“It is severe disappointment, we want to bounce back”, he said.
Advertisement
Arteta and Francis Coquelin limped off to add to Arsenal’s injury woes ahead of their must-win Champions League game with Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
Last of all, Wenger has confirmed that he could make a move for reinforcements in the January transfer window, but it depends on how long Coquelin will be out for.
“We have [Mathieu] Flamini who can play there, also [Calum] Chambers because he has been educated as a central midfielder”.
Ex-midfielder Ray Parlour believes that with Mathieu Flamini set to fill in the position at the base of the Arsenal midfield, reinforcing that role should be Wenger’s priority.
“Sometimes this is a good opportunity for other players to turn up and show they can do the job”.
This is a must win game for Arsenal and I think that Arsene Wenger’s side will deliver, the handicap market at -2 is about right and really it’s tough to find much value in a game with two mismatched teams. “Many fans wanted Wenger to acquire a player to provide cover and competition in the summer, but instead the Gunners boss chose to hand a contract extension to Mikel Arteta”.
Zagreb’s victory over Arsenal in the first round of matches was shrouded in controversy with Ademi’s failed drugs test. Wenger then repeated his calls for stronger anti-doping measures from football’s authorities.
The club have received a boost as the Welshman has returned to training, but Coquelin is feared to have damaged his knee ligaments in last weekend’s 2-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion. It is a hard moment for us, yes.
A point would have taken Arsenal back above Manchester United and although Leicester City would still have kept us off the top of the table, it would not have looked so bad. But overall I felt it dropped a huge blow when we scored and we just had to make sure they didn’t come back with a easy goal and that is where we were disappointed today.
Advertisement
Arsenal have already once stumbled upon a solution to a void in holding midfield with Coquelin and they could do so again by considering developments across north London this season. That’s because the Gunners can not overtake Bayern on points and the Germans own the head-to-head between the two clubs, which is the first tiebreaker. Coquelin has won 31/58 tackles in the Premier League this season.
