Arsene Wenger gave the strongest hint yet that he is indeed close to sealing a couple of signings in the January transfer window by cutting short his press conference, after the win over West Ham, saying he needed to go work on some transfers.
Wenger has repeatedly said he will look to bring in two new players in the winter window, while saying his team were working extremely hard behind the scenes to ensure the job is done.
The Arsenal manager was over the moon as Arsenal crushed West Ham in their English Premier League game Wednesday. However, when asked by reporters if there was any progress on new transfers, he hinted at some good news but refused to reveal anything more.
"No (I have nothing to tell you). That is why I have to shorten the press conference -- I have to do some work!"
Arsenal are in the market for a defensive midfielder and a forward, with David Villa the primary target to fill the latter position.
While Olivier Giroud proved he can do a good job as the central striker, with Theo Walcott also an option, there is little doubt that a player of Villa's caliber can make Arsenal better.
Interestingly, West Ham manager Sam Allardyce chose to not start Mohamed Diame, another Arsenal target, who has a £3.5 million ($5.5 million) release clause in his contract. Wenger is also looking at Victor Wanyama of Celtic and Etienne Capoue in the defensive midfield department.
Going back to the game, Wenger felt his side gave the perfect response to disappointing defeat to Manchester City and Chelsea.
"Yes, we got a good response," he said. "I felt that having watched the game again against Chelsea that our second half was very interesting. In the continuity we played alright tonight.
"In the first half we controlled the game but West Ham were dangerous on the counter-attack and from setpieces. We got punished.
"In the second half from the start on we created chance after chance and played at a very high pace. From there on it was great movement, great quality in our final balls and in our combination play."
Lukas Podolski was the star of the show, scoring a goal as well as assisting in three others. "He had an outstanding game tonight," Wenger added. "He scored a very important goal.
"He has an unbelievable shot because the keeper had no chance. After he gave of course two great balls as well."
