Arsene Wenger calls on Premier League to be fair over fixtures after getting to grips with Europa League schedule

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Arsene Wenger says the Premier League have “a job there” to ensure more fairness as regards time between fixtures for opposing teams. Arsenal have another quick turnaround this weekend, quickly following Thursday night’s 6-0 win over Bate Borisov in the Europa League with a Sunday midday kick-off away to Southampton, with the manager having pointed out how Manchester United also had an extra day of recovery before his side’s 3-1 defeat at the Emirates last week.

Asked if he had spoken to the Premier League about it, Wenger said “no”, but believes it is something they must now start addressing.

“We had that last week,” the Arsenal boss said. “I have nothing against the fact that we have to do that, as long as our opponents have the same recovery days. That was not the case last week and will not be the case again. Between three days and five days is a big gap on the recovery side. If we have to play every day I don’t mind as long as our opponents do as well.

“What I would like is that the teams who have tight schedules are faced with the same problems. I don’t mind, I can understand what we have to play all the games, you just want to play teams with the same problems as you.”

When it was put to him whether he had approached the game’s authorities, Wenger said: “No but I think there is a job there to respect the fairness of the competition. If you look at it, I think many teams don’t fight on an equal front on the recovery side.”

Wenger also praised Mathieu Debuchy’s rare “mental strength” after admitting that the right-back has pushed his way back into contention for the first team, despite appearing to have been in the Arsenal wilderness. The 32-year-old scored the opening goal and generally earned the “respect” of his manager, especially since he has only played made Premier League appearances for the club and 13 in total since the start of the 2015-16 campaign. Given that Debuchy still has contract, Wenger admitted he still has a chance of regularly playing.

“He’s mentally strong,” Wenger said of the French international. “I’ve said many times in this job you can never give up, no matter what happens for you and always be ready in case you’re needed. Not many can do that, but Mathieu can do that.”

Asked whether the player has a genuine future at Arsenal, given how little he’s played and even a loan spell at Bordeaux, Wenger said: “He is under contract. That’s down to his performances now and I opened the door for him many times because he didn’t play and because he has Bellerin in front of him. We have as well Ainsley now who can play right and left, but I consider him like anybody else and I must say I have a huge respect for his professional side and how much he did fight to come back to the top. He’s a tough, tough guy. Tough worker.”