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It will be the apprentice versus the master when Remi Garde crosses managerial paths with Arsene Wenger for the first time on Sunday.

Garde played under Wenger at Arsenal in late 1990s and the pair still have a strong mutual respect for one another.

Here the Aston Villa boss gives an insight into his relationship with his Gunners counterpart ahead of the Premier League clash at Villa Park.

CONVERSATION ABOUT THE VILLA JOB

Some stuff has to remain private of course but the general idea when we spoke was Arsene explaining to me the difference between the French league and the English one in terms of daily work. We had this conversation as I told you and I think he told the press he encouraged me and he backed my decision totally when I spoke to him.

HOW OFTEN THEY KEEP IN TOUCH

Yes, not too much because I know how busy it can be for a manager like him with all the games. Sometimes without speaking too much to people you’ve got something special, like feelings, like respect, like admiration for people, and then you don’t need to talk too much.

This is also my personality not to disturb or want to exist only by speaking with people. I always have the feeling that even if I was not talking too much with Arsene we were somewhere close on ideas and the way we think about football.

Of course I don’t want to compare me to Arsene in terms of what I’ve achieved and what he’s achieved because he is far away from me and I am far away from him. In terms of personality I always think that I loved the way he managed the football club and the players.

ROLE MODEL

At the time when I was a player with Arsene I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do in the future. I wanted to stay in football but I was not sure that I wanted to be a manager. But then, probably years later, I realised when I started to think ‘Why not? I would like to’. I started as an assistant a long time ago in Lyon and I referred a lot to what Arsene’s behaviour was when I worked with him.

WENGER’S STAYING POWER

I’ve got a lot of admiration because when you realise how tough this job is in the Premier League, how difficult it is to keep a job and get results. This is the first side (of the job) and then I remember the club at Arsenal 20 years ago without training facilities without a modern stadium like they have today. All this has to be credited to Arsene.

A football club is not only the results you get today but also how you will build for the future for yourself or for another manager for or another chairman or owner. It’s part of the credit you have to be given to see where was the club when you got the job and where is it now. Not only in terms of trophies. Of course trophies are the main target all the managers have. But also to get trophies in the long term and to build a solid club you have to build other stuff. For that Arsene has done brilliantly.

WENGER’S QUALITIES

I think you have to dedicate all your life to football and I’m not sure that Arsene had long holidays or many days off since he took the job at Arsenal. And then you have to be completely focused and more than focused, you have to live for football and your football club. For some characters and personalities it is more difficult than for others. Arsene has always lived for football and he has been rewarded for that.

THE EARLY DAYS

I spent more time on the phone than face to face because as you will remember he was still in Japan. I was at the Colney training centre. He called me every night to have news and find out about how it was going in the training sessions and everything. But then, when I met him, I felt already a character with a lot of strengths. He was not always speaking but when he was speaking it was always very interesting. He brought some serenity and some calm over the place, that’s what I remember.

VIEIRA’S MINDER

I ws brought over not only to look after Patrick Vieira. He was 20, but he was quite mature. You see the way Patrick is going now how how mature he was as a player. It’s always important to have that in mind. It was not only to look after him. I think the idea of Arsene was to settle in quickly and quicker it would be better to have two French or two Spanish or two German players. That’s probably why he wanted someone like me. Hopefully he chose me too as a player, not only as a teacher!

WHAT MOTIVATES WENGER NOW

For me he still has the spirit to get trophies. This is the main target you have as a manager. He probably still feels strong enough to get trophies. You need a lot of strength to cope every day with all the situations that a manager has to cope with. Probably he feels he is still strong enough to do that. Will he stay in the Premier League? I don’t know. It’s always difficult to answer this kind of question. Only Arsene has the answer to be fair.