Sagna: Gallas was a winner, he deserves a good reception

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
20 Nov	3:00 PM	P	Tottenham Hotspur (H)	2	3	Lost

Bacary Sagna insists he has nothing but respect for former team-mate William Gallas, as the two are set to lock horns in the North London derby this weekend.

Gallas was an unpopular figure during his time with Arsenal, losing the captain's armband due to being a supposedly disruptive influence in the changing rooms.

And the former Chelsea defender made himself even more unpopular with the Arsenal fans after a controversial free transfer move to local rivals Tottenham this summer.

However, Sagna says he holds no grudges for Gallas' behaviour, and insists he was always a good team-mate.

Sagna said: "I'm not angry at him because he signed for our rivals. Football is football, I'm not furious against him. He needed to leave to play football and that is what he loves.

"He was always very professional and he always gave everything [during his time here].

"Even if the newspapers were talking about him because of his behaviour, [that] was his hunger because he wanted to win so much. Maybe he expressed it in a bad way but it was not bad at all because he wanted us to win."

Sagna admits that friendship will go out the window once the game starts on Saturday, but he hopes Gallas will get a warm reception from the Emirates faithful before kick-off.

He added: "I've kept in touch with him. On the pitch there is a war but off the pitch we are all friends.

"He deserves a good reception because during the time he played for Arsenal he always did well."

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