Полузащитник Конор Хендерсон и нападающий Санчес Уотт продлили свои контракты с лондонским клубом.

В прошлом году Конор был основным футболистом резервной команды, и на его счету 13 встреч. Также в сезоне 2010/2011 он дебютировал и за основной состав клуба, отыграв все 90 минут в победном для "Арсенала" домашнем матче Кубка Англии с "Лейтон Ориент".

Игрок сборной Ирландии отправился с главной командой в Германию во время предсезонной подготовки этого года. К сожалению, травма колена, полученная в конце поединка в Кельне, оторвала его футбола на долгое время. Но мединский штаб и Конор много работали над его здоровьем, и теперь полузащитнику лучше.

Уотт в этом сезоне провел за команду Нила Банфилда шесть матчей и забил пять голов. В сентябре хорошая форма игрока послужила причиной вызова Санчеса на встречу третьего раунда Кубка Лиги со "Шрюсбери".

Уроженец Лондона Уотт присоедился к "Арсеналу" в восьмилетнем возрасте, он был частью юношеской команды сезона 2009/2010, выигравшей Премьер-лигу и Кубок Англии. В тот же период он впервые отличился за клуб: в матче Кубка Лиги с "Вест Бромвичем", где мы одердали победу 2-0, кстати говоря, в тот год он трижды выходил на поле в рамках этого турнира.

Также Уотт провел некоторое время на правах аренды в клубах "Саутенд Юнайтед" и "Лидс Юнайтед", когда "Лидс" встречался в прошлом году в Кубке Англии с "канонирами", Уотт был частью их команды.

It is one of the grudge matches of the Barclays Premier League calendar, and Rory Delap is looking forward to the sound of more Arsene Wenger complaints at the Emirates on Sunday.

The Arsenal manager has seldom passed up the chance to criticise Stoke’s uncompromising approach, since they pitched up in the Premier League three years ago, and Delap believes he knows why.

‘Usually, if people are moaning about us, it is because we have beaten them,’ said the Stoke midfielder.

‘You don’t get too many people moaning when they are winning games.’

Wenger soon took a dislike to Stoke, following their promotion. After losing 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium in November, 2008, he offered to produce x-rays of his battle-scarred players’ variety of injuries.

He caused an uproar last year, after accusing Stoke of using ‘rugby tactics’ against opposing keepers, and was forced to concede his side had blown any hope of the title after a spineless 3-1 defeat last May.

He can expect more of the same on Sunday, according to Delap, who insisted Stoke will not change a formula that has served them so well.

‘To be honest, we’re not too bothered what other people say about us,’ he said.

‘We have had negative and positive press since I have been here, but we’ve always just got on with it.

‘That is what we are about as a club, and the point is we are progressing. If people want to have a go, fine. It usually happens after they’ve lost.

‘The manager has facts about teams losing the ball in their defensive third, trying to pass their way out. The stats for that aren’t good, so he wants it out of there.

‘But people go on about Stoke pumping balls up, when the fact is we are not just kicking it anywhere. We are aiming at people.


‘Whenever someone like Stevie Gerrard hits a 60 or 70 yard pass, it’s never called ‘long ball’. With us, it is, and I feel our defenders don’t get the credit sometimes for the accuracy of their passes.’ Tony Pulis did his best to sidestep questions about past acrimony with Wenger, saying: ‘Arsene is a very competitive man, and he’ll be desperate to win. Anything that happened (between us) is in the past.

‘There are no problems with us and Arsenal. You take it on the chin and get on with it. You accept these things, but no-one will stop me being competitive.’

Arsene Wenger thinks that it time to start rotating his players a little bit, and is especially worried that Robin van Persie may need a rest, especially given his injury record in previous years.

Wenger said: “On Monday I decide always to rest him, and on Friday I decide to play him again!

“It is always a difficult decision to make at the moment, but I will have to do it soon.

“We will assess everybody on Saturday, then I make the decision for Sunday. I will have to rotate a little bit.”

Having played Van Persie in France on Wednesday, and with next weekends massive game against Chelsea coming up, it is certainly prudent of Wenger to be careful with the Dutch international, but Wenger is well aware of the contribution that Van Persie makes to the team when he plays.

“This season, Robin has certainly been the best. The last six months, he has certainly been the most efficient,” he added.

“You like Robin, because he’s not a typical goal-scorer. When you see him play, it never comes to your mind that this guy is a goal-scorer.

“And then you look at the record and think he’s not only a good player, he’s also a top class goal-scorer.

“For all the other goal-scorers, you do the opposite – you think they do not contribute too much to the game but they score the goals.

“For him, it’s the opposite. You look and think ‘This is a good player’. And then you see that he scores as well goals.”