Manager Arsene Wenger has warned his side their championship ambitions will be “in trouble” if they lose focus as the Premier League title race heats up heading into 2014.
The Gunners head to Newcastle on Sunday looking to maintain their place at the summit after coming from behind to beat West Ham 3-1 on Boxing Day.
However, there is now little room for error if they are to keep ahead of the chasing pack, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all looking to exploit any weakness heading into the new year.
“We want to stay in the race,” said Wenger, who could be without midfielder Aaron Ramsey for several weeks if scans confirm a serious thigh injury which forced the Wales midfielder off at Upton Park on Boxing Day.
“We have won at West Ham and we go game by game with a big ambition – but we know as well that in the Premier League you always set high standards, and as soon as you drop a fraction, you are in trouble.”
The Arsenal manager continued: “It is down to consistency and until now we have been consistent.
“You are always judged on your last result, but at the end of the day it is down to how consistent you will be.
“We have just had some games that were very difficult because we played against Everton at home, we played in Naples (in the Uefa Champions League), we played at Manchester City and against Chelsea, so you know that you could drop some points there.
“But the most important thing is to come back and be consistent, as you would expect from us.”
Arsenal secured a place in the top four and another shot at Champions League football with a 1-0 victory at Newcastle on the final day of last season, a result which was greeted with jubilation by the players and fans alike.
Wenger, though, maintains the stakes are different this time around.
“We celebrated because it was that or play in the Europa League, so when you see the players today, they extended their contracts on condition that we play in the Champions’ League,” he said.
“What you want is to fight for the championship and at the moment we are in the race and what can keep us in the race is consistency.”
Wenger now has some real options within the squad.
German international Lukas Podolski returned from a four-month hamstring injury lay-off to score the third goal at West Ham, while Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky rested completely on Boxing Day.
England international Jack Wilshere is back from his two-game ban on Sunday, which will go some part to offset the loss of Ramsey.
Nevertheless, Arsenal are expected to bring in some reinforcements in January, and have been linked with a move for Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa.
Wenger, though, again refused to be drawn on any of his plans for when the sales open up again next week.
“I am happy with what I have and at the moment the transfer market is closed,” he said.
sports@thenational.ae
Tom Fletcher on 'soft power'
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
Hamilton’s 2017
Australia - 2nd; China - 1st; Bahrain - 2nd; Russia - 4th; Spain - 1st; Monaco - 7th; Canada - 1st; Azerbaijan - 5th; Austria - 4th; Britain - 1st; Hungary - 4th; Belgium - 1st; Italy - 1st; Singapore - 1st; Malaysia - 2nd; Japan - 1st; United States - 1st; Mexico - 9th
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Match info
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Man of the match: Cheikhou Kouyate (Crystal Palace)
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RACE CARD
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