THE CLASH LONDON CALLING
Arsenal
Boss Wenger Out To Mark Milestone In Potentially Ugly Chelsea Meeting At
Emirates
Arsenal
manager Arsene Wenger has urged his players to avoid being drawn into needless
confrontations with their Chelsea opponents when the London rivals meet at the
Emirates Stadium on Saturday .
Arsenal
were beaten home and away by Chelsea in the Premier League last season, and had
three players sent off over the two games, with Chelsea's combative striker
Diego Costa involved in two of the three incidents.
“In the
last two games we played with 10 men so for the result tomorrow it's important
the way we play football but also the way we behave,“ Wenger told a news
conference on Friday .
“We have
to be cold blooded and respect the rules of the game.“
When the
teams met last September, Arsenal centre back Gabriel was dismissed for
scuffling with Costa and although the red card was later rescinded, the
defender was given a one-match ban for failing to immediately leave the pitch.
Costa,
who has scored twice in three games against Arsenal, was retrospectively banned
for his involvement in the incident, and Arsenal ended the 2-0 defeat with nine
men after midfielder Santi Cazorla picked up a second yellow card late on.
Arsenal then lost 1-0 to Chelsea when the teams met in January , a game in
which defender Per Mertesacker was shown a red card for a foul on Costa.
Wenger,
whose side have not beaten Chelsea in nine league encounters, urged his team to
channel their emotions in the right way .
“Discipline
and results are strongly linked -and the regrets we have from the last two
games are that we couldn't play 11 v 11,“ said the Frenchman, who will complete
20 years in charge of Arsenal on Oct. 1.“
Wenger
confirmed that striker Olivier Giroud was back in training after a toe injury
but had less positive news on Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who is out with a
hamstring injury . “Aaron Ramsey is still struggling with his hamstring,“
Wenger said, while ruling the midfielder out until after the international
break which ends on Oct. 14.
“He has a
small grade one (tear) hamstring but he is not completely free to push at the
moment and he has a little bit of pain. He is in the last days of his
rehabilitation.“
(TOI)
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