. But of course we know Basel well because we bought Elneny from them last season and I know Basel quite well. It’s a team that dominates the Swiss Championship for years and has excellent results in England because they have beaten everybody in England. Manchester United and Chelsea and Liverpool. They’ve had strong results in Liverpool.
Will You Get Past The Last 16 This Year?
It’s our target but the truth is on the pitch. We had a good game on Saturday but let’s show we can go from good game to good game. In recent years we could have gone out in the group stage, last year we made it difficult for ourselves. We have learned that is not only important to qualify but to qualify top so you can get many more chances after.
Sam Allardyce
I can’t tell you anything about that because I don’t know really, I haven’t read the story and I wouldn’t like to come out on that, it’s too damaging and too heavy as a story. I think you have to let Sam Allardyce defend himself and I just hope he will clear his name.
Time To End 3rd Party Ownership
Yes, 3rd party ownership should not be allowed I fight against it for a long, long time. The clubs should always possess 100% of their players but I cannot tell you anything about this story.
Most Pleasing About The Chelsea Match?
Relentless team energy and the fact that we kept going no matter what the result was. We respected what we planned together and I think that is a sign of maturity. I said after the game we played out game with style and steel. Every time is a new challenge and I believe in humility that we have to start from scratch again and show another performance. It might be a completely different game but we have to find the resources to win the game again.
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