Arsene on Transfers and Bolton Preview

Transfer Talk

Arsene spoke yesterday of the ongoing negotiations for Andrei Arshavin:

At the moment I cannot give you any good news but in this job no news is good news. Nothing has fallen through. We are on alert in the transfer market…We are a little short because we wanted a player like (Tomas) Rosicky to play 80% of games and he has not played at all.

It is little little surprise that nothing has moved on the Russian Front. Dick Advocaat, Zenit’s manager, mentioned the other day that he had identified Arshavin’s replacement already so I suspect it is rather like a house sale, everyone waiting for a deal further down the line to complete. Slow moving it might be but better than nothing at all.

Wenger discussed the possibility of adding a defensive player, specifically Upson:

I like personally Matthew Upson. But there again I would not like to come out on that. However at the moment, we are not looking to buy on the defensive side of our game

Which is about as definitive as it gets as far as the back four is concerned. It reinforces the notion that no-one is leaving although with three weeks still to go that can change.

Later in his interview, Wenger will no doubt have sent alarm bells ringing through the ears of many:

We want to spend money but as everyone knows, and as the the chairman has said, we have money available but we have limited resources, and you want to spend it in the best way possible.

No doubt this will be interpreted as Arsenal being stoney-broke but too many people are willing to believe that the inflated figures bandied about in the summer were true; too many willing to believe that the transfer chest equated directly to the £60m or so that the club had in the bank at that point. The truth is harder to ascertain because it would be commercial suicide for anyone in authority to let the selling clubs know how much Arsenal had available to spend.

The Squad

Wenger once more publicly defended his charges, something that would be no less than expected:

Nothing is missing [from my squad] but you always want to add some quality to what you already have. I am very happy with the quality of the players I have and I believe that at the moment we are a bit short number-wise. If we can add one or two players then we will do it but the squad I have is not lacking quality; we have enough quality.

He is short of numbers simply through the ever large injury list. Actually the treatment room is not that busy with “short-termers”, it is the number of long-term injuries that is of concern. They are key personnel who are in there. The importance of Fabregas to the side is clear but Walcott, Rosicky and Eduardo are equally so. The first two names on that list provide flair, pace and the intelligence in attack, particularly the Czech international. His guile has been sorely missed since he was injured. Walcott it seems will be the first of the trio to return at the end of next month with Fabregas and Eduardo a month or so later.

Bolton Wanderers Preview

Bolton visit The Emirates this afternoon, looking to abscond with the points from what will undoubtedly be a physical encounter. Gary Megson promised as much before criticising Arsene Wenger for constantly bemoaning the tackles that Bolton make during these encounters. In an attempt to make good relations between the two clubs, Megson said:

Whenever we play Arsenal, it always seems to be overshadowed by an incident, which is usually a tackle. My players call it “in yer face” football and, yes, we try to get in everybody’s face, but always in a fair manner. Kevin Davies is the most fouled player in the Premier League

He is also one of the players who commits the most fouls as well, a fact that Megson was curiously keen to overlook. The Bolton gaffer should have taped over his mouth at this point before claiming that the tackle on Gael Clichy was not as bad as it seemed because the Frenchman was training on the Tuesday after this season’s encounter at The Reebok. Well, that made Davies’ scything challenge alright then because nobody really got hurt by the tackle.

Team news is mixed. Gallas and Silvestre are both out but Toure, Denilson, Song and Clichy return to the squad. It will be interesting to see whether Arsene continues with Ramsey although I doubt it. For the purposes of today’s game, it is more likely that we will see Eboue on the right to give some physical presence to the midfield. Centrally, Denilson will start but the choice will be whether he is partnered by Diaby or Song.

I would expect the starting line-up to be something like:

Almunia; Sagna, Toure, Djourou, Clichy; Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri; van Persie, Adebayor

With a bench of:

Fabianski, Vela, Bendtner, Ramsey, Song, Gibbs, Wilshere

Three points are vital. Villa take on West Brom and Liverpool are at Stoke, games that the top four teams would be expected to cruise through. They might not but it would a surprise if they emerge with less than three points each from those encounters. A gap can be closed, with an Arsenal win, on United or Chelsea or both with their meeting on Sunday. Every weekend is going to be like this though. The team must win their games and hope that others are less conscientious in order to create a pressure situation on those above them in the table. Unfortunately, this weekend it is Arsenal who will probably be under pressure given Villa’s lunchtime kick-off.