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WATCH: Wenger warns Wojciech Szczesny about smoking cigarettes

Belgium Soccer Champions League

Arsenal’s head coach Arsene Wenger, who celebrated his birthday, gives directions to his players during the Group D Champions League match between Anderlecht and Arsenal at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2014. Arsenal won the match with a 2-1 score. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

AP

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger knows the dangers of smoking cigarettes, and he voiced it to the media ahead of his squad’s Sunday league matchup against Stoke City.

The question came after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was caught smoking cigarettes in the showers and fined £20,000 by the club.

[RELATED: Szczesny caught smoking and fined]

“Not harder than control[ling] you not to smoke or not to smoke,” Wenger said to a reporter, who asked how the Frenchman deals with footballers making such personal decisions.

“You can do what you want to at home, and you have the freedom...Look, my issue is the players here are judged on their performances. Ideally, to have a high level of performance, it’s best to behave as well as possible.”

As for his upcoming fixture, Wenger noted that Arsenal will have a bundle of important players returning from absences.

“Aaron Ramsey’s back in training, [Mesut] Ozil is back in training, Mathieu Flamini is back, so we got three players back,” he said. "[Danny] Welbeck is still not available for training...[Olivier] Giroud is back from suspension, so we have a bigger squad than last week.”