Wenger reminds Conte he is ‘old’ too; aims dig at Hazard

Matt Stead

Arsene Wenger has responded to Antonio Conte’s comment that the Arsenal manager is an “old coach”.

After winning the Premier League title in his first season at Chelsea, much of Conte’s second has been characterised by media battles with his managerial adversaries.

The most notable tussle has been with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, but Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal earlier this month saw both Conte and Wenger clash too.

Wenger took umbrage with referee Mike Dean for awarding a contentious penalty to Eden Hazard in the game, with Conte defending his player by reminding Wenger that he is an “old coach” who should “respect” the officials.

The Frenchman was quizzed about those comments on Tuesday.

“Am I an old coach? Yes. He’s not a young coach, he’s an old coach as well,” Wenger said with a smile.

“You see how Hazard goes down and you see how quickly he takes the penalty when he gets the penalty. If he was so injured why did he take the penalty?

“I do not blame Hazard. He acted in a very professional way basically to get the penalty for his team.”