Manchester United vs Arsenal: Full Transcript Of Wenger's Pre-match Conference Ahead Of Manchester United Game

Arsene Wenger faced the media ahead of his premier league against Manchester United where he discussed transfers, Van Gaal, Petr Cech and other issues. This is the full transcript of his press conference. Enjoy and share.

Good morning Arsene, could we start with your team news for Sunday’s game.

We have a squad available who was available recently, and nobody is really back. Welbeck is short and I don’t think I forget anybody but it’s nearly the same squad.

How is Aaron Ramsey?

I think he will be alright.

And Danny Welbeck, you mentioned him. How is he progressing?

He’s short a fraction, but he’s not far away.

It’s Manchester United on Sunday. What sort of game are you expecting?

Look, what kind of game you expect is a game of quality first, and we want to bounce back from our defeat against Swansea and straight away put a good performance in and get a good result out of that. Any result will be positive result, draw or win will be great for us.

With Danny’s vintage, and his performance in the FA cup at Old Trafford, I’m sure you would like to have him available obviously fit again.

I would love to have him available, but we have to do without him, yes.

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Obviously in the old days, you were fighting with Manchester United for the title, but compared to that, how important is this game obviously neither team wanting to be involved in the play-offs?

First of all, you can mathematically put a distance between them and us in the top 4 and secure basically the top 3, and I think as well, maybe as well a symbolic statement that we won over there in the FA cup. To reproduce that would be as well psychologically important.

Symbolic statement saying what?

That we can beat Manchester United away from home, we have won away from home. Overall, our recent away form has been very strong, and that’s always a sign of a team who is in progress for me.

A late finish this season being in the FA cup final. How important is it that you don’t have to qualify for the champions league?

It’s very important for you. Serene preparation not to have that kind of stress from your first day when you start again is vital. We know what it means and we know it’s always tricky because you can play against teams who are in the middle of their championship when you are in preparation, and the consequences are always dramatic if you don’t qualify.

You’ve written a quote on your daily life on a website which I've been reading. It talks about how sometimes in the past you’ve been beaten in a game, you’ve gone out 3 or four days. Has that ever happened after a United game?

I don’t go out so.

Do you have any bad memories when you go to Old Trafford and which is the worst?

Look, I like to go there and play well because it’s a great stadium, we have good, fantastic and very bad memories, but that’s football, that’s part of life in football. What we want to show is that we are a sold team. I think we have since January produced consistent performances, and away from home, we have been very strong, and we have an opportunity to show that we have made progress.

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There wasn’t any truth with you being interested in Petr Cech in the summer. If you’re Jose Mourinho, would you allow Petr Cech to go to a rival?

That’s a very tricky question because we are not interested in anybody at the moment.

Obviously Chelsea started early, they signed a youngster from Brazil, and…

We cannot get players from Brazil into England at the moment, so I don’t see how we can sign players from Brazil.

I'm just saying obviously some teams have started early. Manchester United have certainly made a signing. When do you think you will start?

Look, we will start at the end of the season.

Anyone near, pending?

No.

What about the news that you will get 3 million pounds as a club if Barcelona wins the champions league through the Thomas Vermaelen deal.

You have somebody who checks all our contracts, you are very strong at Sky I must tell you.

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We just read reports Arsene and ask questions about them, I wish it was deeper than that. Is there any truth in that?

I have to check that contract today, I cannot answer that question at the moment.

Did it turn out to be good business though? He hasn’t kicked a ball for Barcelona. Were you aware that perhaps he was going to have these difficulties? Is that why you…

No, no, honestly no. Thomas Vermaelen left for one single reason, that in the end he didn’t get the number of games and he is a top quality player and then we could not predict that he would be injured for such a long time. I hope for him and for Barcelona that next season he can play. He’s now back in full training, and I’m sure he will show next season that he can play.

Steven Gerrard, obviously a big game for him this weekend. Did you ever try to sign him?

To sign him? No, because he’s going to the states.

Did you ever try in his career?

No, because at some stage it was question for him to go to Chelsea, and not stay at Liverpool but I would just like to pay tribute to a fantastic career. For me, he was an absolute fantastic player, and I as well liked him because he has remained loyal to his club for his whole career, we don’t see that a lot, especially for that kind of quality of player he was, so it’s a special day for English football, even if it's Steven Gerrard day, but I still think it’s a special day for English football because as well the great player for the national team.

Do you feel he’s going too early to a lesser quality of football?

Who? Gerrard, yes. But it would have been difficult for him to stay for such a long time at Liverpool and go somewhere else. So maybe it’s better for him, he promotes American football.

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Arsene you mentioned earlier on that victory would be a symbolic statement. How much of that is a message to your own players, and how much of that is a message to your rivals?

No, it’s just what I think is not specially a message to anybody, it’s just I think to do it again would convince us more that we have the strengths and be even stronger next season, and show that we have made progress because in recent years, it was a difficult ground for us and that’s why we want to show just that we have made progress.

What have you made of Manchester United this season? Are they still a work in progress?

Yes, they have made progress since the start of the season, and I think they will show that next season. It looks like they have improved quality-wise from the start till now.

What’s your best memory at Old Trafford?

Best memory is maybe when we won over there and won the championship.

Was that the goal from Overmars?

No, that was ’98, I think Wiltord scored.

Can you remember just how you celebrated after, how that made you feel leaving the ground?

You think you have done well, and you have the happiness, positive emotions that having done the job that is expected from you, and in our job, minutes of happy emotions are not too long because after that straight away you have to worry for “What’s coming now?”

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Do you feel that the rivalry with Manchester United has changed over the years in the time that you’ve been in charge?

It has because from the start it was mainly Man United and us between ’98 and 2004, and then Chelsea joined in after you had Man City joining in and so it has changed, yes.

What does that say about you both as clubs that you are still up there fighting for the title and that you’re in the top 4?

I think we have been consistent on both sides. We have gone through some periods where we were really restricted in our finances and when Man United was not, and sometimes I felt that we were fighting with three boxers who had much more resources than us over the years, and it was on that front that Chelsea, Man United, Man City for years were much higher caliber financially.

Any update on Debuchy?

Mathieu Debuchy has a hamstring, his first time being out yesterday, he should be available maybe if ll goes well for the cup final.

Arsene, if Petr Cech was available, would you want to sign him?

I don’t deal with “if”.

You don’t feel you need a world class goalkeeper?

We have world class goalkeepers.

Or 2?

We’ve got 3.

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Do you expect to see Mikael Arteta or Alex Oxlade Chamberlain playing again before the end of the season?

It’s possible, yes.

Do you expect for Mikael Arteta to be playing again for Arsenal next season?

It’s possible yes.

Do you miss the good old days when you used to go to Manchester United and put that team hat on. Is the premier league poorer for not having that fierce rivalry anymore?

No, I believe rivalry exists, and there is a fierce rivalry between all the teams, but is it a bit more respectful today, maybe, but that’s not too bad. When it’s only your people who are not insulted who find it absolutely fantastic.

You said next season, we should expect a different Manchester United next season. What should we expect from Arsenal next season? Have you seen enough that you think next season you can…

Yes of course, but that’s what at stake until the end of the season as well you know, that we can be stronger next season. We feel that we have made progress, but we have a good opportunity to show that on Sunday because every game that is questioned, and only one thing shows that you have made progress is the continuity in your performances, and that we have a good level of cohesion is may times shown away from home and that’s what we want to show on Sunday, and I believe as well the way we respond to our disappointment on Monday night is a big indication of how strong we are.

So for you, top 3 would be progress.

Yes, compared to what we did last season, and as well we made 78 points last year, that is quite a good total, but it was not enough to finish in the top 3, and we want to make more points, we have still the opportunity to do it.

Arsene, let’s talk about the champions league play-offs, you’ve had to go through it 6 times in the last 9 years. How disruptive have those playoff fixtures in August been to the start of your season?

It is the pressure and the consequences of not qualifying that is massive you know, and what is even more important now is that the international competitions force you most of the time to start the new season without your players and you cannot give a long enough rest to the players when they have played international games. And you know in England we have no break in winter, and that’s sometimes difficult to deal with.

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Is it also difficult in terms of trying to get players in because you can't guarantee them the fact that you are going to be in the champions league?

They think most of the time you play champions league, but you're not sure.

Is it a case of you convincing them because you've been in it so many times.

Yes, that's the only thing we can say that statistically we have always done it.

You haven't won in Manchester for a while, in the last 2 visits you've been sucessful. Do you think the team has overcome a mental bareer?

I believe so. I believe so, but it's another opportunity to show that's definitely done. It's the consistency of your results away from home in big places and in big games that convinces you and convinces people as well like you watch us play.

Can I just ask you about Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, do you think he will play again this season?

He will not play next week, and after, it's only one week to go for the cup final, so I think he will be short, but you never know. If he can be available for West Brom, maybe, that's the earliest he could be, but it's difficult to predict today.

Is it the inflamation in his groin that's still the problem?

No, he has torn his hamstring in training.

So you're not concerned that he might require surgery to get to the bottom of it,

No.

Or there are no complications in that respect.  

No.

Arsene, what have you made of Luis Van Gaal and the job he has done in his first year in English football?

He's a top quality manager and he has first had to learn to know his squad, then of course to restore belief in the team, and to me he has done it well. He has shown he has the personality to be at the club of that size, that is as well something that is very important, and overall, he's on a good way.

Do you think with the whole summer getting the players that he wants, do you think they will be up there challenging the likes of yourself and Chelsea again next year for the title?

It looks like to me that they are on the market because any player I'm offered, I'm told Man United is on the case as well, so it looks like they are very active and you expect them to come back with some strong buys, but they have already a very strong squad, if you look at their squad, it's top quality already.