SOCCER/ ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: ARSENE WENGER conceded yesterday that he is now "more likely" to buy a new player during next month's transfer window after he all but ruled out Cesc Fabregas for the remainder of the season.
The Arsenal manager said scans had shown his captain had a partial rupture to his medial knee ligament following a challenge with Liverpool's Xabi Alonso on Sunday and would be out for four months. Wenger called the setback a "massive blow".
On Monday night Fabregas saw a specialist who said he would not require an operation on his right knee. It will be immobilised in a protective brace for the first six weeks of his rehabilitation.
Wenger maintained that despite the club's run of injuries and doubts over the strength of their squad, Arsenal would still challenge for the Premier League title. After Sunday's 1-1 home draw they are fifth, eight points behind the leaders, Liverpool. They face a crucial game at third-placed Aston Villa on St Stephen's Day.
Wenger has been linked with a move for the Zenit St Petersburg playmaker Andrei Arshavin, although he said that at present "nobody is coming in or going out". He said Nicklas Bendtner would not be leaving, despite the striker telling the media in his native Denmark that if he did not begin to feature more regularly, he would like a transfer.
"We are more likely to buy in January but we have also internal solutions [to the loss of Fabregas] and we are not desperate because of that," said Wenger.
"We have a big game in front of us, and before January I believe it is more important to focus on our games. Of course we can maintain a challenge without Cesc."
Arshavin is desperate to leave Zenit and test himself in one of Europe's top leagues but the greatest obstacle to him moving is the Russian club's reluctance to do business.
Bankrolled by the energy company Gazprom, Zenit pay Arshavin a salary which is reportedly in excess of €68,675a week and they have no financial need to sell.
Wenger is already without Theo Walcott (shoulder) and Tomas Rosicky (hamstring) and his midfield quartet at Villa Park is expected to comprise Abou Diaby, Alex Song, Denilson and Samir Nasri, who have an average age of 21 and relatively little Premier League experience. Aaron Ramsey (17) and Jack Wilshere (16) are too young, in Wenger's view, to step in.
Wenger has just seen Lassana Diarra, the midfielder he sold to Portsmouth for €5.8 million in January, agree a €21.1 million deal to join Real Madrid. He could be forgiven for cursing Diarra's loss, particularly as the midfielders Mathieu Flamini, Gilberto Silva and Alex Hleb left over the summer.
"I have no regrets over Diarra, not at all," he said. "The situation when Diarra signed [from Chelsea in August 2007] was that we had a midfield of Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini and Rosicky, and he was behind that. He didn't accept it. What can you do? He was told when he arrived that he would have to be patient. He was told in front of his agent, I told him that. Don't forget we had as well Gilberto, the captain of the Brazil national team, and we had already Denilson and Song so there was a congestion there.
"We felt that Gilberto and Flamini could leave and at the last minute, both stayed. I said [to Diarra], 'Listen, it's better that you don't come or if you do come, you have to be patient', because it was 31st August, we were top of the league and the team functioned well.
"Could I have just loaned him out [in January]? He did not want to go on loan."
Wenger had "no complaints" about the way Alonso challenged Fabregas for a 50-50 ball at the end of the first half on Sunday. "There was no intention to hurt," he said. He will keep Fabregas as the club's captain but the goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is expected to lead the team in his absence.
"It is a massive blow because Cesc is a competitor, who wants every day to play," said Wenger. "If you play six games in a week, he will want to play six games.
"The really difficult period is the first six weeks where you are in the brace and you cannot move at all. When they take the brace off, you can have rehabilitation and be busy the whole day but the first six weeks are really difficult."
Bendtner has insisted he is happy at Arsenal amid rumours of interest from a number of European clubs. Reports have suggested Russian side Spartak Moscow and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich could both launch bids for the Dane in the winter transfer window.
He told Sporten.dk: "I don't think about all the rumours because I am an Arsenal player and really love it here. I hope that I can stay here for a long time because to me Arsenal are the dream club."
• Guardian Service
