ARSENE WENGER continues to prize Champions League qualification above winning the FA Cup, despite Arsenal’s six-year trophy drought and his determination to succeed in the domestic game’s leading knock-out competition, beginning at home to Leeds United in the third round tonight.
The manager, who has serious selection worries in the full-back positions and is also expected to grant Thierry Henry playing time at some stage, is proud of the club’s record of reaching the Champions League group phase for 14 seasons in succession, where next month Arsenal face a two-legged tie against Milan.
Wenger suggested that one day in the future people would realise “that it is not as easy as it looks” and perhaps value the achievement more highly. As he outlined why qualification to Europe’s elite tournament was essential, chiefly for balance sheets and player ambition, he conceded that the FA Cup was more of a “bonus”.
“For us, the Champions League and FA Cup are not comparable. The Champions League is compulsory. The FA Cup is something that is for enjoyment. It is a bonus that we want. The Champions League, for us, is something that is needed.
“It is more important. That means you will want me to say it’s not important to win on Monday . . . it is very important to win on Monday for us. But the basis of our life is dictated by the championship. If we can add on top of that the FA Cup, it is fantastic.
“But our life, at the level where we are, with the wages we have and the aspirations we have, is to play in the Champions League. After that, you want, of course, to win all the other trophies.”
It was put to Wenger that players usually want to look back at winners’ medals at the end of their careers but the Frenchman argued the point and, in the process, further reinforced his view of the Champions League’s primacy.
“They want to play at the top level, the players. I don’t know where I have my medals. I look forward for the next game, for the next win. That’s the life of a top-level player. He wants to win medals. But there is a difference between the Champions League and a lower level.”
Meanwhile, Henry has said that “the boss knows that I need to work a bit so I know I am not able to play out there right from the start.”
Wenger must decide whether his impact would be felt most keenly at the outset or as an impact substitute, bearing in mind that his pace has diminished.
Leeds go into the game having ended a run of three successive defeats, but only just as they needed a late turnaround against 10-man Burnley last Monday to secure a victory which in many people’s eyes kept manager Simon Grayson in his job.
