Gallas shrugs off Chelsea row

William Gallas insists he is not bothered by criticism from former club Chelsea - and is just looking forward to getting on with life at Arsenal.

Following his departure on transfer deadline day as part of the deal which took England left-back Ashley Cole in the opposite direction to Stamford Bridge, the versatile French defender was accused by the Barclays Premiership champions of threatening to score an own goal if selected.

Gallas declared: "For me, the past is the past. They have said something about me, but I do not mind. I am just focused about my future, and my future is with Arsenal. That is it."

He added: "Everybody can say what they want, I do not mind. I know what I said."

Gallas spent the final days of the transfer window away on international duty with France and maintained the situation did not cause him to lose focus.

He said: "I signed my contract with Arsenal and I was happy. I did not feel about anything, only that I wanted to play for them. That is it."

The continued use of his services at full-back by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was understood to be one of the reasons why Gallas was unhappy at Stamford Bridge.

However, the 29-year-old made his Arsenal debut on Saturday in exactly that position against Middlesbrough. Gallas is just happy to be playing football again.

He said: "I want to do my best for Arsenal. I wanted to come here as well, and now I have to play, to enjoy it and do my best to try to win something."

Gallas added: "The players were very kind with me when I arrived and the atmosphere in the club is very good, everybody laughs. For me it was easy to adapt with Arsenal."