A lot of talk about Arsenal this season, saying that it could be their year to win the Premiership with the manager merry-go rounds at Chelsea and both Manchester clubs, all they needed to do was add a couple of world-class players and they could challenge again.
After their opening day defeat to Aston Villa at home however, they need to take a step back and really assess the situation, can they win the Premiership? Can they even get top 4? Will they beat Fenerbahçe and get to the group stages of the Champions League? If they had spent big and got their signings before the season started the answer could have been yes to all of them. Jovetic, Higuain, Julio Cesar, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Lars Bender are just a few of the big names that have been linked with Arsenal. The eighth week of the transfer window and the only incoming player has been a free signing in Yaya Sanogo from French Ligue 2 club Auxerre.
Arsenal play Fenerbahçe in the Champions’ League group stage qualifiers on Wednesday, with a squad of only what is rumoured to be 8 fit first team players. Fenerbahçe can’t be taken lightly, they have the likes of work horse Dirk Kuyt, ex-Lille striker Moussa Sow and ex-Newcastle and Inter Milan midfielder Emre.
The argument amongst the Arsenal fans is they know that the money is there to spend, after nearly paying of all their debt for the stadium, yet the board are more interested in having money in their back pockets and the interests of the Arsenal football club aren’t in their best interest. Week in week out the Emirates near enough sells out every game; fans pay a lot of money to see them; and many fans, including me, are priced out of watching them. After Aston Villa scored their third goal; the Emirates crowd soon turned to the board and choruses of “Spend some ****ing money” where heard around the Emirates.
What needs to be done?
These next two weeks are big for Arsenal, firstly they have to be focused on beating Fenerbahçe on Wednesday and an away goal is key at the Surku Saracoglu stadium. Arsenal then have Fulham away on Saturday, which is never an easy game, before their second leg against Fenerbahçe. In that time Arsenal still need to sign players. Today’s papers have linked us with Paul Pogba, Yohan Cabaye and Ashley Williams. Yet you have to wonder why we didn’t go for these players before the season started to give them time to gel with the squad. You have to wonder now though, will Arsene Wenger be panic buying?
The answer to that is most definitely a yes.