Wenger keen to bolster stocks

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed he expects to add to his squad before the end of the transfer window.

The Gunners failed to find the net for the second week running in the Premier League as they were held to a 0-0 draw at Stoke City on Sunday.

The French manager said he is open to the idea of boosting his ranks following the departure of Robin van Persie, but indicated he is unlikely to move for a defensive midfielder despite the sale of Alex Song.

“I’m pleased with what I have but yes, I anticipate doing something still, we’re still in the market,” Wenger told Sky Sports.

“Defensive midfielders we have.

“I don’t know yet, it depends on the quality of players that are available, it’s not necessity. If we find someone who can strengthen our squad with the quality that we want we’ll do it in any position.”

Wenger was frustrated by his side’s failure to make their possession count at the Britannia Stadium but pointed out that the problem may have something to do with the amount of new players in his team.

“Overall I feel we had a solid performance, we were not in trouble defensively,” he said. “We created some chances that we couldn’t take, at the moment we’re not taking our chances.

“But it was a solid game with a dominant spirit and overall I believe there are a lot positives but the negatives are that we couldn’t score, now for two games.

“I believe we can’t because we have a lot of new players, trying to find each other in the final third and it might take a little bit more time.

“Of course, the longer it lasts the more doubt creeps into the head of the striker but I think it will come.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis, meanwhile, also has an eye on the transfer market, believing his squad needs ‘freshening up’.

Pulis mentioned only two specific targets, and is hoping to revive a deal for Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone as well as push for Rangers’ Maurice Edu.

“The Huddlestone deal was obviously going on on Friday, we’ve played a game and now we’ll hopefully re-visit that on Monday and see where we’re at,” he said.

“We’re hoping to do that Edu deal with Rangers. There’s some good players in America and they have great attitudes as well.”

Pulis was happy to take a point from the tussle with Arsenal, but feels there is plenty of room for improvement.

“It was a good result,” he said. “There’s things we’re not happy with and things we can do better, but we’re playing a team that’s on a different level to us and we can’t get blase at this football club about just only getting a point.

“The attitude and the work rate of the players off the ball was very, very good but we have to do things a little bit better and we are capable of doing that.”