Arsene Wenger hopes to have Mohamed Elneny available against Stoke

14 January 2016 04:53

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will hope the arrival of midfielder Mohamed Elneny will give his side a timely boost after they dropped two points at Anfield.

Just when it seemed they had underlined their title credentials by twice coming from behind to lead 3-2 they conceded an added-time equaliser to Liverpool substitute Joe Allen.

It left the Gunners boss frustrated and even the conclusion of the drawn-out transfer of Basle midfielder Elneny, which has been held up by visa paperwork, could not lift his mood.

Elneny has to be registered by noon on Friday to be eligible to play at Stoke on Sunday and Wenger is hopeful that will be done.

"He has joined us and we will see if he can qualify for Sunday," he said.

Wenger tried to put a positive spin on the draw at Anfield, which allowed Leicester to draw level with them at the top of the table and represented a missed opportunity to put more ground between themselves and third-placed Manchester City, who were held to a goalless draw by Everton.

"I am frustrated by the result and not disappointed by the performance," he added.

"The frustration comes from the fact that at 3-2 we had three situations where we should have made it 4-2 and made bad decisions.

"The frustration then comes from conceding a goal in the last minute.

"We have shown again great character to come back with a point.

"We have to transform the frustration in the dressing room into even more motivation.

"There are a lot of positives. What happened tonight should strengthen our belief."

Roberto Firmino scored twice in the first half, the second a brilliant strike which flew past Petr Cech into the top corner, but they were cancelled out by goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.

The Frenchman scored his second 10 minutes into the second half and thought it was enough to have won the game before Allen's late intervention.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was delighted with the performance of the Brazil international, preferred to striker Christian Benteke, in a false nine position, but less so with his side's defensive performance again.

"I could talk about this for half an hour," he said.

"He doesn't know how good he is. If you are good, you have to show it.

"All of them were really good, perfect goals; the first goal was really good, the second spectacular, brilliant.

"But he was not the only one. I could talk about other special performances.

"Playing against Arsenal is not too easy. They tried everything but if you want to win against Arsenal you cannot have these lapses of concentration."

Source: PA