Arsenal short of players

Former Arsenal left-back believes
the Gunners could be knocked
out of the so-called Top Four if
they don’t bring new players
during the summer transfer
window.
Speaking to talkSport’s
Hawksbee and Jacobs, the
Englishman honestly admitted
that the Gunners haven’t
impressed through pre-season
and that the reason might not
necessarily be that players are
tired after working hard in
training to regain their
sharpness and ideal fitness level.
The 47-year old added that a
good start to the season would
see people ending all the criticism
but if they fail in the first month
in which they will face Liverpool
and Manchester United, then
they will have to face a lot of
criticism.
On whether the Gunners need to
sign new players, Winterburn
concluded by saying that if they
do then they will probably fight
for a Top Four finish and
challenge for the league but if
their transfer activity is already
over then it will be incredibly
difficult for the Gunners to stay
in England’s Top Four.
On Friday, Winterburn said:
[Top Four?] I think the only thing
I’ll say is to hope they are in the
top four but I think this is the
first time for a long, long time
that I’ve looked through the
pre-season – as I’ve been
commentating all their games
through pre-season – and this is
the first time that I’m genuinely,
really worried with what I’ve
seen so far.
[But] you have to be a little bit
careful when you talk about
pre-season because certain
players take longer to get fit,
you can feel sluggish because of
all the work you’ve done during
the week and then you come to
the game and people will say,
‘Oh, he doesn’t look as if he’s
trying”.
But that’s sometimes because
the work you’ve put in a week
but in the games that I’ve seen
Arsenal play so far this pre-
season, they do look short of
players and with the continuous
speculation of [Samir] Nasri and
[Cesc] Fabregas, there’s a lot of
uncertainty around the football
Club.
Arsene Wenger has to be really
strong to obviously and try and
get some players in but the
players that he wants there,
he’s got to motivate them for
the start of the season.
They have a massive first month
where people could stop talking
about everything if they start
really well but if they start
poorly then I think Arsenal are
going to come under fierce
criticism.
[But yes], I think they will be in
the Top Four because I think
Arsenal will bring in some players
in the next three weeks. If they
don’t, then they will struggle, it
will be a mountain to climb for
fourth place.
My heart wants them to finish in
the Top Four and challenge for
the league. With my head, in the
games I’ve seen in pre-season I
think they could struggle if they
don’t bring players in but I’d
rather judge at the end of
August