It's great to see my Chelsea friends - Gallas
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It's great to see my Chelsea friends, I don't have any at Arsenal - Gunners captain Gallas's surprise admission.
Old friends: Terry and Gallas embrace after Chelsea's victory over the Gunners
Arsenal captain William Gallas has made the remarkable claim that he has no true friends within Arsene Wenger's squad and admitted that he is an awe of former Chelsea team-mate John Terry.
Gallas hopes to be in the France team to face England in Paris tomorrow night and will renew acquaintances with Terry, Joe Cole and Frank Lampard just days after Chelsea ended Arsenal's Barclays Premier League title hopes with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.
Asked by a French newspaper who his mates were at Arsenal, Gallas said: "Mates? Well, they are more like acquaintances. At Arsenal there is Theo Walcott but he is very young.
"Really, it's the guys at Chelsea like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Wayne Bridge and Joe Cole. It always gives me pleasure to see them again. "We all have our own lives but when we see each other - especially Terry - we always like to spend some time talking together.
"After all, I spent five years by their sides. There is always something between us. John Terry in particular. I like his mentality. He is a real warrior. "In fact he is an example to me even though he is much younger than me."
Gallas' peculiar reaction could possibly be explained by a suggestion that he understood the question to refer to English mates at Arsenal. Either way, his comments are unlikely to go down well at the Emirates Stadium.
Meanwhile the central defender also made it clear just how important tonight's friendly match is to the French team. Gallas said: "Matches with France are always very important and this is England so it's even more important. The stadium will be full.
"This is more than simply a friendly as for some players there is always extra motivation against England. "We appreciate each other as players but at the same time we want to show that we are better than them."
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the media likes to create something out of nothing huh?
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Gilberto: Gunners all behind skipper Gallas
Arsenal midfielder Gilberto insists captain William Gallas still has the support of the players. The Gunners line-up are reported to have lost patience with the former Chelsea defender in the wake of their poor run of recent form, which has seen them slip from first to third in the Premier League.
Gallas showed his disappointment in very public fashion after Arsenal let two points slip against Birmingham last month, and conceded after Sunday's defeat against Chelsea his side were out of the title race.
That led to speculation the Arsenal players had turned on their skipper, but Gilberto insists such talk is nothing but trouble-making. He said: 'Sometimes when a thing doesn't work well like in the last weeks - we didn't get our results - some people try to create some problems.
'I'm sure he doesn't have any problems with us. 'He's still got the friendship of the players and the supporters.' For his part Gilberto believes the Gunners are still capable of winning the league - as well as the Champions League - but admits there is now no margin for error.
'Of course we've got a chance, we're still in both competitions. 'A few weeks ago we were five points clear, now we do not have the advantage. It's not a comfortable situation because we have only seven games left.
'We've still got a chance - we're going to play Manchester United away, and the most important thing is to keep winning our games. If we win our seven games we still have a chance. We cannot afford to be beaten.'