Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed plans to clearout his squad's fringe players.

Arteta says Arsenal's priority for the January transfer window is to trim the numbers in their squad.

"We have a large squad and we knew that. A lot of things that should have happened in the summer, we cannot accomplish for different reasons," Arteta said ahead of Saturday's trip to West Brom.

"There are some players that are going to go on loan and going to leave and that is the priority at the moment.

"We cannot sustain the numbers that we have in certain positions and we are looking to do that, and then we will see if we have the right opportunity in the positions where we need some more help."

Arteta was quizzed on reports which suggested Sead Kolasinac was close to a move to Schalke, but he responded: "There are some conversations around a few players and whether we can find some loans.

"The numbers we have in the squad at the moment are really big, but again we cannot confirm anything yet."