Gunners boss plays down striker pursuit

Wenger quiet on Mitroglou link

By Zain Alvi | 5th December 2012

"Mitroglou scored two great goals. The first one in London was a great header and tonight was a fantastic goal as well, I must say. I won’t say more because if I do you’ll think I want to buy him."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits that he has been impressed with Olympiakos striker Kostas Mitroglou’s goals against his side both at home and away in the UEFA Champions League this season but has warned reporters against linking the Greece international with a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Mitroglou struck the consolation goal for Olympiakos when they fell 3-1 in North London two months ago but last night, he struck a brilliant match-winning goal that propelled the Greek outfit to a 2-1 triumph.

While Mitroglou’s side had already sealed Europa League qualification prior to match-day six, their winning conclusion to the group stage ensured that the Gunners finish second to Schalke in Group B.

In his post-match comments, Wenger remained unfazed about suffering a second consecutive defeat in the space of three days and also played down any speculation linking his side with Mitroglou.

“We need a good Christmas present now [in the draw]. We’ll see. The disadvantage we have is we play the second game away, but it’s not statistically proven it’s a disadvantage,” Wenger told Arsenal’s official website as he considered the prospect of playing group-winners such as Barcelona, Malaga, and Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16.

Shifting his focus to the domestic front, he added: “The important thing now is to focus on the Premier League and forget about the Champions League. [We need to] get ourselves back in decent form in the Premier League.”

Injuries and inexperience seem to have bothered Arsenal in the Premier League once again this season as they currently struggle in 10th place but Wenger insists that he will examine his team’s progress closely in the coming weeks before considering January purchases.

“If everybody is fit we have a strong squad but in certain areas, of course when you have players like [Abou] Diaby and [Tomas] Rosicky not fit, we are a bit short because we cannot rotate. We’ll see where we stand on January 1 and see what we do,” Wenger explained.

When asked directly about Mitroglou, the manager concluded: “Mitroglou scored two great goals. The first one in London was a great header and tonight was a fantastic goal as well, I must say. I won’t say more because if I do you’ll think I want to buy him.”