Steven Howard: Arsenal must spend or risk another season of failure

Posted Friday, August 26, 2011 by thesun.co.uk

Steven Howard: Arsenal must spend or risk another season of failure
CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS ... Wenger has just five days to buy some players and save Gunners' season

AFTER the heady excitement of Udine under the Alps comes the slow drift back down to reality.

A trip to Old Trafford on Sunday and a case of damage limitation.

Manchester United and City fans have been amusing themselves recently by selecting the two sides they could put out without any great reduction in strength.

Arsenal, though, head north hardly able to field ONE.

Unless one of the injured picks up his bed and walks — highly unlikely — Arsene Wenger really will be down to Arry's bare bones.

So Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could make his debut in one of the world's most celebrated stadiums.

He may be just 18 but the news from the Emirates is that he has been electric in training, looking even better than Arsenal thought. Their problem is that on top of all their injuries, Alex Song, Gervinho and Emmanuel Frimpong are suspended.

Even with them in the side on Wednesday night, they only just about muddled through.

Without them, Wenger is staring at a central midfield of Aaron Ramsey and Tomas Rosicky plus Theo Walcott, the out-of-form Andrey Arshavin and Oxlade-Chamberlain in some formation or other behind Robin van Persie.

Certainly, you couldn't risk Marouane Chamakh on his current form, home fans imploring Wenger to haul him off during the 2-0 defeat by Liverpool at the Emirates last Saturday.

Whatever line-up it is, United will be supremely confident of taking all three points against an Arsenal side which has never been weaker in Wenger's time at the club (15 years on September 30).

If that is the case, the Gunners will be marooned on just one point from three games and already EIGHT behind reigning champions United.

Goodnight, nurse, as far as the title is concerned — though this season, of course, it's out of the question unless Wenger signs Lionel Messi, Wesley Sneijder and a couple of world-class defenders before next Wednesday.

But sign someone of some standing Wenger must certainly do if only to send out a message to his team that Arsenal still mean some form of business.

And to prevent any other of the few, remaining key players left from joining the rush to the exits.

Only the most deluded Arsenal fan will believe some corner has been turned by the win over Udinese, despite its uplifting and time-buying merits.

The problems that have been there for the last couple of seasons are still there while Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri are not.

As for a closer examination of the individual performances in Udine, one of the heavyweight dailies, gave only Wojciech Szczesny, Walcott, Van Persie and Gervinho a mark higher than five.

Another interesting Arsenal statistic emerged to run alongside Alex Ferguson's current policy of dramatically lowering the average age of his own team. While young players are coming through both at the club and from outside, Fergie likes his domestic purchases to have some sort of Premier League pedigree.

Wenger, though, is radically different.

Of his last 17 buys only ONE had played in the Premier League.

That was Mikel Silvestre, whose purchase from United for £750,000 even baffled Le Prof's greatest admirers.

All the rest had to find it out for themselves.

And so to Sunday with some Arsenal fans, no doubt, remembering the fateful day in 2001 when their lovely boys were stuffed 6-1 at Old Trafford.

A team, incredibly, that included Seaman, Cole, Silvinho, Vieira, Parlour, Pires, Henry and Wiltord. Oh, yes, and Stepanovs.

Football, bloody hell.