OMNISPORT

Arsene Wenger has denied misleading supporters over the extent of Danny Welbeck's knee injury, and defended his failure to sign another striker.

Wenger came under fire following the news that Welbeck could be out for six months after an operation on his injured knee, with supporters left exasperated by the Arsenal manager's decision not to subsequently dip into the transfer market.

But Wenger has hit back, saying that when he spoke during a press conference on August 28 - four days before transfer deadline day - he did not know the extent of Welbeck's injury.

"Whether we have players injured or not doesn't change the problem," Wenger said.

"I am surprised that people accused me of lying when I was in the press conference on Friday morning [before the transfer deadline]; I did not know Welbeck had a bad setback.

"I did not lie to you. I gave you the information I had. I heard late on Friday night that his condition had not evolved as well as we thought it was and he had needed specialist and needed further investigation. Apart from that, if we did not find someone [to sign], we did not find them."