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Wolves correspondent Tim Nash mulls over the attraction of the Arsenal for defender Ronald Zubar ahead of the big match.

Like most players growing up in France, Ronald Zubar was attracted to playing for Arsenal as a youngster.

But it is the pride he will feel pulling on the gold shirt of Wolves that will be his burning emotion tomorrow tea-time.

Such is the reputation Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has built up over the last 13 years, it is now seen as a route to the national team for French teenagers.

Zubar himself has been linked to the Gunners in the past, although the 24-year-old defender claims there was nothing of substance in the story.

Having faced Arsenal winger Andrei Arshavin in the Champions League before – and been on the winning side – Zubar now gets the chance to show Wenger that he is capable of playing alongside his peers.

At 5.30pm tomorrow, none of Arsenal’s foreign legion will feel as passionate as Zubar.

He said: “A lot of people in France admire Arsene Wenger for the way his team play because he says when his team have the ball, they want for nothing and they get results.

“Arsenal is a very popular name in France and when I was at Marseilles, or before when I was at Caen, virtually every young kid who played for France at under-15s, 16s and 18s wanted to play for them because they take so many players of that age from France. I was no different.

“But there was never any possibility of me joining the club.”

The contrast between the managers will be reflected on the pitch, where Mick McCarthy will urge his battling side to deny Arsenal’s silky stars the chance to settle on the ball, while making the most of their own opportunities.

Zubar revealed McCarthy will demand Wolves’ players show pride in the shirt.

He said: “I don’t know yet what the gaffer will say before the game, but I know he won’t want us to fall asleep or allow Arsenal to play their football. He will say ‘come on, you’re wearing the gold shirt of Wolves, show respect to the fans coming to support the team.’

“He’ll tell us that although we’re playing Arsenal, that we’re a team of good players and we have a chance to win if everyone does well. He believes it’s more important to win the game than play well in it.

“We must look to take three points because after this game, we’ve got Chelsea after the international break.”

Finally getting his chance at Everton, Zubar has settled in well and been part of a side unbeaten since he has got into the team.

He said: “I’m happy with our form because we haven’t lost. Apart from the first half against Stoke, we’ve played very well in the last three games. We weren’t very happy at half-time against Stoke, because we’d conceded two stupid goals and not played well.

“We didn’t win our challenges and we kept losing the ball. So it was good to show such a good reaction in the second half and we could have won the game.”

Zubar is relishing locking horns with Arshavin again after being part of the Marseille side that beat Arshavin’s Zenit St Petersburg outfit 3-1 in March 2008.

But his previous encounter with the Russian winger, who has scored eight goals this season, has made him aware of their threat.

Zubar said: “I played against Arshavin two years ago with Marseille in the Champions League. He’s a very good player, but the Arsenal team is full of good players.

“They like to have the ball. Every player is very capable offensively and very quick with good technique and a lot of movement.”

Zubar insists Wolves, and not Arsenal, should be on the front foot having home advantage.

He said: “They’re coming to Molineux, not at the Emirates Stadium – we are Wolves and all the fans are looking forward to it.

“There isn’t really too much pressure on us because everyone expects Arsenal to win the game. But we have a chance because we have very good players as well.

“In the last three games, we’ve shown the right mentality and in the second halves against Villa and Stoke, we’ve played good football and defended well.

“I know we can be very compact if we concentrate.”

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