HERE WE MOW AGAIN
Banned Wenger will be in the stands at Stamford Bridge again tonight. He did the same last season in a 3-1 league defeat and sat next to his gardener
ARSENE WENGER hopes the grass will be greener at Stamford Bridge than it was last season.
It will be a case of deja vu tonight as Wenger is serving another touchline ban, and will probably do well to be away from unhappy Arsenal supporters after Sunday’s FA Cup exit at Nottingham Forest.
But the Frenchman had an unlikely meeting when he was banished to the stands at Chelsea last February, and had to watch and suffer with the punters, as the Gunners lost 3-1 to their London rivals.
“I must tell you that was a bad experience. I sat next to a guy who says, ‘Hello, how are you?’ I said, ‘Good afternoon.’ He said, ‘I am your gardener’. I didn’t even know him,” said Wenger, who smiled as he admitted he does have a big garden.
“He went to the game. I was in the middle of the crowd at Chelsea. It was very uncomfortable. Very awkward, yes. It was not a pleasant experience.
“I can still do the pre-match in the dressing room and at halftime. I want to be close to the dressing room but, at Chelsea, you have to go on the other side to go in the directors’ box. So, by the time you get around the stadium, it’s 10 minutes played.”
It was bad last season when Arsenal went to Chelsea midway through Wenger’s four-game touchline ban as they were in poor form, and went on to miss out on a top-four place.
Things do not get any easier because Arsenal are stuck in sixth, out of the FA Cup, which has been Wenger’s salvation in recent seasons, and the League Cup is his most realistic chance of silverware.
The Gunners boss has felt a fierce backlash from fans after the Forest defeat, particularly as they made nine changes, resting the big guns for the Chelsea tie. It feels like League Cup or bust.
But Wenger was defensive of his selection at Forest and also of his record in the FA Cup, as he has won it a record seven times. The way he spoke – saying the sideshow was like a “circus” – showed he still thinks there is no one better for the job than him.
Wenger said: “We killed an opportunity to win a trophy on Sunday, we have another one and, of course, it is important. But, as well, you have to say, I’ve won the FA Cup seven times and, on top of that, people are always scandalised.
“Nobody has won the FA Cup more than I did, but still it is seen as an absolute disaster. Get somebody to win it more, and then I say OK, well done. But nobody in the whole history of English football won it more, so I always took the competition in a serious way.
“I am unhappy to go out, of course, but you must accept as well that there’s no guarantee you will win it every year. The problem all came from the fact that we had three games in six days, and we had many players on the edge.
“I think the League Cup will even become more important because it’s a trophy and many, many teams today invest a huge amount of money and are all hungry for trophies. Nobody wants to fold that away.
“It’s not because we lost on Sunday that the Cup is less respected. I think it will become even more important as so many teams are hungry for trophies that everybody goes for it.
“What is for me the most important is what happens on the football pitch, once the game has started. All the rest is part of it, it is linked with the circus that exists around our game today. We have to live with it and accept it.
“It shows as well that, on some stage, it’s part of the way of life nowadays.
“But, at the end of the day, that’s not facts. The fact is what happens on the football pitch and it is not what you say too much in life, it’s what you do.
“And what we can do is play well on the football pitch and live in our bubble and focus on what is important for us.”