Arsenal News: Injury Update, Wenger on the Title Race + His Best Bargains
Team News
During his pre-match press conference, the boss mentioned that we'll have everyone who played on Tueday availiable, and maybe Oxlade-Chamberlain can return vs. Norwich.
Arteta is obviously out, but that's short term. Coquelin however as we all know is out for around 3 months, but he won't be needing surgery.
Walcott will also not be available for Sunday, but he's close to returning.
"The Title Race is too Close."
Our obvious target is on the title this year, but it's not like last season where everyone knew it was going to be Chelsea by this time last year. The table is much more open, and it's so open, you can even see the likes of Spurs or Liverpool sneak their way into the top four.
Here's the boss on his perception of the league this season, where we're actually in a good position, just not so much fitness wise.
“Mathematically you cannot rule them out [Chelsea] - even the bottom teams are in it,” he said. “It is so difficult. It is so tight and I don’t even look at the league anymore because it is very, very tight.
“Last week we had a bad result against West Brom and so did Manchester City [against Liverpool] so it compacted the whole table.
“I believe it is a big opportunity for us but many teams can tell you that. We are in a position where you want to be after 13 games but there are 25 to go.
“If there’s five or six to go and we are in the race, of course [we are contenders]. I think we have a chance but it is very early. I know people always want to know what will happen in the future but let’s take care of the game on Sunday.”
Having lost at West Brom, Wenger is confident his side will bounce back in style at Norwich City on Sunday.
“It was a bad result - but on the day everything went against us,” he said. “They had one shot on target and scored two goals - that will not always happen.
“On top of that we missed a penalty and scored an own goal, so we had a nightmare. It was an unlucky day, that can happen in a season but after it is how you respond to that and we did that well on Tuesday.”
Bargains + the Transfer Market
With injury to Francis Coquelin, it's inevitable that he's going to be asked about the upcoming transfer window, and the club must be keen on the market as well. Let's face it, going three months without Coquelin seems like an impossible task with no substancial replacement.
Him on the January market.
“We are in a position where we want to do something,”
“If I find the right quality, I will do something.”
Then he was asked about Black Friday, where a puzzled face went to greet the reporter. Like Black Friday, we all know that he likes to get his moneys worth out of players.
“What is for us a bargain is to buy players of top quality, because only top quality strengthens our squad,"
“I bought Patrick Vieira for £2.5m and it was a top bargain because he was a top quality player. We spent £40m on Özil but I still consider it a bargain because the player is top quality. I love a bargain. Who does not love a bargain? I don’t know many people that don’t like a bargain.”
“That looks for me a very important one now, because he gave me credibility for my career here at Arsenal. Maybe if you look purely financially [there are others like] Anelka for £500k or Petit for £4.2m - today these numbers look so ridiculously low, but it’s impossible to do better.
“What is most important is the quality of the player and, on that front, even for example we paid high money for Ozil and Alexis - the highest we’ve ever paid - but I don’t regret it for a second.
“I still think it’s absolutely fantastic because we have the money and because the players are top quality.”