Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been holding his pre Tottenham Hotspur press conference today, and he’s the team news for the game.
With Arsenal heading to Wembley looking for north London bragging rights over Spurs for the second time this season in the Premier League, Wenger told the Official Site that largely it was the same group that was available for our heavy victory over Everton last week.
There are however a few doubts hanging over players and they will be assessed late on, but equally we have a few returning to contention, so we should be good to go again.
Speaking in general he explained.
‘Basically, we should have a similar squad to what we had last week against Everton. Maybe Danny Welbeck will be back. We had a few problems with Petr Cech, who we are not sure about at the moment because he`s not trained. I don`t know if he will be available. Nacho Monreal looks alright again. It should be a similar squad.’
With his comments about Cech’s fitness with him not training, Wenger was asked if it would be a risk in the game to bring him back.
‘I will not take any risk if he`s not 100 per cent fit, for sure, because I have full confidence in David Ospina. I have no problem with selecting him. David Ospina or Petr Cech: I will make that decision tomorrow.’
With a recent record at Wembley of nine games played, nine won – three FA Cups and three Community Shields – Wenger completely dismissed suggestions that the venue would have an effect on the game, although he did concede he felt playing at Wembley was better than White Hart Lane.
‘Yes, because we have a positive history there and of course Wembley is a pitch that is quality, a stadium with a big crowd and it is always a special day in your mind so overall yes.’
Asked specifically about our record being an advantage.
‘Decisive, no. It has a little weight in it because we have a good level of performance there, so we will not feel too much ‘away` in that situation. Anyway, it will be down to the performance on the day. I don`t know. I don`t think so. I just think that, for us, it will be more about sorting out the tactical problems. To be at the level of performance we want to be, we have to play our fluent football. What Wembley gives you is a good quality of pitch to allow you to play the kind of game we want to play.’
