UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar: IT IS not the November temperature that makes Arsene Wenger shiver. The Arsenal manager simply believes that it has come to a time of the year when his squad will be diminished by injury.
He had a fresh case to support his argument since the left-back Gael Clichy will be missing for some weeks with a back injury.
Arsenal are close to reaching the knockout phase of the Champions League, but Wenger is uneasy about the period the club is entering. “In England you get the injuries in November, every year. You know that in December you can win or lose the championship. At the moment the only team that looks to have less injuries than the others is Chelsea.
“It’s the volume of games. It’s a period where players have played international games and are at the end of the group stage of the Champions League. Some of your players will have had 20 games.”
If Wenger sounds slightly anxious, it is because he recognises better opportunities this season and is afraid of having them undermined. He is almost compelled to pick the 20-year-old Kieran Gibbs. “For us Clichy is a blow,” said Wenger. “We were coming into a period where Gibbs would have played naturally anyway because you rotate a bit more when you go into November. What is difficult for us is that Clichy will be out for one month or maybe two months. That is too much.”
It was back trouble that ended the left-back’s campaign in April last season. “He had a stress fracture [on one side of the spine], and now it’s happened on the other side,” Wenger reported. “He said he could play freely but the pain became worse after every game.”
Tonight’s match is not on the grand scale. Alkmaar, who equalised against Arsenal in stoppage time two weeks ago, are more nuisance than nemesis.
The Frenchman did not waste too much time on speculation following the news that the shareholding of the Arsenal director Stan Kroenke is, at 29.6 per cent, on the verge of the 29.9 per cent holding that would require the American to launch a takeover bid. “I am surprised he bought some shares because I thought there were none available,” said Wenger.
“That means he is shrewd in the market. I am an employee and he is [one of the] owners. It is not my job to analyse the purposes of the people on the board, the job is to produce a good team, a future for the club and good results.”
The Arsenal manager is also glad that Alex Ferguson has appealed to Old Trafford fans to stop the obscene chant directed against him. “I am pleased about that,” Wenger said. “I don’t know what I have done to get this at Manchester United or anywhere else.”
Venue: Emirates Stadium Kick-off: 7.45 On TV: Setanta Ireland, Sky Sports 2
Guardian Service
