Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the club were always going to give Manchester United a guard of honor after the latter clinched their 20th league title on Monday, as the two sides prepare to meet each other in the English Premier League Sunday.
The Emirates Stadium will witness United walk onto the pitch as Premier League champions, and amongst the players will be Robin Van Persie, who called Arsenal home for eight years before his move to Old Trafford last summer.
The Arsenal players are prepared to give a guard of honor to United, having received one from United in 1991 when the Gunners won the title under George Graham.
"First of all I am French and work in England and I want the English tradition to be respected," Wenger said.
"When you work somewhere abroad, you have to respect the culture of the country. That is part of the tradition of English football and I want that of course to be respected.
"I hope, yes, that it will happen to us next year. But we are guided by the fact that we want to win our last four games and that is the next one. We know it is a difficult hurdle for us. Will it add something to our motivation? I don't know."
Arsenal were poor in the reverse fixture earlier this season, with Van Persie scoring an early goal for his new club as United won 2-1 at Old Trafford. Wenger, though, believes his side are much stronger now and have moved on from the loss of their prolific striker.
"What you want to focus on is that when the big players go, which has happened to us many times, you just want to get around it and try to find a new organisation that is efficient," Wenger said.
"You always miss a big player. The only thing I can say (is) it took us a while to get around it but if you look at the number of goals we have scored, it's similar to last season.
"It took us a while to find a different way because the game went through him a lot. We had to find a new balance between defending and attacking but now we are stabilised."
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Expected lineups: Arsenal: Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Arteta; Walcott, Wilshere, Cazorla; Podolski.
Manchester United: De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Cleverley, Anderson, Kagawa; Rooney, Van Persie.
Prediction: 2-1 to Arsenal
