Arsene Wenger seems to have been linked with defender after defender all summer but is struggling to actually push through any deals.

The Gunners manager has been looking to bolster his defence in order for them to make a successful Premier League title push, but to date has only managed to bring in Laurent Koscielny from Lorient.
An endless number of defenders have been linked with moves to the Emirates and Wenger could have to rely on youth as the Premier League gets underway.

The loss of Sol Campbell, William Gallas, Philippe Senderos and Mikael Silvestre this summer means there is a shortage of central defenders at Wenger's disposal, and he has been knocked back by two of his primary transfer targets.

Werder Bremen's giant German international Per Mertesacker was known to be a firm favourite of the French manager and would have brought some real top-class experience to the heart of the Arsenal defender, it certainly would have boosted their online football odds.

However, the 25-year-old has told Bild newspaper he is "staying at Bremen".

Another defender who had been linked with Arsenal consistently has been Everton star Phil Jagielka, a player who returned to international action last week.

The 27-year-old has ended rumours of a move to north London as he told talkSPORT: "There's nothing I can do about the speculation, but the gaffer has pulled me aside and told me I'm not going anywhere.
"I'm happy with that. I'm an Everton player, I love playing for the club, and I'm just going to get on with my job there."

The Champions League betting suggests Arsenal are poised to do well in that competition, but they really need to sign new players if they're going to go far.

Arsenal started their Premier League title challenge with a touch clash against Liverpool and managed to grab a draw.

Right, first thing’s first… How bleeding good is Kosceinly?

Verminator and Kossy are going to be a fine central defensive partnership over the course of this season, we know all about TV5, and I can certainly see elements of pure class in Kossy.

His reading of the game, coupled with searing pace make him a truly wonderful addition to our first eleven.

Was a shame he got sent off at the end, was a clear case of ball to hand, but c’est la vie.

Wenger got it wrong today, he sparingly used Almunia over pre-season, favouring Fabianski for the greater part, but decided the Legia result was enough to put the pressure back on Fab and so he started the utterly useless Almunia.

To make matters worse, he even got the captain’s armband!

I’m not worried at all, as it’s becoming increasingly likely that a deal to bring in a safe pair of hands in Schwarzer is days away.

The deal that will give us a proper team, from back to front.

The Liverpool game told me, Jack is going to be ready this season, he was at fault for their goal, but these things happen, and he will learn from that, that is a part of learning about the sharp end of first team football.

He showed some magical touches and vision in the first half, but was taken off at around the right time.

Actually, for once, Wenger did get his subs right, although Arshavin was having a mare, he was kept on because you just never know with his genius when that magic will appear.

All in all, a pleasing result, courtesy of Mr Butter Fingers himself, karma is a beast that will always get you in the end Mr Reina, and it got you almost instantly.

Diaby did ok in the first half considering no pre-season games, Eboue is getting better and better, Chamakh was a little too unselfish at times, and needs to make more runs off the shoulder of the last defender instead of dropping deep all the time.

He has a tendency to always lay off the simple back pass, but for a first game, and considering he caused the Own Goal, he done fine, but will get a lot better as the season unfolds.

Nasri was superb in the first half, but weakened out of it when dropped deeper in the 2nd half… his role is in the final third, he has no business in our half.

People… it was the first game of the season, minus our 2 best players, carrying a passenger in Arshavin, and away at  possibly the toughest away day in the Premiership, to a team buyoed by a new manager.

1-1 was good enough, and we move forward to Blackpool… hopefully with a new goalie and a renewed, sharper vigour.

It all started in 1891.

In 1891 Woolwich Arsenal was formed as a professional club.  The FA then told everyone not to play them, because of the professional issues, and Arsenal were reduced to playing friendlies against northern teams.

So in 1891 Arsenal called a meeting to discuss the idea of a southern league 26 clubs attended, the new league was agreed and 12 clubs elected:
Chatham,
Luton Town,
Millwall Athletic,
Marlow,
Swindon Town,
Reading,
West Herts,
Ilford,
Woolwich Arsenal,
Chiswick Park,
Old St Marks
Crouch End.

Crouch End then withdrew.  One of the unsuccessful applicants was Tottenham H who got one vote (their own).

There were several more attempts to form the Southern League and in 1894 the  Southern League, proposed by Millwall Athletic (which became Millwall) finally got going with two divisions.

Division 1
Chatham
Clapton
Ilford
Luton Town
Millwall Athletic
Reading
Royal Ordnance Factories
Southampton St Mary
Swindon Town

Division 2
Bromley
Chesham
Maidenhead
New Brompton
Old St Stephen’s
Sheppy United
Uxbridge

You will note there was no Tottenham H.  What they were up to can be best quoted (so there is no argument of bias) from their official Tiny Totts web site

1895
Spurs adopt professionalism.

1896
A record crowd of 6,000 spectators watch the friendly match with Aston Villa. Spurs elected to the Southern League Division One. Club colours changed to chocolate and gold.

1897
We reach our first Cup Final, losing 0-2 to hosts Wellingborough in the local Charity Cup competition.

1898
The Club becomes a limited company and a match against Woolwich Arsenal attracts a record crowd of 14,000 spectators.

[end of quote from the Tinies web site]

So the key point is this, Woolwich Arsenal were professionals before Tottenham, and entered the mainstream Football League (there being no Southern League).  Tottenham (as is there wont) trotted along later, having been rejected very clearly in the original meetings.  They became pros in 1895, and joined the Southern League a year later.

But why did Tottenham get just one vote initially? And why did they fail to get in, in 1894?  Of course it was because they were a little amateur club whose only claim to fame is that they played a local cup final against  the sixth eldest football club in the country and who claim to be the first ever club to play under floodlights in 1879 when they played Bedford.

What’s more, there was already a football team in their area – Leyton Orient formed in 1881.

When Tottenham played Woolwich Arsenal in 1898 they were playing a solid middle of the table second division team in the Football League – no wonder the crowds turned up.

In 1908 Tottenham joined the second division (by which time Arsenal were in the first).  Now skip forward five years and in 1913 Woolwich Arsenal moved to Highbury.  Tottenham Hotspur led the objections to Arsenal’s move – even though as the League and FA had both said time and again before, there is nothing in the rule books that allows them to dictate where a club plays.  Besides which if anyone ought to have an objection it was Orient.  The Os are the second oldest Football League club in London behind Fulham.

Besides, the argument against location was old and discredited, as Norris knew full well. Fulham had done much the same in objecting when Chelsea opened up in their quadrant of the city in 1905, and if anything the Chelsea issue was much more of a scandal – there was no club, no support, no team, no history, no background.  Just an old athletics stadium that was about to be turned into a coal dumping yard for the railways.

So the Tottenham protestation was all show and no substance.  They must have known there was not a single rule for them to object to.But they made a lot of it, not least to cover the fact that despite all their protestations, there was no way that they were not even a London team.  They were in Middlesex.  The Arsenal however was now in London – and Tottenham did not like that.

What’s more Tottenham had only been in the league for a mere five years - they could hardly claim the territory as theirs in just five years, even if there was a rule to allow them to.

The matter got worse when football resumed in 1919 after the war.  Tottenham had had one of their regular dreadful seasons in 1914-15 – the final season prior to war, and had ended up bottom, going down with Chelsea.

But after the war the league decided to extend the first division from 20 to 22 clubs.  They demanded their regular reward for failure, and expected to be kept in the league.  The clubs were required to vote – as they always were.

The Arsenal objected on the grounds that the deal proposed by Tottenham H hushed up the big issue of the 1914/15 season – the match fixing by Manchester United and Liverpool (Man U had fixed a game with Liverpool, and so ended up one point above Chelsea, and thus safe from relegation).

The Arsenal demanded that Manchester United and Liverpool be relegated to the second division, along with the two bottom clubs.  Tottenham fought the proposal, but eventually lost.  There were some behind the scenes deals and ultimately, in return for dropping the demand that Liverpool and Man U go down Arsenal got Liverpool’s vote and Man U’s vote, the league got its way, and Arsenal were voted into the first division.

Tottenham got annoyed.

For the record, Tottenham H went down and Arsenal, Preston and Derby went up, along with Chelsea who retained their position.  This was done through a secret ballot.

The reason Tottenham had once again got virtually no support was simple – they were a johnny-come-lately who were trying to make up rules to suit themselves.  It had always been the case that when clubs were ejected from the league, or the league was expanded, there should be a secret ballot.  For years and years this is how clubs came into the football league from non-league football until 1987.

So Tottenham’s argument against a secret vote (which ultimately resulted in them going out of the first division and Arsenal coming in) was ludicrous – expansion, and removal from the league was always sorted out like this, and would be for another 68 years.  This was the most outrageous piece of special pleading ever.

And yet somehow Tottenham have managed to write this period in history as if somehow Arsenal “stole” their place in the league.  It beggars all belief.

Worse – they have continued to do this.  And worse again through their friends in the media and elsewhere they have continued to be successful in undermining the good name of Arsenal.