Arsene Wenger claims that each defeat hurts more than the last — even though his first made him physically sick

Wenger has managed in over 1,600 professional football matches but says defeat never gets easier

Wenger has never been able to stomach defeat (Getty)

Arsene Wenger is 67-years-old and has managed over 1,600 professional football matches, but the beleaguered Arsenal manager has claimed that each defeat hurts even worse than the last — even though his first defeat as a manager made him physically sick.

Arsenal travel to non-league outfit Sutton United on Monday night eager to get back to winning ways after a calamitous 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Wenger has demanded that his team do not take their eyes off the ball against Sutton, who play on a potentially problematic plastic pitch, and reassured those supporters questioning his position at the club that his hunger for success is as voracious as it ever was.

“I am a fighter, somewhere inside,” Wenger said ahead of his side’s trip to Gander Green Lane.

“You do not stay long in this job if you cannot fight. When you hate defeat like I hate defeat, it's always tough. But I am determined to always fight back.

“Every defeat is harder. I can never accurately transmit to you my feelings about defeat.”


 The Arsenal manager has stressed that he will not retire at the end of the season (Getty)
 (Getty Images)

The Frenchman then revealed that after suffering a defeat with his first club AS Nancy, in the 1984/85 season, he had to physically vomit on his way home from the match.

“During one of my first games as a manager, when I was 33 or 34, after my very first defeat I had to go and throw up,” he said. “So whether you are a young manager or an old manager, every single defeat hurts.”

Despite his continued appetite for success, Wenger has come under intense scrutiny in the past week and anything other than a win tonight could see the coach forced to finally announce his plans for next season and beyond.


 Guardiola leapt to Wenger's defence this weekend (Getty)
 (Getty Images)

However, over the weekend, Wenger received some support from a rather unlikely figure: Manchester City manager and Premier League rival, Pep Guardiola.

"What I hear in the last 10 days, about how people, ex-players, journalists, treat Arsene Wenger is unacceptable,” Guardiola said in his press conference after City’s FA Cup fifth-round draw with Huddersfield Town.

"Our job, in that moment, doesn't have any respect for any position, so it is not respectable, what happened.