Arsène Wenger, outlining his support for the safe-standing movement, has expressed his concern that the crowd trouble on Wednesday night at the match between West Ham United and Chelsea could set back the debate.
“It gives an argument, especially to people who are against it,” Wenger said. “Personally I am in favour of the resurgence of standing opportunities behind the goals and that is not a very good advert to come back to it. Hopefully West Ham will get rid of the problem very quickly.”
Wenger is a rarity among Premier League managers in vocalising his support for introducing the kind of rail seating that is commonplace in Germany and has been introduced at Celtic this season without any issues so far.
“I feel the closer you are to the positions of the players, the more passionate you are about it. It would allow lower prices because you could get more spectators inside the stadiums, and maybe a more passionate atmosphere,” he said.
English legislation insists on all-seater stadiums but Arsenal are monitoring the situation in case of a change in policy.
Wenger was “surprised” to see the trouble that flared at the London Stadium in the EFL Cup match on Wednesday, with stewards overwhelmed and riot police needed to keep the opposing fans apart.
“We are not used, in England, to face these kind of problems anymore,” the Arsenal manager said. “Basically I don’t believe there is a problem with hooliganism in England. You cannot say that one minor incident – I heard about 200 people – is a general problem in the country.”
He is not an advocate of a match behind closed doors if the situation worsens. “There is nothing more dull than that. I prefer not to play than playing games behind closed doors.”
Arsenal travel to Sunderland for the lunchtime fixture on Saturday and welcome back both Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey but will be without the forward Lucas Pérez.
“We are now in November, they have not played so it’s good to have them back,” he said. “I have to be a bit cautious, especially with Aaron Ramsey, because he has not played at all yet. He has only had one week with the team so I will be a bit cautious with him.”
Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal and Santi Cazorla all had fitness tests on Friday.