Arsene Wenger remembers woes of using Wembley as Arsenal's temporary home

Arsene Wenger has warned Chelsea and Tottenham they could struggle if and when they move to temporary homes. Chelsea may have to play their games away from Stamford Bridge if their proposals to redevelop the ground come to fruition, while Spurs will need to relocate from White Hart Lane when it is rebuilt.

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Wembley has been suggested as a possible temporary home for both clubs, but Arsenal did not perform well when they used the national stadium for Champions League games during the late 1990s, before the Emirates Stadium was built. Gunners boss Wenger told www.arsenal.com:

“When you move into a new stadium, you have to feel at home. You have to feel that it is the right place for you. That is only created by the history that you build slowly through the games.

“I still think it’s a little bit of a disadvantage, even for the fans, they do not feel completely at home, and that can transmit to the players.

“That was a big problem for us. In hindsight it was maybe a mistake to move to Wembley, but we had no real choice as UEFA did not accept us holding the games at Highbury.

“Looking back today, I say it was a handicap for us.

“The players were comfortable at Highbury and the teams that visited us weren’t comfortable. Suddenly it was like we were playing games on a neutral ground, basically.”