Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce says he has put an end to his long-running feud with Arsene Wenger.
In his recent autobiography, Big Sam admitted to winding up the Frenchman and said that he enjoyed getting under his skin.
The more I wound him up, the more I liked it. He tried to influence refs through the media and create a perception that we were bullies committing all the fouls, while his team just wanted to play. It seemed he wanted a rule where they should be allowed to do what they wanted with the ball, without us being allowed to tackle them. It was a skill finding their weaknesses and how to exploit them. But when we succeeded the press were usually on about Arsenal having an off-day and the ref being soft.
However, the new Black Cats manager says that as he has grown older, he has mellowed and that the relationship between the pair is now “amicable”.
Big Sam then went on to say that he won’t bring up the book to Wenger unless the Arsenal boss mentions it, and jokingly said if they do have a conversation, Sam will only be interested in any potential loan players.
I had some good fun with Arsène in the early years. I got under his skin. Our meetings have been much more amicable since, on and off the field. I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for him. Winding up was just a procedure we used a long time ago but I’m not sure it makes a difference to players on the field.
I’ve had some good conversations with Arsène recently, especially about developing young players and getting them into the Premier League but I’m not going to mention the book unless he does. If I have a drink with Arsène I want to talk about whether he has any players he might lend me in January.
Sunderland go into the game at Arsenal on the back of victories against Crystal Palace and Stoke City, with the Gunners have not won any of their last three league games and are facing selection issues due to the number of injuries they currently have.
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