Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has rejected comments made by rival Jose Mourinho that his side have an advantage in the title race due to their extended recovery time between matches. The Chelsea boss had hit out at before his side’s 1-0 win at home vs Stoke on Sunday about the significant amount of time Arsenal had between their FA Cup fixture at home to Coventry and their next Premier League fixture tomorrow away at Southampton. Chelsea play West Ham at home on Wednesday, but even with what looks like an extra day Arsenal have still had 24 hours extra to prepare.
“It’s simple,” said Wenger, “if you look at the fixtures and analyse you can see that Arsenal are behind all of the other teams. These are no more than mind games. An opinion of his, and I don’t live with opinions, I live with facts.”
One man suffering as a result of picking up an injury in that 4-0 FA Cup win is Jack Wilshere, who will miss the clash at Southampton on Tuesday.
“We have a doubt about Jack Wilshere,” said Wenger, “who picked up an ankle problem in the Coventry game, but apart from that our players are fit and ready to go.”
By Ben Kelly