‘You can’t be a big player, sit in your rocking chair and say: I do not want to fight’

WENGER JIBE AS THE OX RETURNS TO FACE GUNNERS

ARSENE WENGER has told Alex Oxlade Chamberlain: Big players fight for their place in a team.

The England star, frustrated by his lack of regular action with Arsenal, quit last summer to join Liverpool in a £40million deal.

Gunners boss Wenger admits he could offer no guarantees to the Ox but pointedly asked: “What do you want to be, a big player and not have to fight?

“You can’t be a big player, sit in your rocking chair and say, ‘I do not want to fight’. It doesn’t work like that.

“Every player has to fight. I am convinced it is an important part of being a top player.” The

Arsenal fans are likely to give Oxlade-Chamberlain (with Wenger, left) a hot reception on his return to the Emirates this evening.

Wenger reluctantly sold him as the player wanted regular games in midfield instead of being used as a wing-back. After a slow start at Anfield he has blossomed, but Wenger added: “Is he sure of a place there? You are sure of a place nowhere.

“In a big club you have big competition with some good players.

“I didn’t want him to go, I offered him a contract to stay but in the end he decided to go and we just had to try to get the best possible price.

“Look, he had one year to go. At start of the season we had four players with one year to go and I wanted him to extend his contract.

“Yes, he decided to go and we respect that.”