Mohamed Elneny got a rare start for Arsenal against FC Koln on Thursday night and the Egyptian spoke after the game about the delay, the competition itself and facing Chelsea this weekend.
The 25-year-old was making his 43rd appearance for Arsenal since his signing at the start of 2016, but only his second start of the season (his other coming against Leicester in the Premier League). It was his first 90 minutes of the current campaign.
Speaking to Arsenal.com after the 3-1 win, the midfielder was adamant that the delayed kick-off had no affect on the team. Those watching an awful first half might take issue with that, until you remember that Arsenal start matches like that no matter what happens to the kick-off time.
“It was such a difficult game against a tough German opponent,” Mo said. “We played well and performed in such a great way on the field because we want to win the group and qualify to the next round.
“No, [the delayed kick-off] that didn’t affect us at all. We had to put all our heads into the game as we wanted to play well and apply pressure on all areas of the field, especially in the second half. That’s what we did where we pushed more up the field to win the game.
“One goal on our mind is to win the trophy which will be great for the club. What we want is to continue fighting for the [trophy], today was a brilliant start and we wanted to prove ourselves and that what we did.
“Starting tomorrow [Friday], we will put our heads on the Chelsea game – it’s a tough opponent and tough match. We want to give it all in the game to make our fans happy.”
Elneny is likely to find himself back on the bench for the game against Chelsea on Sunday. We can only hope that as Wenger reverts to his Xhaka-Ramsey partnership that he also returns to the back four he is so reliant on when the back three is going pearshaped.
Why keep persisting with it when you end up changing it at half time most weeks?