By Richard Clarke in Brussels

THE QUOTE

“I am not a celebrator of birthdays. I just think what is important on Wednesday is that my team performs well. It is a big game for us and I’ll just dedicate all my energy to getting things right because, at the moment, I feel there is a difference between the quality of our performances and the points we get.”

THE SET-UP

Arsène Wenger is 65 today and, as ever, he eschews all the frivolities of the passing years. He requires one, singular ‘happy return’ to mark the event - and it is from Brussels with three points in the early hours of Thursday morning.