Wenger refuses to engage over Deeney’s Arsenal slur

Ross Gibson

Arsene Wenger believes he would have to be “even more mad” to discuss the negative comments thrown at his Arsenal side from Watford’s Troy Deeney, ahead of their clash on Sunday.

Hornets skipper Deeney spoke controversially about Arsenal’s attitude following a 2-1 win over Wenger’s side in October.

Deeney hammered home a penalty after Richarlison went down under little contact from Hector Bellerin, with Tom Cleverley completing a comeback win with a last-minute strike.

Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Deeney said: “I’ve heard Wenger’s already blaming (the decision) as the reason why they lost.

“I’m not going to be the one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason why they lost and it wasn’t because of one penalty.

“I’ll have to watch what I say. It’s (having) a bit of cojones, a bit of nuts.”

Ahead of the return fixture, current Watford boss Javi Gracia – who was not in charge at the time – backed Deeney for speaking his mind.

But Wenger, whose side recovered from four damaging defeats to win 2-0 at AC Milan in the first-leg of a Europa League last-16 tie on Thursday night, would not be drawn into criticising Deeney.

“You don’t think we’ve had enough controversy in the last week? We don’t need to add some more,” he said when asked about Deeney’s remarks.

“We want to focus on how we play rather than what people say. What we can do is just respond with the quality of our performance. We’re not going to focus on what people say.

“You understand that if you respond to every single statement, I would be mad. I may already be but I would be even more mad.”

 

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