Playing games at such as Arsenal is what we all wanted

Last updated : 31 October 2014 By Tony Scholes

He might not be able to see much with certain refereeing decisions but I like Wenger; he's certainly been very good for Arsenal since replacing Bruce Rioch and I think he's been excellent for English football.

Tomorrow will be the sixth time he's come up against Burnley and he's currently sitting on three wins, one draw and one defeat, our win over them being that Carling Cup quarter-final in December 2008.

Ahead of our game at the Emirates, his words are very similar to those we heard from Roberto Martinez last week. Talking about the Clarets on Arsenal's official site, he said: "They are better than their points would suggest, that's what the stats show. They have been punished in some games because they couldn't take their chances.

"It is important that we are highly focused and expect to play against a strong team, because they are.

"Sean (Dyche) has done a great job because nobody expected Burnley to be in the Premier League this year. Overall I think his style of play is positive. They create chances if you look at the stats and the consistency of what he has achieved is remarkable.

"I always believe that quality is linked with consistency and on that front he has taken the maximum out of the potential of his team. That is a sign of quality for a manager."

With suggestions that Burnley will try and stop Arsenal from playing, Wenger added: "I can understand that completely. We want to be good enough to get around that and not allow teams to stop us from playing.

"I think we are good enough, it is just the quality of our passing has to be better, the quality of our decisions has to be better. It is absolutely normal that teams try to stop us from playing our game."

Moving into his third year in charge at Turf Moor, Sean Dyche has today spoken about what we have achieved and how playing games at such as Arsenal is what we all wanted.

"It's been a productive and fantastic time for everyone connected to the club," Dyche said. "But promotion is done, parked and we move forwards.

"Don't get me wrong, there are many things we've done here that have been good and that we should be proud of, but you compartmentalise it and leave it behind almost immediately. It's the nature of the business and it's all about the next challenge."

That next challenge is Arsenal at the Emirates, and Dyche continued: "Arsenal are a fine football club with a fine stadium and a fantastic manager who has not only been a great servant to their club, but also the game.

"It's another of the challenges that we all wanted. There's no crying over it now. We are still looking for that first win and the Emirates is a hard place to go, there's no doubt about it, but I remind everyone this is definitely the thing we all wanted; me, my staff, the players, the fans and the town. We can't be scared of that challenge, so we look forward to it."

And he's looking forward to pitting his wits against Wenger. "Managers like Arsène Wenger, Sir Alex and Jose Mourinho, among many others, have delivered over a long period of time, through all the ups and downs.

"Arsène is a legend in the game and he's still doing it and believing and promoting what he does and winning games. Even he got questioned last year, so it's an amazing task we have as managers, but we love it, the ups and downs and ins and outs.

"It's amazing that he's been there so long. It's amazing that managers now go into four years and five years because of this insatiable demand for everything yesterday, but people like Arsène have been given the time to build clubs and processes, belief systems and even a brand.

"That can only be done over time and unfortunately the stats tell you many don't get that. Managers come and go so rapidly now and it's one of those strange things. I had my own fair share of questioning here in my first season and I'm still getting questioned now for different reasons.

"To be 24th only two years in (he's actually 25th) is quite amazing, but it's the nature of the business we are in. I am learning a lot and it's often in these times, when it's hard going, that you learn the most.

"This is arguably the highest level of football in the world and little old Burnley are in there for valid reasons. Now it's about reminding ourselves of that, not only by performances, but by winning."