Arsene Wenger: Arsenal are not going backwards, look at the players we bought

• e-mail

Arsene Wenger admits the figures do not bear scrutiny but he is certain that Arsenal have not slipped backwards during the last 12 months.

Last Christmas, Wenger’s side were nicely poised in second place in the Barclays Premier League, with 36 points from 17 games and trailing leaders Liverpool only on goal difference.

Yet, despite a summer outlay of more than £70million on Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and back-up goalkeeper David Ospina, they are nine points worse off than this time last season and 15 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger has insisted that his Arsenal team has not regressed in the last 12 months

Wenger said: ‘I don’t think that we have gone backwards in the quality of our squad because if you look at the five players that we bought, you cannot say that one of the five players is a failure.

‘I can’t deny that we are behind much more than last year because we had a depleted squad since the start of the season, and no stability, and the fact that we got so many important injuries at the back cost us too much.

‘We lost Debuchy and (Laurent) Koscielny at the same period for three months. It’s too much.’

From dreaming of winning their first title since the Invincibles campaign of 2003-04, Arsenal are preparing for another anxious fight to extend their proud Champions League record to 18 consecutive years.

However, the manager, having broken a nine-year trophy drought by winning the FA Cup last season, is not prepared to give up on the Premier League title just yet.

Martin Skrtel heads in Liverpool's dramatic late equaliser in the Premier League clash at Anfield  

Wenger highlighted the recent additions to his squad such as former Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez

Wenger said: ‘Let’s see how the schedule goes over Christmas. We will have a much better idea at the beginning of January. It can still change. The next three or four games are important.

‘Chelsea will be in the fight for the title, for sure. Will it only be Chelsea and Manchester City? Today you can say maybe, but it is still a long way. Chelsea play Champions League, Man City do as well. Then you have the FA Cup and Chelsea also play in the League Cup. There is still a long way to go.

‘What is for sure is that teams like us, and those around us, need to be massively consistent to have a chance to come back. At the moment, it’s better if I don’t talk too much and we perform on the pitch.’

Injury problems linger. Still, he is without half a dozen first-team regulars going into the game at home to Queen’s Park Rangers but all except Jack Wilshere are expected back before the end of January.

The Arsenal boss also attributes some of his problems to the World Cup, which he believes has influenced players physically and mentally.

The Gunners boss has received heavy criticism from some sections of the club's supporters

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is again out with an ankle injury after a heavy challenge from Paddy McNair

‘After the World Cup, we had too many players who were not at their level,’ said Wenger. ‘Too many came back not ready to compete again. Then you look again at the number of players we lost when they were just back to their best.

‘We had no Walcott, no Wilshere, no Ozil, no Debuchy, no Koscielny, no Arteta for too long periods. No Giroud for three months. It’s like you have half of the squad out!’

Wenger still believes the best way to address these problems of fatigue is to introduce a mid- season break to relieve the relentless grind of English football, although he would like to see it in the new year to protect the traditional festive fixtures.

‘Maybe it would be good for the English national team to have a break,’ he said.

‘Respect the English tradition, and have a break in January. If you look at the history, is it a coincidence the German team have always done well in big tournaments when England haven’t done so well? Germany has the longest winter break in Europe, out of the big countries. And by coincidence, they always do well in tournaments because they have refreshed players.’

Wenger said his team had badly missed players such as Mathieu Debuchy while they were injured

The idea of a winter break in England has been debated often. Sven Goran Eriksson pushed hard for it when he ran the national team, but was unsuccessful. It always hits the same obstacles.

The Premier League will not vote to reduce the number of teams in the top flight and in turn the Football League and the Football Association are reluctant to surrender FA Cup replays and one leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final to generate necessary space in a congested calendar where midweek dates are dominated by UEFA competitions.

Any agreement is still hard to imagine, not least because many fear clubs would abuse a break and see it as merely another chance to squeeze in a commercial tour, disguised as warm-weather training, but managers will often back the principle.

‘You don’t go on tour, but you give them two weeks off and then you prepare like the German teams do,’ said Wenger.

‘They stopped on Saturday and they come back at the beginning of January.’