With rumors stating that striker Olivier Giroud could be out until the new year with a leg injury, Arsenal boss is not panicking at the prospect of losing his top striker for potentially four month: f
“On Sunday he had a medical check and he needed to have further investigations,” said Wenger, who revealed an announcement will be made over his fitness on Wednesday afternoon or evening.
“The first news wasn’t fantastic, but I’m not a doctor so I wait for tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) complete examination and decision over how long he’ll be out for. It can be (long term), we’ll see. I don’t know (if it’s broken). It’s sad for us, but for the moment we are focused on the game.”
Getting Wenger to buy is difficult under normal circumstances, and while the pressure will be on the Arsenal boss to find a replacement for Giroud , Wenger is refusing to panic buy.
“We have plenty of players at centre forward. In England as soon as you have a problem, people want
you to buy,” he said. “Unfortunately, I can give you some clubs that every time they lose a game they say they might need to buy more. I’ve learnt one thing in our job – you say nothing categorically.”
Summer signing Alexis Sanchez could operate as the lone striker against Besiktas, although doubts have been raised over his ability to perform the role. Sanchez was replaced at half-time at Goodison following an ineffective 45 minutes as the focal point of Arsenal’s attack, but Wenger is convinced he can operate as more than a winger.
“You do not convict a player on one half. It was not all bad what he did, there was some quality in what he did,” Wenger said. “It was just that on the day we needed more physical presence. When you’re 2-0 down you don’t play counter attack.”
Yaya Sanogo, Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell are also options, although it is Sanogo, who missed out against Everton because of a hamstring injury, who is most likely to start. Wenger, who ruled out Podolski leaving in the transfer window, is confident he has the options to cover for Giroud’s absence in the second leg of the qualifier at the Emirates Stadium.
“Yes of course, why should I not have that confidence?” Wenger said. “Nobody can image that when one player is missing, no matter how big the player is, the team can’t win a game any more.”
Campbell was impressive at the World Cup and I would like to see Wenger give him a run of games and see how he does.
