Arsene Wenger backs Avram Grant and blasts sack race

The Hammers are bottom of the table after a dismal campaign which has been partly offset by a run to the Carling Cup semi-finals, where they take a 2-1 lead into the second leg against Birmingham in 12 days' time.

Speculation over Grant's position has been rife and although he survived a board meeting on Wednesday, his future will be discussed again by the club next week.

Twenty-nine managers have left their jobs this season, including 11 since Christmas and the League Managers' Association claims the average tenure of sacked bosses across all four divisions has dropped from three-and-a-half years to just 16 months last season.

Grant is fighting hard to avoid joining the casualty list and ahead of Arsenal's trip to Upton Park tomorrow, Wenger said: "It is the new landscape of the Premier League — I don't like it but it looks like the future of the League will be less stable for managers than it was. Certainly, though, it is cyclical and people will realise changing managers doesn't work and it will change again.

"The difference between 12th place and the bottom of the League is two or three points — that is one game so you cannot draw any conclusion of weakness from their position in the League because nobody is bad enough to be away from the others.

"It is a very compact field and that makes it very interesting and exciting and makes every game very competitive. West Ham produce good games and have not always had the luck. They lack a bit of stability in the number of players they have available."

Wenger may not have Denilson tomorrow because of a thigh problem, while goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is rated at 50-50 with a shoulder inflammation so Wojciech Szczesny could come in.

The Gunners boss dismissed rumours that Andrey Arshavin and Manuel Almunia could leave the club this month but refused to be drawn on who he hopes to bring in.

"I do not want to give any special name – the day we buy somebody we will inform people and usually we do not go where the media or some agents guide us," he said.

Wenger revealed Aaron Ramsey will not be allowed to join Blackpool on loan due to the number of games coming up but the Frenchman insists his side are not feeling the effects of the hectic Christmas period after a poor display in their 1-0 Carling Cup semi-final first leg defeat at Ipswich.

"I didn't want to say we are deeply fatigued — I just think we lacked sharpness and that can happen one night when you play so many games," he said. "But I don't feel that we were tired on Wednesday and we could not run. It was just in the duels we were not dominant and you expect a Premier League player to be dominant."