Arsenal manager Arteta open to January signings

Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal are ready to enter the January transfer market should their squad remain as “exposed” in recent times. The Gunners are without five players for today’s match at home to West Ham, a match where victory for Arsenal will see them regain top spot in the Premier League from Liverpool.
Thomas Partey, Jurrien Timber, Fabio Vieira and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all still sidelined, however, while Arsenal’s Kai Havertz is banned following five yellow cards so far this season. Arsenal spent more than £200mn recruiting new players to the Emirates ahead of the current campaign, including their £105mn club-record signing of Declan Rice from the Hammers.
The England midfielder was joined at the Emirates Stadium by Havertz and Timber after Arsenal went on a spending spree, having missed out on the Premier League title despite being top for 248 days last season. Arsenal manager Arteta has no certainty over when his injured quartet will be back in action and with a packed festive fixture schedule testing the depth of all Premier League squads, the Spaniard is prepared to bolster the Gunners’ squad during next month’s transfer window.
“At the moment, it is very difficult. We are really short,” Arteta told a pre-match press conference. “We have positions that we have been very exposed for the last six weeks and hopefully we are going to get players back. In what condition and when? That’s a question mark and as well because we have some long-term injuries still for certain players that give us a lot of versatility and that’s an issue.”
Arteta added: “We have certain targets, ideas if things happen. As well, we don’t know how the squad is going to look in two weeks’ time and you have to be always prepared for that. But it is a very, very tricky market that shifts very quickly and it is quite unpredictable as well – and you have to be prepared. We will be prepared and we will try to make the right calls. If there is something that we can (do to) improve the squad and that needs appear, and we cannot fulfil it with players here, we are always going to be open to do that because we want to be stronger.”
Meanwhile, West Ham manager David Moyes said he was “really pleased” by his side’s progress ahead of their trip across London to title-contenders Arsenal. The Hammers are currently just a point off the top six following a 2-0 win at home to Manchester United last weekend.
And the Scot is confident in West Ham’s ability to get better throughout the season. “We’re really pleased with the progress we’ve made,” Moyes said. “We’ve got 30 points in the league, which is a really good total for us at this time of year. We want to keep it going and we think we can get better and do even more.”
Moyes added striker Michail Antonio will again be absent as he continues his recovery from a knee injury, with centre-back Nayef Aguerd to undergo assessment after missing the United victory because of illness.
West Ham defeated Arsenal 3-1 in the English League Cup last month but Moyes is prepared for a far tougher test today. “(I’m expecting) huge challenges. Arsenal have always been a really hard team to beat,” he said. “We had a good result against them in the cup but this is a different competition. The league throws up different players and Arsenal changed their team for the game in the League Cup so they will be back to their full-strength team, I’ve no doubt, and going to the Emirates Stadium has never been an easy game.”
Arsenal will go top of the table if they beat the Hammers and Moyes praised the “brilliant job” done by Gunners counterpart Arteta. “I’ve been impressed with Mikel since he first went in,” Moyes said.
“He won the FA Cup and the Community Shield, so a couple of wins right at the start. Then obviously it went a bit difficult and there was a lot of talk about him, but he hasn’t half proved all those doubters wrong because he’s done a brilliant job with Arsenal.
“He’s got them incredibly competitive, back around the top of the league and competing again. I think most Arsenal supporters will be happy with Mikel.”