Wenger wary of newly-confident West Ham

  • by Staff Writer
  • Tuesday, 12th December 2017

Arsene Wenger says his Arsenal side will face a game against a "condifent and dangerous" West Ham at the Olympic Stadium tomorrow night.

Wenger, speaking to the media ahead of Arsenal's visit to the Olympic Stadium insisted that the Hammers would be full of enthusiasm and fresh resolve following their defeat of reigning champions Chelsea on Saturday.



"It will be a tough test because they were unlucky against [Manchester] City and certainly built some confidence against Chelsea," he said. "So it will be a game against a West Ham team with more confidence who will be more dangerous as well.

"They've also had 24 hours more recovery than us so that have a big advantage on that front.

"They had a good manager before in [Slaven] Bilic, who did an excellent job. [David] Moyes has big experience to build them up again, he has shown that recently so I'm not surprised they're improving as he has big experience in the Premier League."

Wenger also revealed that he wasn't expecting a repeat of last season's corresponding fixture, when Arsenal ran out 5-1 winners. "At the time West Ham were a bit short of confidence - and we took advantage of that," he added.

The Frenchman also confirmed that Arsenal will be without one or two key figures as the north London side attempt to keep within touching distance of the Premier League's front runners.

"[Shkodran] Mustafi will not be back as the medical staff have decided that he’s not completely ready, and we lost [Aaron] Ramsey against Southampton," he confirmed. "He will not be available for tomorrow’s game. It’s a hamstring injury, but not a big one.

"Everybody else, apart from the long-term injury [to Santi Cazorla], looks available. We have tests this morning to see how they have recovered."

Embed from Getty Images


Wenger also confirmed that he was still considering rotating certain members of his squad, in order to keep them fresh for the busy Christmas period.

"I have not made that decision completely so I will have to look first of all at how some players have recovered," he said. "We look at how much energy they spent, how they recover and after I make my decisions, adding to that the balance of the team."

* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.



More News