The Emirates apparently had around 10,000 empty seats during Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Sunderland but Arsene Wenger insists it’s no big deal.
- Tickets went on general sale ahead of the clash
- Evening standard claims 10k empty seats out of 60k capacity
- Wenger blames on midweek fixture against relegated team
Attendance for the victory over the Black Cats on Tuesday night appeared to be at an all-time low after the tickets went on general sale ahead of the game.
Apparently, fans chose to boycott the match because of the Gunners’ terrible season.
Why should they bothered if the manager and players don’t? They argue.
Emirates half empty…. #ARSSUN pic.twitter.com/98UryarJLz
— Gaz Weetman (@GazWeetman) May 16, 2017
When asked about it post-match, Wenger blamed the fact that it was a Tuesday night fixture against a relegated Sunderland.
“No, it’s Tuesday night against Sunderland. Everybody expects us to win and I didn’t count the number of people who were in the seats,” he said.
“We have to focus on our job and not look at how many people are in the stands. When you’re a football player, you ideally want to be playing in a packed stadium, but we are quite spoiled with that at Arsenal.
“Overall, it’s a Tuesday night and people may think Sunderland is an easy game and that’s why there were less people.”
While the argument that it was ‘just’ a midweek match against a relegated team is valid to a degree, the amount of empty seats this time around did seem like more of a statement than apathy.