Mikel Arteta lifts lid on Arsenal’s January transfer plans with five stars set to miss crunch West Ham clash

MIKEL ARTETA says Arsenal are prepared to dip into the January market after admitting he has several “exposed” positions in his squad.

The Gunners boss is wary that the outlook of his group of players could change in the coming weeks and wants to act quickly should an opportunity arise.

Ahead of their Premier League clash at home to West Ham tomorrow night, with a chance to regain top-spot, Arsenal have five players missing through knocks and suspension.

Midfielders Thomas Partey (thigh) and Fabio Vieira (groin) and defenders Jurrien Timber (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf) are out injured while Kai Havertz is serving a one-match ban.

Partey and Tomiyasu could return for Arsenal’s FA Cup third-round tie against Liverpool on January 7 before heading off to the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup with Ghana and Japan respectively.

Mohamed Elneny is also set to depart for potentially a month with Egypt at AFCON. Vieira is expected to return by the end of January, and Timber by mid-February.

Arteta and technical director Edu have several gameplans in place to deal with gaps both in midfield and defence, but could be reliant on a big sale to fund any incomings – or focusing on the loan market – due to concerns over FFP after heavy spending last summer.

Aaron Ramsdale has been linked with move to Newcastle and Chelsea after being replaced as No.1 by David Raya, but Arteta has previously stated he wants to keep him this month.

And when asked about the January window, as Arsenal prepare for another hotly-contested title race, Arteta explained: “We are really short.

“We have positions that we have been very exposed in for the last six weeks and hopefully we are going to get players back. In what condition and when?

CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS

“That’s a question mark and as well because we have some long-term injuries still for certain players that give us a lot of versatility and that’s an issue.

“We have certain targets, ideas if things happen. As well, we don’t know how the squad is going to look in two weeks’ time and you have to be always prepared for that.

“But it is a very, very tricky market that shifts quickly and it is quite unpredictable as well. You have to be prepared. We will be prepared and we will try to make the right calls.

“If there is something that we can [do to] improve the squad and that appears, and we cannot fulfil it with players here, we are always going to be open to do that because we want to be stronger.”

Arsenal spent a combined £210m on Timber, Havertz and Declan Rice in the summer window – and will soon fork out £27m to make loanee Raya a permanent deal from Brentford.

They were top of the Prem at Christmas for the second year in a row – having narrowly missed out on lifting their first title since 2004 last year to Manchester City.