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SECOND SUAREZ BID

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Arsenal recently came in with a second offer for Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, which has been highly criticised amongst the media. Suarez is believed to have a clause in his contract, which allows him to talk with any interested parties if they make an offer of more than £ 40 million. After having had an opening bid of £ 30 million instantly rejected, Arsenal recently made an offer of £40 million + £ 1 in order to activate the clause in the player’s contracts. Chelsea manager José Mourinho has backed this bid by saying that Suarez is a player who will suit Arsenal.

He thinks that if Arsenal have that ability to pay the amount of money demanded by Liverpool, then there should be no reason why they should not try and sign Suarez. The 26-year-old Uruguay international was a rumoured transfer target of José Mourinho when he was at Real Madrid. Even now, Madrid are interested in taking him to the Santiago Bernabeu. However, entry of Arsenal into the picture has dramatically changed the transfer situation.

Suarez is thought to be interested in talking with Arsenal. If Suarez indeed moves to Arsenal, then it could represent a huge shift in policy for the North London outfit. Up until now, their record transfer fee stood at £ 17 million.

“I’ve no idea of the contractual situation of Luis Suarez. But, I think if Arsenal has the economical potential to buy, and his manager decides Luis is the perfect buy for them, I think it’s normal they make an offer. But I have no idea how it’s going to end,” said Mourinho. Chelsea were also thought to be interested in Suarez, but Mourinho has confirmed on several occasions that Rooney remains as the only transfer target for the club right now.

CHANGE OF MANAGER?

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This summer is expected to bring out the manager merry-go-round, which could see Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger end up at PSG. It is looking increasingly likely that PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti will leave the club for Real Madrid in the summer. The Spanish club are widely expected to sack José Mourinho, who will be heading to Chelsea if that is the case. PSG are thought to have drawn a long list of potential successors for Ancelotti and Wenger is thought to be high on the list.

The 63-year-old has rejected any speculation of him moving to PSG by saying that he wants to stay at Arsenal until the end of his contract. His contract is one of the main reasons for the increased speculation. It comes to an end in the summer of 2014 and there has been no indication from Wenger that he is ready to sign a new contract. He has been facing a torrent of abuse from several Arsenal supporters this year. Hence, there have been suggestions that Wenger may finally decide to call it a day at Arsenal. The Frenchman, though, has rejected speculation by saying that he wants to see out his contract.

“I have had no contact with PSG. Carlo Ancelotti has done a good job and I do not see why he would leave the club by viewing the quality of his work this season. I followed their season. They have built their success on a form of individual superiority and the collective one that they found through the Champions League. In Ligue 1, they had a quite difficult journey. And for my part, I have a contract with Arsenal, where I have served for 17 years and I do not see myself leaving the club like a thief and not respecting my contract,” said Wenger.

TOUGH FIGHT

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Unlike in the previous seasons when Arsenal used to be in a strong position when it came to the challenge for the top four positions, the club are really facing a tough fight from Everton and Tottenham this season. There are only 13 matches left in the Premier league this season, and Arsenal are four points behind the fourth placed Tottenham. Finishing in the fourth position has always been viewed as the main priority for Arsenal in recent seasons because it helped them to compete in the group stages of the Champions League and walk home with all the riches on offer.

Arsenal recently managed to return to winning ways in the matches against West Ham, but the 2-2 draw with Liverpool hurt the chances of the club finishing in the top of massively. As a result, Wenger revealed that he wants his players against dropping any more points in the league if they are to finish in the top four ahead of the match with Stoke city during the weekend. It seemed to pay off after the club managed a slender 1-0 victory over Tony Pulis and his men. This victory meant that Arsenal stayed four points behind Tottenham, who managed a 1-0 win over West Brom.

“I said already before the West Ham and Liverpool games, that we are in a position where we cannot drop points. We dropped two points against Liverpool but we couldn’t do it again today. What is more important is the quality of performances is there. The spirit is there. The target to be in the top four and to focus on the two cups we are still in is very important now as we have strengthened our belief and our confidence,” said Wenger. Arsenal also have the European tie with Bayern Munich in the corner.

BARTLEY MOVES TO SWANSEA

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Kyle Bartley was regarded as one of the promising youngsters to come out of the Arsenal youth academy in recent seasons, but a number of injuries have meant that he had been unable to break into the Arsenal first team. As a result, the 21-year-old decided to join Swansea on a permanent basis. Once again, injuries have prevented him from showing his full potential for his new club, but the defender is hoping that the second half of the season will be much better for him. He has made just one appearance is joining the club this summer.

However, he could be set for making an appearance against his former club when Swansea take on Arsenal at the Liberty stadium in the FA Cup third-round match on Sunday. Bartley has said that Arsenal have achieved so much this season had they been lucky with the injury to Jack Wilshere. The England international only recently returned to first team action after missing most than 17 months of football due to injury. He was initially earmarked as the replacement for Cesc Fabregas after the Spaniard left for Barcelona more than a year ago, but Wilshere has started showing his influence only recently. Bartley believes that Arsenal will make up the positions in the table sooner rather than later due to the return of Wilshere.

“I still speak to the likes of Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Emmanuel Frimpong and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, all players that I got on well with during my time there. I played alongside Jack for the majority of my time at the club and he is a fantastic player. I’m glad he’s back to full fitness and you can tell from how Arsenal are playing now that they have missed him an awful lot,” said Bartley ahead of the match with Arsenal on Sunday.

TRICKY FIXTURES

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The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has alluded to the fact that the club has had a difficult run of fixtures in the first few months of the campaign. As a result, they find themselves way behind the leaders Manchester United. Arsenal started the new season with the hope of finally ending the league title drought that has existed since 2004. However, this is turning to once again a familiar season for the Arsenal supporters because the team are 12 points behind the leaders with a month to go till Christmas. However, Wenger has said that the first half of the season has been extremely tough for the team in terms of fixtures.

Arsenal have already played away matches against the likes of Manchester City and United. They have been able to come away from these two fixtures with just one point. Wenger reckons that the second half of the season, which will now have home games against the two leaders, will provide the club with ample opportunities to close the gap. Arsenal will be now facing opposition like Swansea, Reading, and Wigan in the next few matches. He has targeted maximum points from these matches in order to close the gap on the Manchester clubs before December.

“We have had a lot of difficult away games and now we reach a moment in the season when we get a chance to push on with some home games. We will come back. Now we have six games, four at home, and if we do well in this block I think we have a chance to come back. Of course it is vital for us to do well in these games, but I believe this team has something special and they will begin to show this in the next few weeks,” Wenger said on the official website of the club.

Wenger gives views on summer buys

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After managing to claw themselves up to 3rd place in the Premier League, it finally looks as though Arsenal are starting to find their feet this season. There’s no doubt that some of the summer acquisitions have played a massive part in this success, with Arsene Wenger quick to lavish the praise on Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski about their impact on the team.

Even though the Gunners experienced a sticky start following successive goalless draws against Stoke and Sunderland, they have really come into their own over recent fixtures following a 2-1 victory over Liverpool and a 6-1 thrashing of Sunderland. Cazorla and Podolski have played huge parts in these results, with the duo scoring a combined three goals to make many forget about the absence of Robin Van Persie.

Following their performances, Wenger says he is very happy with how they have both slotted in. He told the press, “Cazorla is a pleasure to watch, you want him to have the ball. He typifies Spain’s midfielders – technically perfect, great vision and a great team attitude and Lukas has 101 caps for Germany – he is physically strong and a fantastic finisher.”

However, while Wenger may have expressed his delight in this regard, he has been slightly more reserved on fellow signing Olivier Giroud. It would be fair to say that the Frenchman has struggled somewhat following his summer switch, with Wenger claiming that he is not sure if he will start the striker against his former club Montpellier on Tuesday. He added to the press, “He is under much pressure at the moment and sometimes to get a little breather is good. What I will do on Tuesday, I honestly don’t know, I just felt that the time has come for him to not be under too much pressure.”