Arsène Wenger says Arsenal's lack of consistency is not linked to a lack of experience in his squad. A week after a fine win over Manchester United, Wenger had to address their faults as Aston Villa inflicted a fourth Barclays Premier League defeat of the campaign. The Frenchman says Arsenal have struggled to maintain their usual high standards this season but defended his decision not to bring in another experienced player during the summer. "Not really, we had no player we really wanted and for now we have no regrets," said Wenger. "You cannot explain the own goal of Gael Clichy by the fact we haven't got an experienced player in midfield. I think we were not, as a team, sharp enough to dictate the pace and be dominant in the fight (against Aston Villa)." 
 

 Steve Sidwell believes Villa defied the odds by maintaining their momentum after the break in the victory over Arsenal. The midfielder says it would have been easy for Martin O'Neill's men to feel sorry for themselves at half-time after missing a catalogue of chances. But they came out and enjoyed double delight to see off the challenge of the Gunners in the second 45 minutes. Sidwell said: "I thought the victory was fully deserved. We came straight out and meant business from the first whistle. We had some great chances, particularly the penalty, in the first half and we wondered if we had let it slip. But we came out in the second half, dug deep and buried our chances. I think the most important aspect of the performance was coming out and performing the same in the second half. It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves at the break but we continued our super form."

 Striker Benni McCarthy has agreed to play for South Africa in a friendly against Cameroon on Wednesday. McCarthy is staying on in the country after attending the funeral of his father Dudley at the weekend. He was given leave of absence by manager Paul Ince to miss the match against Sunderland, which Blackburn lost 2-1. South Africa team manager Sipho Nkumane said: "We allowed Benni to make his decision without any pressure. We understand what a loss he has suffered and would have fully understood if he decided not to play. But he has shown his commitment to Bafana and we are delighted. It is a huge boost for the squad." 

 Gavin McCann has been praised by Gary Megson for the standard of his performances in a Bolton shirt this season. "Gavin's doing really well," said the Wanderers manager. "This is his most consistent form for Bolton since he joined the club. He seems a lot more enthusiastic and he is going about the game in the right way and consequently he has been staying in the team. Some of the changes at the football club have helped him in his working life and he seems settled. He was getting upset when he was starting and then getting substituted, but he wasn't playing anywhere near as well as he is playing now. He's performing really well and he has to continue to do so." 
 

 John Terry has hailed 13-goal Nicolas Anelka as Chelsea's "saviour" and believes the striker is in the best form of his career. "Anelka has been on fire and some of his link-up play, as well as his goals, has been brilliant," said Terry. "He has been, and is, the saviour for us at the moment with Didier having been out and only just coming back after injury. For me, Anelka is in the best form of his career. When we signed him I said 'Thank God you are here' because I used to hate playing against him. He was always a problem, always playing on my shoulder, and a great finisher as well. He is in great form and getting the goals as well. He is top scorer in the Premier League and long may it continue." 

 Defender Phil Jagielka admits to harbouring growing concern that shocking home league form could cost his team European qualification. The Toffees were held 1-1 at home by Middlesbrough on Sunday, and now only Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers have worse home league records. We kept our unbeaten run going, but we would all like to see our home form pick up," he said. "One win in the league here all season is not good enough. And this was the sort of game we would have expected to take three points from." 

 Jimmy Bullard received his second international call-up on Monday for England's friendly match against Germany on Wednesday night. Bullard teamed up with Fabio Capello's squad at England's training camp on Monday morning following his involvement in Fulham's home win over Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. England's friendly against Germany will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Wednesday night. The game kicks-off at 7.45pm. 

 Dean Marney admits the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon felt more like a case of two points dropped. The Tigers had looked fairly comfortable after taking a 1-0 lead, but a defensive mistake let in the visitors to equalise in the 37th minute. The Blues then went in front on the stroke of half time and Marney says it was a costly ten minutes for his side."We started the game really well. We got the first goal and looked as though we were going to go on to get a second," said Marney. "But we then had a ten-minute spell when we stopped doing what we had been doing. We conceded a couple of sloppy goals, which was disappointing. We came out for the second half and thoroughly deserved at least a point. It was important that we didn't lose on Sunday after losing our previous three games."

 Javier Mascherano believes Liverpool's sense of togetherness is a main reason for why the team is flying so high in the Barclays Premier League this season. "All the players are giving everything for us and that is very important," said Mascherano. "This is why the team is playing so well at the moment, it is because of our teamwork which has been fantastic. We are all very happy after the Bolton game (a 2-0 win on Saturday) because we were able to win another game and go back to the top of the table. We know how difficult it is to win at the Reebok because they are a very strong and a very physical team." 

 Joe Hart is set to miss the next three to four weeks with the ankle injury picked up at Hull on Sunday. The unlucky goalkeeper's left ankle was scanned on Monday, with the damage sustained in the collision with Daniel Cousin confirmed as sprained ligaments. In the short term the injury also prevents Hart from joining up with the senior England squad for the friendly against Germany on Wednesday.  

 Paul Scholes could be back to bolster United's silverware hunt by mid-December. The midfielder suffered medial knee ligament damage in September's Champions League win at Aalborg, and Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed Scholes should be back in time for December's FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. "There's no chance of him being back for City, absolutely no chance," the manager said. "We've pencilled him in for the week before the Japan trip. The week before, possibly. Paul's doing very well. He's kicking a ball, he's doing a lot of straight running but that's it." 

 Goalscorer Gary O'Neil has stressed the importance of building on Sunday's performance on Merseyside after Boro extended their unbeaten run to five matches with a 1-1 draw at Everton. Having gone all of last season without finding the back of the net, O'Neil has now scored two in the last three weeks and had a feeling that could well be the way it turned out. "I thought it could be the way, sometimes it does take a while to get your first and then they start flowing a little bit more freely," he said. "It was nice to get the chance, Stewey (Downing) did well to pick me out, to even see me in fact as he was looking the other way, so I was really pleased with the goal." 

 Joe Kinnear believes that the loss of Joey Barton will be tempered by the return to the side of young midfielder Danny Guthrie. Barton faces up to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering medial ligament damage in his right knee during Saturday's 2-2 draw with Wigan Athletic. And Toon chief Kinnear says that he expects the 21-year-old to pick up where he left off after impressing in the United engineroom during the opening quarter of the season. "Danny was very unlucky to drop down to the bench when Joey returned," said the manager. "But now Joey is injured he will come in and I'm very happy about that because he's a great, young player. He's box-to-box, very energetic and a great passer of the ball. Of course, it's a blow to lose Joey, but this gives Danny a chance and I'm sure he'll pick up where he left off." 

 Portsmouth fear Lassana Diarra could be out for three weeks - but will not know until he returns from international duty with France. The £5.5m midfielder limped off after just 19 minutes of Saturday's goalless draw at West Ham United in the Barclays Premier League, after taking the full weight of Scott Parker's mistimed challenge on his right ankle. "Lassana is our most influential player and has turned his ankle," said manager Tony Adams. "I'm not a physio, but in my experience you are looking at weeks out when you do something like that. And at a club like Portsmouth injuries like that have an effect. We lost Sol Campbell and Niko Kranjcar with injuries before the West Ham game and we haven't got the luxury like the big teams of having a massive squad." 

 Stoke fans have the chance to meet two members of the squad on Tuesday afternoon as Seyi Olofinjana and former Manchester United trainee Danny Pugh are pencilled in to attend a special meet and greet session at the Britannia Building Society in Tunstall. The pair will be there promoting the Club's successful Save and Support account from 3:30pm.The players will be around until 5pm so make sure you pop along and pay them a visit.

 Young striker Martyn Waghorn has joined Charlton Athletic on loan for a month. The 18-year-old joins up with Alan Pardew's side for 28 days and could make his debut for the Londoners against Sheffield United, with Greg Halford and Anthony Stokes on loan with the Blades, this weekend. Waghorn made his fifth senior appearance for Sunderland against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier this month. The South Shields-born striker burst on to the first team scene in the 2007/08 season when he made his debut against Manchester United on Boxing Day, and went on to play another three league matches as well as one in the FA Cup. Waghorn impressed in Sunderland's youth team and reserves before he was offered a pro deal this summer.

 Spurs fans have the chance to meet Ledley King and Tom Huddlestone at the Spurs Store in Harlow on Wednesday 19th November. The pair will be at the store in the Harvey Centre, Harlow, for a signing session between 4pm-6pm (times are subject to change). Please note it is a maximum of two items per person for autographs. There will also be limited access to photo opportunities to ensure everyone visiting the store will get their chance to meet the players - please arrive early to avoid disappointment. A signing session is also planned with Giovani Dos Santos and Jermaine Jenas at the Spurs Megastore, White Hart Lane, on Wednesday 10th December. 

 Ishmael Miller insists he would welcome the arrival of a new striker in January, saying: "The more competition the better." Miller believes the arrival of fresh faces in the transfer window will spur all of Tony Mowbray's men on. "You look at any team or squad in the Premier League and they are all looking to strengthen," said Miller. "If there is someone who can make us better and stronger then we should be looking to bring him in. The more players we have the more competition it will provide and that will be better for all of us. It will give us a better chance of staying up." 

 Birmingham City's on-loan West Ham United midfielder Nigel Quashie is hoping to extend his loan deal at St Andrews should his services be required. The former Scotland international's current month-long contract expires this weekend, however, he will be suspended for Friday's match against Swansea after picking up two yellow cards in the 3-2 win over Charlton Athletic at the weekend. Quashie is hoping he has done enough to earn an extended stay at St Andrews and he is keen to prove his gratitude to the club on the pitch. Regarding his future, he told the club's official website: "I don't know, it's too early to talk. It's my second competitive game (start) which I've really enjoyed. It's just a bit unfortunate to be in that situation if I'm going to stay or not. I really want to stay and I really want to be part of the boys, who are a fantastic group to be around. I have really enjoyed being here. I can't thank everybody at the football club enough. I can honestly say they are a great bunch of lads. They have really got everything to go on and win the division and get promoted." 

 The brave and bold display in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle pleased Kevin Kilbane who explained that the team did everything they set out to do at St. James Park. "We said before the game that we wanted to try and keep the crowd quiet for the first 15-20 minutes," he said. "We did that by scoring and looked strong throughout the first-half. After we scored the goal we seemed to settle. It made us pass the ball well and we started to create chances here and there. We gave very little away in that first-half and didn't really allow them into it. They've scored two really good goals and (Obafemi) Martins looked to have won the game for them but credit to us for getting back into it. Titus stepped up and he's got us a deserved draw. We've come up here without four or five regulars and managed to grind out a good result."