Arteta likely to miss out on Arsenals last and must win game against Newcastle, Giroud could start

Arsene Wenger has revealed Arteta has a ‘minimal chance’ of featuring in Arsenal’s must-win final game away to Newcastle United this weekend.

The news will come as a blow for the outstanding vice-captain who has been a pivotal figure in the Gunners lineup this season. But Arsenal have depth in midfield with Wilshere able to step in, however his own ankle complaint will limit the time he can play for.

While Wenger will miss mr consistent in midfield, Olivier Giroud is once again available after sitting out the past three matches due to suspension. The Frenchman will struggle to get the callup to start however with Lukas Podolski netting a brace against Wigan this week, but he will certainly play a part in proceedings.

Wenger revealed the following team news in his usual pre-match press conference:

[On Arteta] For the weekend, we have the uncertainty over Mikel Arteta, who had to come off just before the end of the Wigan game with a calf strain. Honestly, his chances of being available are minimal. I have to be realistic and prepare for another solution.

[on the overall injury situation] Everybody else should be alright. There are no other real uncertainties.

[on Wilshere replacing Arteta] He is an option yes. We will monitor him until Sunday and I will make a decision very late over what I will do.

[on the significance of missing Arteta][For] one game, we will find the resources to do without him if we have to. I’m convinced we can because he was out for a while during the season and I played all sorts of combinations.

Arteta was out and we played Ramsey and Wilshere. A few times I played Coquelin, Diaby so we had a few combinations that could work.

Arsenal condemn Wigan to relegation - and give themselves the best chance for Champions Leauge all season

Wigan became the first FA Cup winners to be relegated from the top flight in the same season after a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium sent them down.

 

Shaun Maloney's free-kick sent Wigan into half-time on terms after Lukas Podolski had given Arsenal the lead.

But hopes of a dramatic escape were washed away by a flood of catastrophic defensive lapses as Arsenal struck three times in eight minutes through Theo Walcott, Podolski and Aaron Ramsey.
Wigan lurched painfully from triumph to despair just three days after winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history with a 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley.

Owner Dave Whelan now faces losing not only his club's top flight status, but his manager Roberto Martinez and leading players including Maloney and Callum McManaman.

They are marooned in 18th place, four points behind Sunderland and five behind Aston Villa whom they play on the final day - those two clubs can breathe long sighs of relief after a trying season. Wigan join QPR and Reading in the Championship.

Arsenal now need a win at Newcastle on Sunday to guarantee fourth place and Champions League football at the expense of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Martinez banned alcohol after Wigan's Wembley triumph, but Arsenal attacked vigorously from the off in search of a Cup final hangover and found their opponents - metaphorically at least - reaching groggily for the Alka Seltzer after 72 hours of celebration.

Walcott, effervescent down the right wing, crossed for Santi Cazorla who nipped in front of his marker but headed wide of the right-hand post.

Wigan found themselves under the sort of pressure Manchester City could not muster and soon cracked in miserable fashion.

Cazorla delivered a corner from the Arsenal left and Podolski somehow found himself completely unmarked as he headed the bouncing ball in from six yards.

Roberto Martinez's side barely had a kick, let alone a shot, in the first haf-hour, but they gradually came into the game through the ever-lively Maloney and McManaman.

Maloney won and scored the equalising free-kick amid controversy - the Scot appeared to back into Mikel Arteta as he was tackled but Mike Dean penalised the Arsenal captain.

Maloney punished him with a beautiful free-kick that flashed over the wall and into the right corner of the net.

Wigan needed victory to maintain any realistic chance of survival and continued to attack after the break - however without the injured Maynor Figueroa their awful defending cost them dear.
On 63 minutes Antolin Alcaraz failed to cut out a Santi Cazorla cross and Walcott stole in to finish from close range.

Shortly afterwards Podolski grabbed his second after Paul Scharner played him miles onside, allowing the German to collect a headed Cazorla through ball and lift the ball past Joel Robles.
Ramsey then drove the final nail in the coffin, dribbling inside from the left, deceiving Joel with his eyes and finding the far corner from a tight angle.

Poorly as Wigan defended, the damage was done well before tonight - though Martinez still emerges from this season with credit, he will wonder how a side capable of such heroics could end up in the second tier

Arsenal forward summer signings

Steven Jovetic:
Arsenals number 1 priority for this summer is Steven Jovetic, the Gunners have had there eye on the Montenegrin striker for a while now and Arsene Wenger was told that only a 25 million price tag would grab the Fiorentina super forward. Rumour has it that now the price for Jovetic is between 15-20 million. Steven Jovetic is well worth that price and Arsenals fans are hopping that he will bring them there first title in 8 years.

Christian Benteke
Arsenal and Tottenham are ready to battle it out for the signature of Aston Villa goal-machine Christian Benteke this summer.

Benteke, 22, has been a huge hit in his first season in the Premier League, netting 19 goals so far and almost single-handedly ensuring Villa are no longer favourites for the drop.
His form is in stark contrast to that of Emmanuel Adebayor, Jermain Defoe and Lukas Podolski, all of whom have struggled to find the net consistently this term, despite representing more illustrious teams.
Benteke is certain to leave Villa if the Midlands club are relegated and even if Paul Lambert’s team avoid the drop, there will be a cluster of clubs fighting for the Belgian’s signature. Villa, however, are ready to demand three times the £7m they paid Genk for Benteke in the summer.

Remy
Arsenal have been looking at Remy in recent weeks seeing as the Frenchman will be going for a very cheap price of around 6 million because OPR are in sure relegation and are needing to sell.

It did look like a good possibility for Arsenal to get Remy but now there are a lot more clubs interested in OPR's new signing and it could prove more tricky.
With Jovetic's price apparently cheaper Arsenal might feel that they don't need the Frenchman, even though he would be a great asset to the team for a cheap price.

David Villa

 

Wenger did try and buy the Spanish veteran in the January window but he signed a new contract with his long time club of Barcelona. There was more talks of Villa's move to Arsenal in this summer for a price in the region of 12 million. This still doesn't look very likely because Villa wouldn't want to leave his current club but with big changes expected in Barcelona this season Villa might have to accept that a change in club could still very much go ahead.
Weather it will be to Arsenal or not we don't no seeing as the Gunners have plenty of other stikers available for purchase.

Arsenal Summer Transfers Targets

Arsenal have declared a 70million budget for this summer if they get a champions league place (top 4). The prediction for the new Arsenal team will be a young french right back from Marseille to replace Sagna who they are looking to sell this summer.

They have also shown interest in signing Gotze the new rising midfielder from Dortmund. The gunners tried to snatch the star last season but were told he was not for sale. It looks like a move could happen this year for Gotze but at a price of 40m. Arsenal are expected to only go as high as 25 million and with Man City also looking at the young player Arsenal might have to dig deep into there budget if they want to get him.

News of a new keeper has been on a few peoples minds and with Victor Valdes looking for a move the the premier league he has been short listed by Wenger alone with Adler and a few others.



 Finaly with Arsenals attack not being what people expected this year with the new signings of Giroud and Podolski. The top strickers havnt preformed to there best for most of the season and the talk of improving the forward line some more is highly likely. Jovetic is looking for a move and is a big target for a lot of clubs Arsenal being one of these willing to pay big bucks. If QPR are religated this year there new french signing Remy will be looking for a move and Arsenal might be looking to swoop him for cheap.