the same competitive instincts as the great France
midfielder Jean Tigana, as he prepares to give the
January signing from Basel his Arsenal debut in
Saturday’s FA Cup tie at home to Burnley.
The manager said that “you don’t win with kids
any more, unfortunately, against the Championship
teams” and he has promised to pick “quite an
experienced” lineup, which could also feature
Francis Coquelin, who is back to fitness weeks
ahead of schedule after a knee injury.
Wenger said the club had to learn from the 3-0
defeat at Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One
Cup in October, and the lesson he appears to have
taken on board is the need to pick a stronger team.
Against Wednesday he started with the academy
youngsters Alex Iwobi and Glen Kamara and
brought on two more, Ismaël Bennacer and
Krystian Bielik. He said after the game that “they
were not ready to play at this level, none of them”.
Elneny, who signed two weeks ago, has been an
unused substitute against Stoke City and Chelsea,
and he has taken it all in from the bench. “I think
he was surprised by the intensity of the game, by
the challenges,” Wenger said. “At the start, the
players are surprised as well by how much the
referee lets go. In England, you hear the referee
say a lot: ‘Get on with it.’ In other countries, he
would whistle.”
Elneny made his name as a defensive midfielder at
Basel but he added more forward-thinking
elements – most notably goals – over the first half
of this season, leading Wenger to believe that the
Egypt international can also work in a box-to-box
role. The 23-year-old is not a physically imposing
player and his challenge will be to adapt to the
aggression of the English game, but Wenger
believes he has the attributes to do so.
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