Arsene Wenger prolongs guessing game over offer of new contract

Arsene Wenger has refused to confirm if he has been offered a new contract at Arsenal as speculation over his future continues.

The Frenchman said last month he had made his mind up on whether he would stay or go after this season, but is yet to make that decision public.

Yesterday, Wenger would not even be drawn on whether he has been offered a new contract and said any announcement would be made by the club.

“I spoke enough about that,” he said when asked if he had been offered a two-year deal as widely reported.

“I have nothing to add. I cannot tell you anything more than what I said many times, you know. I can understand that the subject is maybe of interest, but for me what is of interest is what’s happening on the football pitch.”

Arsenal face another London derby as they travel south to face Crystal Palace on Monday night, with the relegation-threatened Eagles enjoying an upturn in results recently under Sam Allardyce.

A victory will be crucial to Arsenal’s ambitions of finishing in the top four. They are currently four points out of the Champions League places having won just two of their last seven league outings.

They recorded a comfortable victory over West Ham on Wednesday, with Wenger pleased his players showed the character to battle back to form.

“Look, I feel we came out of a very difficult period and what we have shown is that we are united and focused and determined to do things right again,” he said.

“That was questioned for a while and I think we gave the right response. We have to show that focus now until the end of the season. There’s still a lot to fight for. That is what’s at stake basically.”

Emiliano Martinez will again play in goal with Petr Cech and David Ospina ruled out through injury, while Theo Walcott will likely keep the captain’s armband in the absence of Laurent Koscielny.

Mesut Ozil returned to form with a goal and an assist against West Ham while Alexis Sanchez also played his part in getting Arsenal back to winning ways.

Speculation that Sanchez has a number of conditions in place before he will pen a new deal at the Emirates Stadium, with his current contract having 14 months to run, has emerged lately.

Both Sanchez and Ozil have a little over a year left on their contracts and are believed to want parity with the Premier League’s top earners.

But Wenger is confident, despite reports of interest from Chelsea, that Sanchez wants to stay put. “I believe that he basically wants to stay at the club,” he said. “It’s down to finding an agreement with his agent.”