Wenger revealed that the Arsenal midfielder will be out for around eight weeks after straining his hamstring against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Advertisement
Late goals from Olivier Giroud and Mesut Özil secured a 2-0 win over an in-form Bayern on Tuesday to revive Arsenal’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout phase.
Arsenal’s Spanish defender Nacho Monreal (R) vies with Everton’s English midfielder Gareth Barry (L) during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London on October 24, 2015.
Arsenal can go top of the Premier League standings with a victory over Everton on Saturday, as leaders Manchester City will not be in action until Sunday when they face Manchester United in the derby clash. Once you get to 27 you realise it is time to capitalise on what you have learned and efficiency takes a little bit over the playing mood. Ideally I think neither him nor Bale should have played against Andorra, because they were qualified, but unfortunately I could not decide that. I suggest we haven’t forgotten, it’s just that teams of quality don’t get hammered by rivals 6-0, 6-3 and 5-1 by top opposition as in their 2013/2014 premier league campaign.
There were also reports emanating from Spain about Real Madrid being unhappy with Bale featuring against Andorra, although Coleman insisted he had received no such diktat from the Bernabeu giants.
We won 3-0 against Manchester United, we won 3-0 against Watford and we won 2-0 against Bayern, so it is important we have a good balance between defending well and attacking well.
“I don’t like to sugarcoat defeats”, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, “because there’s nothing attractive or good about a defeat”. “But, now, the start of the season will mean nothing if we don’t carry on with a few consistency”.
Advertisement
Speaking in his press conference ahead of Arsenal’s game against Everton tomorrow, Wenger said: “I have a lot of respect for Louis van Gaal but I don’t agree with him on that. It’s hard to speculate about players who might be exhausted”. “We have a big game in front of us against Everton, we can extend our run, so our focus is mainly on our next game”, he said. It’s one of those results that you couldn’t see coming. Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez indicated that Tom Cleverley could return in the starting XI following a spell with the Under-21 team midweek, but expect him to be on the bench, as well as Steven Pienaar and Bryan Oviedo.
