From one London club to another (two actually), Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger thinks there are some things you need to know about playing at Wembley Stadium. Tottenham Hotspur need a temporary home for one season while their new state of the art mega complex is completed adjacent to their current White Hart Lane home.
Chelsea need some place to play for four years while Stamford Bridge undergoes its renovations. Wenger passed on some words of advice today.
For the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons Arsenal opted to host their Champions League group stage games at the national stadium instead of Highbury. The Gunners failed to advance to the knockout round in either tournament. Wenger admits now that the decision to play at Wembley was the wrong one.
“It was a nightmare,” he said. “In hindsight it was the wrong decision. At the time at Highbury we had to cut 5,000 seats. We decided to go to Wembley, but we didn’t feel at home.”
“The pitch was bigger, the ground was different and for the English players it was something completely unusual.”
“We were used at Highbury to a tight pitch and unfortunately we were playing against Dynamo Kiev, who were running everywhere on a very big pitch. It was a disadvantage for sure.”
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