Arsenal manager Unai Emery has admitted that the Gunners may spend during the forthcoming transfer window only if the current set of players struggle to perform with the consistency required. The Gunners have already witnessed Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck suffer season-ending injuries and this has recently triggered the speculation of them bolstering the squad next month.
However, speaking to Sky Sports, Emery has said that he would prefer to give opportunities to some of the young and fringe players first before deciding the need to add more competition for places, he told: “Only if we think the players can’t help us with a good performance. January is not a good transfer window for this reason, but we are going to look and the club is working for transfers in January, but also we are in a [good] way. We are making progress with young players and giving them chances, and when we need to give them more chances to play and show their progress we are going to do that.”
Arsenal suffered their first defeat after four months during the recent Premier League clash at Southampton where Emery was forced to play a makeshift central defence of Laurent Koscielny, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka featured. However, the Spaniard should have some relief for the League Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur with both Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos returning from one-match domestic suspensions, though Hector Bellerin remains sidelined for the year after sustaining a minor injury during the first period of the weekend game.
The Gunners have fared impressively during their debut season under Emery but they are nevertheless playing catch up to the Champions League positions with three points the gap to fourth-placed Chelsea. Arsenal are scheduled to face Spurs once more during the midweek League Cup quarter-final and they will be hoping to replicate the performance from the 4-2 triumph earlier in the month.