William Gallas admits he does not know how much Arsenal will
miss
Kolo Toure while he is away at the African Nations Cup.
The Ivorian played his last Premier League game before going to
Ghana in the 2-0 victory over West Ham on New Year's Day. If
Toure's team go all the way he will not be available for
Arsenal again until mid-February.
Gallas concedes that Toure's loss is a blow to the leaders.
"Kolo is very important for the squad because he is very
strong," said the captain. "He has good qualities and my
relationship with him has been good.
"We have good players in the squad and someone else will be
able to play. If you play for Arsenal you are very good and I hope
my relationship with them will be good too. We will miss Kolo but I
can only say how much after a few weeks."
The win over West Ham helped Arsenal emerge from a difficult
Christmas campaign with a two-point lead in the Premier League.
"We played very well and it was just about what we had to
do," said Gallas. "We have got two days off so we can
relax now.
"It is good that we are top. It was important for us to show
everybody that we wanted to be there. For me it is not finished and
we have to stay strong to stay on top.
"I think Manchester United and Chelsea want to come back on
us. It will not be easy for them and it will not be easy for us. We
have to show people how we are strong and how we want to win the
Premier League.
"Everyday I speak with the players and the boss and we know
how we want to play. We know sometimes it will not be easy to win.
For example we needed to do what we did against Everton.
"We didn't play well but we were so strong. We wanted to
win that game and we showed everybody. If we can keep doing that I
think everything will be fine."
