Arsenal vs Swansea: Full Transcript Of Wenger's Pre-match Conference Ahead Of Swansea Match

Arsene Wenger faced the media on Friday the 8th of May for his pre-match conference ahead of the premier league game against Swansea. This is the full transcript of his press conference. Enjoy

Good morning Arsene, can we start with your team news?

Yes, I don't think anybody who was out for our last game at Hull will come back, and we have an uncertainty about Aaron Ramsey, he got a big knock on his bone, on his tibula and we will see how he recovers from that.

What are his chances? 50-50?

Yeah.

On Monday, you named the same team in the premier league for the fourth game in a row, the first time you've ever done that. How reluctant are you to change this winning team? 

I'm ready to change, but we had the stability on the tactical front, the confidence was there, and I didn't change recently but I have no problem to changing players because they are all in a very good shape, the players who practiced, and players like Walcott, Wilshere, Gibbs for example I felt in the recent weeks they were not completely there, but now they are all there on the competitive front so there's no problem.

Swansea on Monday, a team that caused you some problems earlier this season.

Yes it's a game we lost, and you could see now that this 3 points in that period of the season we couldn't afford to drop them and the regret that we have is that we were 1-0 up, and lost the game in the final part of the game. But it was down to bad defending, sloppy defending and I think we have addressed that, but there's still room for improvement and our target is to continue to make progress.

Arsene, the votes have been counted recently, there has been a big vote, a big decision to make. Any reaction from you from the news this morning that Nigel Pearson is the manager of the month for April?

Nigel Pearson has won the elections you'd want to say, so I'm happy for him, congratulations.

In terms of your team news. Danny Welbeck what's the situation with him? Will he play again this season?

He will play again this season. He had all the scans and medical checks, nothing major, just an inflammation. For the weekend, he will be certainly short, but for the game after, he should be all right.

And Ramsey will play again this season too?

Ramsey will play again.

In terms of transfers, Manchester United signed Depay yesterday, a marquee signing for them, and we expect more from them. Can you talk about the importance of doing transfer business early this summer?

What you want to do more than early is to do it right, put it right and make the right decisions. Sometimes, opportunity comes up early. Last year, we made Sanchez right in the middle of the transfer window. You have to take the opportunities when they come up and that's not only decided by your desire. Sometimes by the opportunity of the club that sells as well. Sanchez was available because they bought Suarez. They could only buy Suarez beginning of July, we were not sure. So, you have just to be always on alert and do the business. Fix your target, be on alert, and do it when it's possible. You're not the only one who can decide that.

Have you done anything early yet? Have you made early preparations like Manchester United have done?

No, at the moment we haven't done anything. We would have told you

In terms of him as a player, was he ever a target of yours, was he ever someone you kept a close eye on?

I liked the player but that's a position where we have plenty you know players in abundance you know. He plays wide, and we have 7 or 8 players who can play wide for 2 positions.

                                               

Carl Jenkinson's future, has anything been decided on that yet? West Ham fans are starting to make some noises that they would like him to stay there.

I met Carl Jenkinson in fact this week to speak about his future, and we will sit down together again at the end of the season.

Was there any significant...

My target is to keep him here in the club.

Do you think he could fit into the team regularly next season? Has it been a beneficial season for him on loan?

He had a great season for me and he has moved forward, and overall he has gained a lot of confidence. The decision I have to make is do I bring him back now or does he need one more year to play somewhere in the premier league? That is not decided yet.

10 points from 4 games gets you 2nd which would be the clubs best finish in a decade. What else would that bring apart from the pride of finishing as high as you can?

Look, we feel we have made progress in our consistency, in our quality in our stability, and that's what we want to continue and I feel its important to finish as close as possible to Chelsea and come out of the season and feel we are ready for a challenge next season.

You feel that sets you up for a title push next season?

Yes, that's the target of course, and as you said, man united just announced the buy--it's difficult to know how strong every team will be next year but you gain as well your confidence from what you have achieved the year before, and how well you have moved forward. That's why for us, it's very important that we continue to be consistent until the end of the season.

Arsene you are in the midst of a great unbeaten run at the moment. What do you feel was the real turning point this season? When did it really change? Can you pinpoint when it was?

I believe you just look at the stats, at the results. Sometimes you have not to be too complicated. Since January, we lost only one game in the league that is against Tottenham 2-1, and we were 1-0 up on top of that. We had many turning points. One of them was that we had some players back, and defensively, we were much stronger in the second part of the season than in the first part of the season, and there's still room for improvement there, and maybe a bit more stability, better balance in the team.

Garry Monk is a young British manager, he has done very well. How impressed have you been with what he has done at Swansea?

It's impressive what he has done because he is going to achieve certainly the highest total number of points in the premier league. Swansea is a club I must say has always identified good managers. They had success with Rodgers, Martinez, Laudrup and now him, so they look to make the right decisions at this club, and as well I must say he inherited a team who plays good football because Swansea in the last 4, 5 years has played quality games, and he has done very well in the continuity of that, and he's a bit more focused on defending well and that maybe defensive efficiency gave him a few more points.

He came through at Swansea, he knew the club. Do you think more clubs should mentor managers?

Yes of course.

How is that done?

How is that done? By just identifying people who have the potential to become managers and giving them the chance to be a coach at the club and prepare them after to cope with all the responsibilities you have as a manager. The world has a little bit changed because the media pressure today is massive. When I speak media, it's not only the newspapers or the radios or the television but the overall pressure of the environment of the football club, the pressure on people to make spectacular decisions is much bigger than before, so maybe it's more difficult.

That win against Hull effectively secured your champions league football for the 18th consecutive season. Given the strength and depth in the premier league these days, you must be proud of that record.

I'm proud of consistency because it's not easy to produce quality every year, every day and as well for years because we had to do it with less resources than people thought we had and people forget about that but we had to sell our best players for years and to stay at the top today, I think we have gone all of that length, we can have high ambitions again, but for years it was difficult.

With those injuries you had with some key players recently, does that make you feel "what might have been" if you had those players?

Look, maybe every club could say that. I just think there is 2 things that's important is that you feel you move forward, you make progress and as well that in the quality of the attitude of the players, you have the chance to make progress because every day they come in focused to do better, and I think this 2 ingredients are at the club at the moment, but it's very fragile as well but you have to take care of that. We were not consistent enough, after 8 games, we were 11 points behind Chelsea. If we win our game in hand, we are 10 points behind Chelsea. That means in the first 8 games, we lost our championship, and that's what we want to address next season and start strong.

Has Aaron been training at all this week? Has he been able to do full training?

Who?

Aaron.

No, not at all. He has not been out yet.

Arsene when a big club like Man United pays 25 million for a player, does it trigger the market in general, does it get things going?

They have two calculations. They think the earlier we buy, the less expensive it is, but that's a speculation that you never master very well. They might think the whole market might go up because the English clubs will be out on the market there and everybody in Europe expects us now to be capable to spend big money because we have future good contracts with televisions, but it can go as well the other way.

Do you expect it to be a big transfer window this summer?

I don't believe so because the number of players who can strengthen the premier league clubs are not massively important in number, and it's not like you go out there and just choose players, pick players and buy. To strengthen today a premier league team, you need to find top quality, and that's not easy.

Pochettino yesterday said he needed 5 new signings.

Who?

Pochettino, Tottenham manager. How many do you think you need?

You want me to beat him? I don't think in number we don't need--we have a squad of top quality and if we can strengthen our squad, of course we will do it, but let's finish well this season, focus well on doing well together until the end and see who can reinforce our squad.

About Carl Jenkinson, you mentioned that you've spoken to him. Is it really likely that he will go out on loan again? Because you've got Bellerin, you've got Debuchy, you've got Chambers, you've got plenty of  right backs as it is.

That's what I have to decide at the end of the season. I agree with you he needs experience. Carl is a young, promising, very promising right back with top quality, and he had a good year, he has really moved forward, and it's important that if he comes back, he has a good chance to play.

Is there any update on Theo Walcott's contract?

No.

                                                

Do you plan to talk to him at the end of the season?

Yes, we are already talking to him.

He's got one year left. Is it a case with him that if he doesn't sign, you have to sell him to get the money?

Today, I am not in that kind of mode of thinking because I just think I want him to stay and when you go into negotiations with a player, it is with a desire for him to stay, and he looks keen to do it, I am keen to do it, so let's see what comes out.

But if you don't get there, it's not a case that you have to sell him.

The press is always in what you do in case of failure, and we are always in a mode of we want to be successful, but in case of failure, we'll see. Case of failure anyway will only be December of next year.

Arsene ahead of the game on Monday night, no player has had as many assists as Santi Cazorla, 28 since 2012. Can you just explain why you think he has achieved such a formidable record for you in terms of that?

Because of his technical quality and of his intelligence and he's a model to watch because honestly if you go out and watch Cazorla play, you think "this is not the player", you watch him in Spain, you can "specifically a player for the premier league" you know, and he's a fantastic example that no matter how tall you are, it's about how good you are, and he's a very intelligent player and he shows as well how important it is to be right and left footed in midfield and he's a good example of how you should educate young players who play in midfield to have right and left foot.

This new role in the middle, do you think this will be his permanent position for Arsenal?

Yes, for sure.

Just because of the way he has adapted to it and...

No, because he gets at an age where he has experience and where on the flanks it's a bit more difficult for him, and his technical quality, his vision, and his experience are very important central.