Friday 16 December 2016 10:56, UK
Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal still struggle to compete financially with Manchester City, but says that is no excuse not to win at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The Gunners travel to Manchester on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, with a one-point advantage over Pep Guardiola's side in the table and both sides will be hoping to avoid losing further ground to leaders Chelsea in the title race.
Wenger was very active in the transfer market this summer as he splashed out a combined £88.1m on Granit Xhaka (£34m), Rob Holding (£2m), Lucas Perez (£17.1m) and Shkodran Mustafi (£35m), while Takumo Asano arrived for an undisclosed fee.
That paled in comparison to the £168.15m City splashed out to reshape their squad, as they brought in Ilkay Gundogan (£21m), Nolito (£13.8m), Leroy Sane (£37m), Gabriel Jesus (£27m), John Stones (£47.5m), Marlos Moreno (£4.75m) and Claudio Bravo (£17.1m), while Oleksandr Zinchenko also came in for an undisclosed fee.
City have managed to pry some of Arsenal's players away from them in recent years and, while Wenger does not fear that happening now, he does admit there is still a difference in financial resources between the sides.
Wenger said: "It's reduced but it's still there. We are not (as vulnerable) because today I feel we can give financial satisfaction and support ambitions and values that can make the players happy at this club.
"Before, perhaps the financial gap was too big a difference to keep our players. We could not compete, we had to sell players.
"But we have quality to feel it's not a reason to not win the game."
The future of Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez has been the subject of speculation this week as his protracted contract negotiations continue. Both Sanchez and Mesut Ozil have 18 months to run on their existing deals and Arsenal are keen to extend them.
Former City manager Manuel Pellegrini claimed his former club only missed out on signing Sanchez in 2014 because of Financial Fair Play punishments and risked infuriating Wenger by offering the Chilean a lucrative move to the Chinese club, Hebei China Fortune, he now manages.
Wenger, however, scoffed at the possibility of Sanchez moving to China and insisted he is not worried about the situation.
"There is no concern, not at all," the Frenchman said. "There is no concern, I answer you straight away.
"You waste your time because these players have 18 months (left on their) contract and I don't see why there is any urgency in every press conference to have that question.
"Maybe you lack a bit of creativity in the newspapers and you always come up with the same subject. I don't see why that should turn up in every press conference.
"If people want to go to China, they go to China. You can understand that I have completely different worries than China today ahead of the Manchester City game."
Arsenal will look to avoid back-to-back defeats for the first time since March this weekend after their 2-1 loss to Everton on Tuesday.
Wenger is looking for a response from his team and called on them to show the kind of character it will take to win the club's first Premier League title since 2003/04.
"We want to respond in a very positive way and with a positive result," Wenger said. "We have a long-term target in front of us to fight for the Premier League.
"We know when you have a target like that you go through disappointments and the way you respond is most important."
