Wenger denies striker rift
03 Mar 2008 - 08:31:07
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists there is no problem between strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner.
The two frontmen were involved in a spat during the second leg of a Carling Cup semi-final at Tottenham in January and Adebayor was a noticeable absentee when Bendtner celebrated his stoppage-time equaliser against Aston Villa on Saturday.
The duo are likely to be paired together more often during the closing months of the campaign following the serious injury sustained by Eduardo da Silva, but Wenger is not envisaging any fresh problems.
He said: "I don't know if they like each other or not, but basically I don't see there is a problem.
"You don't have to be friends to play well together.
"You have it in every team, but I think they get on quite well. But once the suspicion is in people's heads they look at every single movement to see if there is a problem or not, but I don't think there is a problem.
"I haven't seen any evidence that there is big friction there. There was one incident at Tottenham, but they sorted it out."
Meanwhile, Wenger could have Robin van Persie available for Tuesday's Champions League last 16 second leg meeting with AC Milan.
The Netherlands striker has been sidelined since suffering a recurrence of a thigh muscle problem in January.
"He might be in squad but certainly won't start. We will assess him on Monday morning," confirmed Wenger.