Pre Man Utd

I think it’s fair to say that being an Arsenal fan over the past week alone has seen every single emotion pour out of the Emirates Stadium; Anger at the poor start to the Premier League campaign, relief after making it into the group stages of the Champions League and the familiar feeling of pure frustration with Wenger not getting his wallet out once more.

The Liverpool game left a sour taste in the mouth of most Gooners. After the weeks build-up being dominated by the exit talk of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, indiscipline of the first team and more and more players making their way to the treatment table, the way the game was turned on its head in the last 15 minutes or so just took the wind completely out of the sails of the Gunners.

Even during the game it felt that anything Arsenal could do right would be eclipsed eventually by bad luck and negativity. Take Emmanuel Frimpong for example. The youngster came in and had a blinder. He showed passion and really wasn’t afraid to take the game to the away side. And then after all his hard work, the man charged into a challenge recklessly, got himself sent off and ended up watching the home side suffer a late two-goal defeat.

With Fabregas gone and Nasri on the verge of a move to Manchester City, Wenger’s side travelled to Udine for what was being billed as arguably the biggest game of Arsene Wenger’s managerial spell at Arsenal.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League would not only mean a loss of money and a further depleted morale but also the disappointment of being unable to lure any potential new signings with the promise of participation in Europe’s top competition. And despite the first leg win at home, the Italian opposition led by talisman Antonio Di Natale certainly showed enough to ensure that Arsenal were in for a huge challenge in Italy.

It would prove to be a massive success for Arsenal. With seemingly the world against them, the Gunners came from a goal down to pull their socks up and put in a stunning second-half display to take the tie 3-1 on aggregate and progress into the group stages.

Even with Nasri going the next morning, advancing in Europe has taken a monkey off the back of Arsene Wenger. Whilst the Frenchman will certainly still be drowned in questions regarding new transfers into the club, the midweek win has helped restore some good feeling around the club. Maybe one or two of the ‘In Arsene, we trust’ banners will taken back out of the closet in preparation for Sundays showdown with the champions at Old Trafford.

As for the clash with Manchester United, wouldn’t it be just like Arsenal to turn over the home side after such a poor start to the League, they did it back in 2006. But with injuries, suspensions and the unlikely chance of any new signings making the trip up north, it’s going to be a mountain to climb, one with a much steeper gradient than the one in Udine.

Moving on to the always depressing topic of players making the move to North London and it seems that its Arsenal’s friendly neighbours down the road that look like being the only team in the area to bring in new faces anytime soon.

Former Gunners Lassana Diarra and Emmanuel Adebayor look like they’ll be lining up at White Hart Lane this season and they might be joined by West Ham United captain Scott Parker, after talks between the clubs were revealed this morning.

There has been some transfer action at the Emirates though but only in the form of a rather pathetic bid for Bolton’s Gary Cahill. The bid which has been described as derisory by Bolton was reported to have been in the region of £6 million pounds. If true then you have to be inclined to agree with the Trotters feeling towards Wenger’s attempt to prize Cahill away from the Reebok.

It’s frustrating to see that with all the money he has at his disposal, Wenger has failed to stump up a significant amount for the England defender.

What might be even more worrying for Gunners fans is that Wenger has seemingly failed to adapt to the modern market. Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City have all made big money signings but have got those players on board because they’ve not fussed about trying to get a couple of million off a players valuation and consequently completed their transfers.

Back to Arsenal transfer targets and rumours are going around in Italy that Arsenal maybe weighing up a big money move of their own for Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder. With Sir Alex Ferguson seemingly dropping his interest in the Dutchman, Arsenal may pull off one the transfers of the summer by luring Sneijder to the Emirates. As exciting as this rumour is for Arsenal fans, I would take this with a pinch of salt, not only as the source in Italy supposedly has a bad reputation, but also as the news was first broken on Twitter courtesy of Stan Collymore.

Lille’s Eden Hazard, Marseille’s Lucho Gonzalez and Yann M’Vila of Rennes have all been linked with the Gunners as well but time is running out if Arsenal are to add to the players that have already joined the club this summer.

Matt Cotton @FindingCotton