It’s been an exhausting week for our players while away on international duty, not least of all our french players who were understandably affected by the tragic recent events in Paris.

However, Wenger believes that no matter what players are feeling, they should put this aside for football and when you’re on the pitch, you compete. While I understand what he’s saying, I do also feel that he’s being a little harsh.

“We are competitors, I believe in life they are disappointed like I am,” the boss said.

“Once your are in the competition you are in the competition, you have to be professional. I fought my whole life to know that when I am at work I am at work, when I am outside work I am outside work. That is what it is about.”

He added, “How much [Paris] affected them, I don’t know. I can only speak for myself.”

Without being dramatic, footballers are humans too. Highly paid humans yes, but humans nonetheless. Just like anyone else, when something horrific happens in their personal life, it’s most likely going to affect their work. It doesn’t matter how many times you remind them of their paycheck or how many fans are willing them to win, sometimes the brain can’t just flick a switch as easy as you’d like it to.

While I’m sure Wenger, a fellow Frenchman, has been sympathetic and grieving in his own way, expecting his team to react exactly the same way might be asking a bit much.

Saying this, neither Kos or Giroud had a particularly bad game against West Brom and the boss did previously state that he would speak to both players before the match to ensure they were okay to play.