Loan terms irk Wenger

The league leaders are set to face Everton tomorrow, with the Toffees reaping the benefit of Romelu Lukaku, who has so far scored eight goals since joining on a season-long move from Chelsea.

However, regulations will not allow the powerful 20-year-old Belgian face his Stamford Bridge team-mates.

Wenger feels that such deals should be all or nothing.

“The system of loaning out players has existed for a while. I’m not against it, I just think that the players should be allowed as well to play against the team who has loaned the player out,” said Wenger.

“I always did plead for that because there is no reason once you signed for a club that you should not be allowed to play against everybody.

“When you sign for a club it means ‘I commit for every single game I play for this club’ and there should be no exception.”

Wenger has challenged his team not to lose focus as they look to stay clear of the chasing pack again this weekend.

“I don’t think that (complacency) is a danger because we are hungry and we want to win,” he said.

“We have just put a few results together that should make us and will make us more ambitious, but as well we are conscious that in every single game you need to put in a top level performance.

“It is a continuity as well because since the beginning of 2013 we have been quite consistent in our results, but now we have a big week in front of us starting with Everton and we have to show we have the hunger and the quality to do it.”

Everton head to Emirates Stadium on the back of a 1-0 win away to Manchester United, as Roberto Martinez recorded a memorable triumph over his predecessor David Moyes.

Wenger has been impressed by their form.

He said: “Martinez has done remarkably well because they had difficult games. They have played many of the big teams in the league and overall are in a very strong position in the league.

“We are lucky this season a little bit, because there is always a big warning before we play these teams (that) they have exceptional results. That keeps us on our toes. We know for us it is a big game.”

Martinez, meanwhile, will dip into the transfer market next month to provide cover for striker Arouna Kone and midfielder Darron Gibson, both of whom are out with long-term knee injuries.

The Toffees boss has virtually ruled out Kone’s return before the end of the campaign with Republic of Ireland midfielder Gibson also seemingly likely to struggle to be back in the current season.

We are going to use the window in January to try to help the team because we lost two players for the long term,” said the Spaniard.

“Arouna and Darron are two very important players for us so we will try to see if we can identify one or two players that can help the group.”

However, Martinez is adamant new Everton hero Bryan Oviedo is competition and not a replacement for left-back Leighton Baines.

With the England international likely to be sidelined by a broken toe well into next month, his Costa Rican deputy has made an instant impact.

The 23-year-old last weekend marked only his second league start for the Toffees in 18 months with a goal in the 4-0 thrashing of Hull but then went one better in midweek with the strike which brought them their first Premier League win at Old Trafford in 21 years.

Speculation still persists that United manager David Moyes will return to his former club to sign Baines in January despite a failed bid in the summer.

And while Oviedo’s performances may have given Martinez confidence they can cope without Baines, that doesn’t mean he is willing to let Baines leave.

“Nothing changes. We are in the middle of the season, we have just gone 14 games and the only thing we are thinking about is finishing the season with the strongest squad possible,” he said.

“The last thing we want is to lose experienced players, players who mean a lot to Everton and who represent a lot in terms of what we want to achieve.”