KOLO TOURE wore a T-shirt with a special message beneath his Arsenal jersey at Villarreal last Tuesday night. It was a dedication to the 19 Ivorians who died in crushing at the Houphouet-Boigny stadium in Abidjan a fortnight ago during a World Cup qualifying match between his country and Malawi. Toure’s goals are relatively rare, but it was a gesture he wanted to be ready for should there be a chance of the cameras focusing on him.

The next time Toure goes home, he and the other senior Ivory Coast players will sit around a long table at the Golf Hotel on Lake Ebrie and plan the tangible things they can do to commemorate those killed. He, the national vice-captain, and the skipper, Didier Drogba, will lead the talk, Toure typically with words about how the team represents all the country’s people; Drogba with something about the strength of their collective. Meetings of the Ivory Coast team centre on the defender from the north of the country, the striker from the south, quite different individuals, with distinct bearings, images and personalities but a good deal of mutual respect.

“When we play against each other, we forget we are friends,” says Toure, inset, anticipating Saturday’s reunion in the FA Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Chelsea. “This one will be a big battle again and I feel it is a good time to show again I can get the better of him. The last game we played against Chelsea, he beat me 2-1. But we get on well. He is captain of the national team and I am the second captain. We are all feeling for all the people that died and we hope that nothing like that will happen in football again.”

The next six days would define Arsenal’s season, acknowledged Toure. On Wednesday he will be reminded again of the night of the Highbury squirrel. He chuckles at the recollection of the curious incident the last time Villarreal visited Arsenal, a Champions League semi-final obliged to pause for a moment while the animal scuttled across the pitch. It was the last European game played by Arsenal at their old stadium; Toure scored the winner to put Arsenal into their only European Cup final.

Three seasons later, they hold a slight advantage in the quarter-final, with a 1-1 from the first leg in Spain. “Our goal there will help us to be really confident,” says Toure. “Villarreal and Chelsea are two very important games, so next week is really big for us. We can play really good football, but you still need to win something and it definitely feels now like a really long time ago that we won a trophy.”

Silverware would in turn help the club come the summer: “Trophies give belief to any player thinking about which club to come to.” Toure, the sole survivor from the 2003-04 Invincibles, will lead the defence in the absence of William Gallas and of goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, still gingerly returning from the knock he picked up in Villarreal. He has no fears for Lukasz Fabianski, the stand-in keeper: “He is a very good young player. He has done well for Poland and I am sure he will do really well for Arsenal as well. Last Tuesday was a difficult situation for him, coming on during a match, and he performed well.”

ON TV ON WEDNESDAY

Arsenal (1) v Villarreal (1)

7.30pm Sky Sports 3, kick-off 7.45pm