Rosicky: We have to keep midfield balance

Tomas Rosicky says Arsenal must maintain their midfield balance despite the loss of Mikel Arteta to injury. Arteta has featured heavily for Arsène Wenger’s side since his summer move from Everton but picked up an ankle injury in the defeat to Wigan two weeks ago. Rosicky knows Arsenal have to cope without the Spaniard - or else risk losing out on automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League. “We have to find the balance again, even without Mikel because the midfield is the heart of the team,” he told Arsenal Player. “There is no doubt that Mikel is a very important part of this team because he is very experienced, always wants the ball and wants to play.“But we have to cope without him. It is the last three games of the season and we want to stay in third place. “I have absolutely no idea [about whether I will play deeper], it is a question for the boss. As I have said many times before, I can play this role too. I can drop a bit deeper too but let's see what the boss wants.” Despite injuries to the likes of Arteta and Theo Walcott, Rosicky remains confident that the team has what it takes to secure third place. “I think we have to be confident because we are there and it is in our own hands,” said the Czech midfielder. “The battle is on, no doubt about that, and it shows you how strong this league is. It will be to fight right until the end. “It is difficult to say [why we struggled in our last two games]. Against Wigan we had a bad day and we never really got it going. Against Chelsea there was maybe a little thought that we could not lose that game and had it in our heads a little bit. We hit the post twice and if you saw the game, Chelsea just tried to defend. “There is another game right now at Stoke where we want to get back on track again and win the game.”