Wenger backs ‘forgotten’ duo

ARSENE WENGER insists he is not treating Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott as second-class citizens at Arsenal.

The pair have almost 450 Premier League games between them for the Gunners as well as well over 100 international caps, yet both have started in cup games only this season.

That will be the case once again at the Emirates Stadium against BATE Borisov tonight in the final Europa League group match, with contract rebels Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil set to have yet another evening off.

But Wenger says Giroud and Walcott should not feel excluded.

“That’s not how I see it,” he said. “Even inside the camp the other players have a respect for them. But sometimes the outside environment makes them look like that. When the team does well you keep a certain consistency. GIROUD That doesn’t mean you have less respect for the players who do not play. You respect people through their attitude and their attitude is fantastic.”

Maybe so, but both players have the World Cup finals on their minds. Walcott has already been jettisoned by England manager Gareth Southgate and Giroud, supplanted by Alexandre Lacazette, has been told by his national team’s assistant manager Guy Stephan to get more game time.

Wenger disputed the latter point. “When they met up with France for the last international break, Giroud had played more minutes than Lacazette,” he said.

ARSENAL (probable):