Antonio Conte has praised Arsene Wenger’s 20 years in charge of Arsenal and insisted that he would like to emulate his longevity at Chelsea.
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‘I believe the change in Walcott is his attitude this season, ‘ Wenger said. I repeat: “in football there is the game, there is the present, and the past is not important”. I’m not in a destructive mode, never. I am more constructive. I’m more constructive and I can not comment on that because I’m focused on tomorrow’s game and how we want to play football. “Sometimes I just say what I think, but that is part of the way I am”. “I’m focused on doing my job and respecting everyone else”. “I will maybe make a book one day, but I am not ready for that yet!”
“We must reflect on this because we have had two defeats in two big games”.
“It (Coquelin) is a knee problem – the same problem as past year”.
“I think there’s always a team problem and not a player. We must go there to impose ourselves and try and play good football to get a good result”.
The 66-year-old saw the Gunners completely overrun their London rivals and they fully deserved the win that lifts them to third in the Premier League.
Gabriel Paulista and Per Mertesacker were sent off in games against Chelsea last season and Costa was given a retrospective ban for an incident involving Laurent Koscielny.
Asked if he felt the rivalry between the clubs is now less intense with Mourinho no longer in the opposing dug-out, Wenger said: “Not really”.
– This is the first time Conte has lost back-to-back league games since December 2009. “It is in the same place he had past year”. You realise that today as well. This team we want to be a great team also on the pitch. “Now it looks like it’s a new era where it’s a bit more balanced again”.
“This is a special game for Cesc, but the most important thing is that he’s Chelsea’s player and he’s playing very well”.
While this might otherwise be seen as a minor issue, Arsene Wenger told the Daily Mail that Coquelin “has a knee injury in the same place he suffered one against West Brom last year”.
Mourinho, reportedly, was so angry with Wenger’s comments that the Manchester United boss had a fear of failing that not only did he call the Arsenal boss a “specialist in failure”, but he also pledged to physically assault him.
Conte switched from a back four to a back three in the second half in hope of an improvement but the damage was already done.
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Arsenal still continued to cut through his team at will and Courtois was furious at the flimsy defensive cover in front of him when he denied Walcott with his legs in the 69th minute.
