LOVE IS IN THE AIR
It’s 1-0 to the Arsenal as Wenger bows out with a special adieu
It was a Yorkshire ta- ra rather than a French adieu. this was Huddersfield, so there was no soaking in champagne.
But the sun shone, arsenal won for the first time away from home in the league this year and love was in the air for arsene wenger — so much so that the Frenchman, departing after 22 years, joked he should have bowed out earlier.
‘It’s a really special day,’ reflected wenger. ‘to keep my sense of humour I should have announced every week my goodbye because people have been so nice with me.’
they may not be famous for their generosity in these parts, but it was a warm send- off for a man whose 1,235th and final match in charge of the Gunners was won thanks to Pierre- Emerick aubamayang’s first-half strike.
It all started before kick-off. with applause ringing out from all four stands, wenger strode over to the travelling arsenal fans to perform a theatrical bow.
‘It was spontaneous, because I know that we’ve disappointed the away fans this season,’ he said. ‘Many of them, they live the whole week and use their spare money to travel up to games. It’s part of the respect. we had disagreements which I accept but we had one thing in common: we loved arsenal Football Club.’ we also had the humming that denotes movement from above, a noise wenger may have become wary of thanks to those planes during the ‘wenger Out’ campaign. He need not have worried.
‘arsene wenger — arsenal legend’ and ‘Merci, arsene, we’ll miss you’ read the messages as bonhomie ruled. It was not lost on the man himself. ‘they had the wrong banner out today,’ he noted with a smile. It was not lost on the Huddersfield supporters, either. ‘You two-faced b******s, you wanted him out,’ was met with a humorous ‘Herbert Chapman, he left ’cos you’re ****,’ from the away end.
It was a history lesson wenger would have admired. ‘Chapman smiled at me as he was on the photo just outside the dressing room,’ he said of the great man who managed both clubs. Further recognition came when the crowd rose on 22 minutes to deliver another standing ovation.
then we had a reminder of how it is supposed to be when Henrikh Mkhitaryan linked with alexandre Lacazette, who found aaron Ramsey. the welshman crossed to the far post and aubameyang scored. It was the type of lightning strike arsenal became famous for under wenger. this was the £56million man’s 10th top-flight goal since his January arrival. Only Mohamed salah and Harry Kane have done better. ‘there is something that is waiting to come out,’ said 68-year-old wenger.
‘we were very close this season, went to a League Cup semi-final, Europa League semi when we should have qualified. at home it was fantastic but away from home we need to improve and they will.’
wenger, who admitted receiving offers but is yet to speak to prospective employers, was asked if he could manage a team against arsenal. ‘I’m not ready for that at the moment,’ he said. ‘It would be very difficult, I’d stay at home that day. Maybe it’s better I go somewhere else.’
at half-time Huddersfield’s chairman Dean Hoyle told the punters that miracle-working manager David wagner — linked with Leicester — is going nowhere.
a smiling wagner defended his players after they were pictured celebrating with fags and booze in midweek following the draw at Chelsea which kept them up.
‘this is how social media is,’ added wagner. ‘If there’s a moment I can accept they’ve done it, it was wednesday night. they deserved it. Now the real party starts.’
arsenal wasted chances to seal the win before David Ospina’s injury-time save denied wagner’s men. then another banner, this time aimed at arsenal’s owner — ‘Kroenke, you’re next’.
wenger had no such sentiment. ‘I had fantastic human experiences at the club,’ he said. ‘ above the results, it was a human adventure.’ Have the 22 years changed him? ‘Look at my face,’ he added with a smile. ‘It’s changed me a lot.’
HUDDERSFIELD (5-3-2): Lossl 6.5; Hadergjonaj 6.5, Jorgensen 6.5, Schindler 7, Kongolo 6.5, Lowe 6.5; Mooy 6, Hogg 6 (Whitehead 87), Ince 6.5 (Depoitre 61, 5.5); Pritchard 7, Mounie 6.5 (Billing 79, 5). Subs not used: Coleman, Smith, Sabiri, Stankovic. Booked: Jorgensen. Manager: David Wagner 6.5. ARSENAL (4-3-3): Ospina 7; Bellerin 6.5, Mustafi 6.5, Holding 6.5, Kolasinac 6 (Monreal 67, 6); RAMSEY 7, Xhaka 6.5, Iwobi 5.5 (Maitland-Niles 72, 5.5); Lacazette 6.5, Aubameyang 7 (Welbeck 67, 6), Mkhitaryan 6. Subs not used: Macey, Mertesacker, Nketiah, Willock. Scorer: Aubameyang 38. Booked: None. Manager: Arsene Wenger 7. Referee: Michael Oliver 7. Attendance: 24,122.