Wenger shuts the door on any Arsenal departures

Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has put an end to talk of his central defender Kolo Touré joining Manchester City by insisting that no one will be leaving the club during the January transfer window. As for players joining the club, including the Russian forward Andrei Arshavin, the manager was a little more cryptic.

"We do not want to talk too much about who we want to buy," Wenger said. "At the moment I cannot give you any good news but in this job no news is good news. Nothing has fallen through. We are on alert in the transfer market."

"Nothing has fallen through" would suggest talks are ongoing over the deal with Zenit St Petersburg over the price for Arshavin, who has been linked with a move to Arsenal. The clubs are in disagreement over the price for the playmaker, with the Russian club asking for up to £20m.

Wenger also hinted that he was in the market for a defensive midfielder to bolster his injury-hit squad. "That is also a priority," he said. "We are not in the big league. We are a little short because we wanted a player like [Tomas] Rosicky to play 80 per cent of games and he has not played at all. We want to spend money but as everyone knows, and as the chairman has said, we have money available but we have limited resources, and you want to spend it in the best way possible.

"That [Touré story] is finished. We will not sell any players this month."

With Manchester United hosting Chelsea this weekend Wenger hopes Arsenal can close the gap on both sides at the top of the table when they play Bolton Wanderers at home."It's an interesting possibility for us to get closer to one of the two at least, if not both of them," he added. "Ideally I'd like it to be a 1-1."

Arsenal go into the match on the back of an unbeaten six-match run in the league. "We want to put in a good performance and if we do then I believe that people will change their mind about our team – they mean business, they work hard, they are serious and I want the team to be rewarded for that," Wenger added.

*Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani is set to remain with the club despite reports linking him with a move to Arsenal this month.