Monday Oct 08 2007 08:15
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has played down weekend reports of a rift between him and Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva.
A Sunday newspaper suggested that Gilberto was eyeing a move away from the Emirates Stadium after struggling to win a regular place in Wenger's starting line-up so far this term.
Valencia and Lyon have both been linked with the 31-year-old who came on as a substitute in Sunday's 3-2 win against Sunderland.
But Wenger told the Gunners' official website: "I have a strong relationship with Gilberto. I spoke with him about that, I have a huge respect for him, you know?
"At the moment it is frustrating for him but he is an important player in the group, he is an important player in the team.
"As I said, it is a selection problem at the moment but he will come back into the side, I don't worry about that."
On the win against the Black Cats, Wenger added: "Yes, the game looked after 15 minutes to be easy and maybe we convinced ourselves of that as well.
"But Sunderland then made it difficult for us. I feel afterwards that a bit of our mental focus went and then you lose three or four per-cent, and at that level of course you pay for it.
"We had less urgency in our decision-making, we gave them more room to express themselves defensively and we paid for it.
"At the end of the day it was a good lesson for us, maturing, because they came back to 2-2 but again we found the resources that still shows there is something in the team that is really strong."
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