Clichy wants Cole to stay

14 April 2012

Gael Clichy said today that he doesn't want Ashley Cole to leave Arsenal even though it would improve his chances of holding down a regular first team place.

Clichy comes into the Gunners side for tonight's Premiership clash with Crystal Palace because Cole has a high temperature.

It will give Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger a chance to assess his options in the event that Cole does decide to controversially join Chelsea.

But while 19 year old Clichy is aware of the speculation surrounding the England full back's future following his clandestine meeting with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, he said he doesn't want to see him leave.

Clichy said: "Like everyone else, I've read the papers but I try to avoid thinking too much about the whole Ashley Cole situation. For a start, I don't know what, if anything, is exactly going on.

"All I can say is I think Ashley Cole is the best leftback in the world and it would be a real blow to lose him - especially if it was to see him join a rival. That would be hard to swallow. I hope he stays because he's a great player. I'm not getting carried away with thoughts of what might happen if Ashley does leave. Would Mr Wenger put his faith in me? Or buy another player? I really don't know. The best thing for me to do is just to keep my head down and keep working hard in training - to show the coach I am ready for when he needs me."

Arsenal, who are 14 points behind Chelsea, will also be without Fredrik Ljungberg tonight.

The Swede is back in training after an ankle injury but Wenger does not want to risk him, with a tricky FA Cup match against Sheffield United on Saturday followed by a Champions League tie in Germany against Bayern Munich next Tuesday.

With Ljungberg on the sidelines, Wenger will use Robert Pires and Jose Reyes as his wide players in midfield, while Edu, who made an impressive return in the 3-1 win at Aston Villa after more than two months out through injury, will partner Patrick Vieira in central midfield. Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp will form the strike force, while Kolo Toure returns to central defence to partner Pascal Cygan. Sol Campbell is injured.

Wenger, whose side drew 1-1 at Palace earlier in the season, said: "We struggled at their place. If I win the league, I will vote for Iain Dowie as manager of the year. He has made miracles at Palace. First, to get them up and now they are in a situation where they can still stay in the Premiership."

Meanwhile, Henry says he would not allow himself to be caught-up in a Cole-style tapping-up controversy.

Henry, who has twice been targeted by Chelsea in official approaches, is aware of the regulations which cover transfer negotiations.

He said: "The rules are the rules. If something like that happened to me I would say 'will you speak to whoever is in charge at Arsenal and then maybe we can talk'.

"But I have never had any approach or anything like that. We want Ashley to stay. I don't know the whole story and I don't want to know."

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