The Frenchman wouldn’t comment on suggestions that Costa’s fiery temper would make him unsuitable to Arsenal, but said he didn’t believe the forward’s game would suffer if he loses some of his feistiness.
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“Sometimes I think it’s important for a manager not only to win, a good manager must show his value with his work during the week”.
Finally, Wenger also refused to comment on the situation of ex-Arsenal player Cesc Fabregas at Chelsea, who is seemingly out of favour under Antonio Conte.
“This is a big game between two big rivals”, he said.
The win lifted Arsenal up to third place in the Premier League table and five points behind early pace-setters Manchester City.
‘The team did very well midweek [against Nottingham Forest], it’s time to be consistent’. “They play good football”.
He oversaw wins in each of his first four games but has since seen his team draw at Swansea, lose to Liverpool and then have to come back from 2-0 down to beat Leicester 4-2 in the EFL Cup.
Chelsea travel to the Emirates stadium to take on Arsenal this weekend after winning just one of their last two matches in the Premier League.
The Gunners, without a championship title since 2004, finished a distant second last season but have won their last three league games following a slow start to the current campaign. “I hope that this kind of performance convinces the players that we are on the right way, but we still have some room for improvement”. “Of course I like him as a player, yes”.
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last September, Arsenal centre back Gabriel was dismissed for scuffling with Costa and although the red card was later rescinded, the defender was given a one-match ban for failing to immediately leave the pitch.
“We have dinner together with other people, we exchanged ideas, we were speaking because we are civilised people”.
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Arsenal have only beaten a Mourinho side once in 14 meetings under Wenger, a 1-0 victory in last season’s Community Shield. “If you want to think of the championship you must not concede many goals”.
