[red_devils4life]

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has hit back at Avram Grant, insisting that it is Chelsea would will suffer because of the departure of players for the African Nations Cup.

Earlier this week, Grant had suggested that Arsenal would suffer a dip in form and that Chelsea needed to be ready to grab the opportunity, but Wenger believes in quite the opposite.

With the African Nations Cup coming up, Chelsea will have to do without, Didier Drogba, Mikel John Obi, Salomon Kalou and Michael Essien, and the Frenchman believes the Blues will be hit hard

"I believe it will be Chelsea who suffers the most, though on the other had they can buy more can anyone else to correct that," he said.

"But losing Mikel, Essien, Drogba and Kalou, that's four main players. Nobody loses that many.

"We are just behind Chelsea and Portsmouth also - but I won't use it as an excuse if we don't win the title because I have known who we will lose since the start of the season.

"If they were injured, I wouldn't complain."

He insists, however, that this will not stop him signing Africans in the future, though the number of Africans in the squad could be something he would keep an eye on.

"When you do buy them, you have to consider how many to go for. If you lose four or five games at that time, you can't win the championship so you have to consider the balance," he added.

"You can afford to lose two maybe, but not five. It's certainly a problem you have to consider."

 

[The_Red_Prince]

not sure what to say about this topic,but Arsenal and Chelsea are most affected in terms of the title race,but i believe that they'll grind out thier results until their african players come back.Well,good news for united,when the african cup of nations finishes,Manucho will be available.

 

[akash_reds]

arse,chelshit and pompey will be hard hit by the ANC........
arsenal will lose toure who is one of the people who forms the backbone of arse......in place of him they will have to put senderos who has weaknesses.....chelsea will lose essien and mikel,essiens ideal replacement if he has injury and diarra or makelele will play.........pompey will lose most of their strike force.....utaka,kanu maybe,then muntari etc etc.........united only has manucho in my memory........and he hasnt even played for us.....so no problem....

 

[Wazza1989]

i think Arsenal is gonna' strugle mmore..cause they have more african playes, so...Wenger is wrong. He's just trying to hide the truth of his future strugle

 

[akash_reds]

we can maybe expect one or two signings by wenger to fill on the spaces.........

 

[slap u lar]

who gives a toss what that dick thinks , its there problem for having to many africans in there squads, cheap players at the time of purchase or kidnap, heres hoping they both mess up big time

 

[akash_reds]

but the africans they hav r gr8 players........wenger knows talent......but they will struggle in the league a little bcause of ANC.......

 

[Keano4taoiseach]

I think with Cech, Essien, Lampard and Joe Cole,

Chelsea are always going to be a top class team in the Premier League and as I'm sure they will be buying in the transfer window and having already made a superb investment in Ivanovich, I now fancy them to be up around the top of the table come the end of the season.

 

[KuwaitMUFC]

Not only Chelseal will struggle, Arsenal and Portsmouth will also struggle.

 

[akash_reds]

but for arsenal only toure is the main player who is goin.........then it is eboue and alex song............so they arent losin much players.........but chelsea loses essien,mikel,kalou,drogba........

 

[Jazz 16]

I think everyone should be weary of Chelsea.
They are fighting on four fronts and doing well.
Their form hasnt been great but they still seem to be winning the majority of the time, even when they play badly(sign of a good team). They are a heavily depleted team all over but they can still come up with the goods and have players that can change a game

We saw against Everton yesterday them winning with 10 men and without the spine of their team (Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba)
They are 4 top top players and yet they still managed to win.

Yes they will lose a few to the ACON but they also might sign a few (namely Anelka which would be worrying)
Chelsea have been there or there abouts for the last 5/6 seasons so I wont count them out of anything till its mathematically impossible otthey have been knocked out.

No matter what anyone says they will ALWAYS worry me.......

 

[Gooner90]

The only one I'm worried about losing is Toure. Eboue can go and Song as well. If van Persie is back soon Hleb can go on the right and Eboue is on the bench, Sagn's overtaken him in the pecking order.