VIDEO: Gibbs and Walcott on FATV
Wednesday, 17 November, 2010
Arsenal duo talk England, the Premier League, France and Twitter.
Click here to watch the full interview with FATV
Ahead of tonight’s match at Wembley, Arsenal duo Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs told FATV about what it’s like to play for their country, the French influence at the Emirates and why they won’t be opening a Twitter account.
England Manager Fabio Capello yesterday confirmed that Gibbs would start tonight’s game, along with fellow Under-21 graduates Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll, and although the left-back has already made his Senior team debut, against Hungary in August, the left-back admits his new international team-mates are have really helped him to feel part of the squad.
“To be honest I’m still in awe,” he began, “because I’m looking at players like Steven Gerrard that you watched when you were younger but they’re such normal people that they make it easy for you [to settle in].
“The international stage is a lot different from playing in the Premier League but all the experience is valuable. I’ve had a difficult start [to the season] this time; I’ve been in and out with injury. I’ve tried to keep hanging in there but I haven’t really had a game without anything happening to me, so I’m just looking forward to keeping injury free so I can gain more experience.”
The pacy double act may come up against Arsenal team-mates Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri this evening, just three of an influencial core of French players at the club, but Gibbs reserves the highest praise for his French manager Arsene Wenger.
“He’s given me everything,” he said. “I’d say that he’s the reason why I got picked for England in the first place. He’s the one that gave me the chance to play for the club in the first place. He gives you a lot of confidence when he talks to you.”
Meanwhile, Walcott said he was relishing the chance to come up against Clichy in this last international match of 2010.
He said: “Perhaps [France] didn’t have the most constructive World Cup but they’ve got some fantastic, world class players.
“I face Clichy every day in training so, hopefully if I get the opportunity to play, it’ll be a nice opportunity to show what I can do against him because, for me, he’s one of the best.
“It’s going to be a great game for the neutral to watch.”