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Arsène Wenger... tried to supplement his strike-force

Wenger - I did try to sign new players

By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger has revealed that he was thwarted in his attempts to sign a new striker in January.

The Arsenal manager admitted at the start of December that he would be on the look-out for a new recruit in the wake of long-term injuries to Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner. Wenger was linked with a string of players but, ultimately, the transfer window closed with just one deal done - the return of centre back Sol Campbell.

Arsenal's attacking options have been further depleted by Eduardo's hamstring injury and a tally of one point and one goal in three Premier League fixtures has seen them fall nine points behind the leaders, Chelsea.

At his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Wenger admitted that he tried to supplement his strike-force last month, but to no avail.

"We tried to sign players but it didn’t work and we have to accept that," he said. "We lost strikers. At the moment unfortunately we have got three strikers out basically with Bendtner just coming back, Eduardo out and Van Persie out.

"The coincidence of the fixtures happens that when you lose one player he misses three big games. You have to accept that as well. But we have promised ourselves to fight until the last game of the season."

The prospect of a loan signing was mooted in the media during the transfer window but, according to Wenger, the quality of the available players meant that was not an option.

"First of all you must find the players who are better than the players you have," he said. "And I believe that our basic problem was not offensive in the two games we lost just now. It was more defensive."

[Tuesday, February 09, 2010]

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