Champions League qualification failure won't financially cripple Arsenal, but a player exodus might!

With Arsenal languishing in an unfamiliar fifth place in the Premier League, the prospect of the club not qualifying for the Champions League next year is becoming all too real.

Indeed, Gunners chairman Peter Hill-Wood haseven been moved to dismissed fears that a failure to qualify for the elite competition would be catastrophic for club.

"There is no denying that it would be a real financial drain on the club if we didn't qualify for the Champions League next season,” says Hill-Wood. "Even if we were in the Uefa Cup and enjoyed a long run in Europe, that would not come close to making up the shortfall.

"But although missing out on the Champions League for one year would be a big disappointment, it would not mean financial armageddon for Arsenal.”

That might well be the case, as Hill-Wood claims that Champions League qualification was not fingured into the repayment schedule for the new stadium.

But as a paying customer, I think he’s vastly under-playing the significance of the European Cup.

Failure to qualify could result in a lot of disgruntled players and Arsene Wenger having to struggle with keeping his squad together, rather than trying to strengthen it...

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Play Fantasy Arsène Wenger – who should play against West Ham?

There’s no doubt Everton are a good, solid side, whose position in the table underlines their ability to cause problems for opponents.

The fact that short-arse Tim Cahill – great player as he is – should score with a header from an unchallenged cross is just another example of our defensive fragility.

Everton didn’t even have any strikers on the field!

The game against West Ham is a different challenge altogether.

Despite his height, Carlton Cole is more of a danger with his feet and in Davide Di Michele, West Ham have a forward partnership who play intricate football.

West Ham fans would never allow their side to play long ball football, but given their strengths and the weakness we have shown to long balls, who would bet against them catching us on the counter-attack if we’re camped in their half?

Rumours abound that Kolo Toure is off, but I can’t see him going, with Silvestre injured, unless Wenger gets Micah Richards in return, which is again unlikely. Why would we want to sell him now??!

I watched West Ham fluke their way past Hartlepool last week, who were undone by a fairly decent goal and then lost heart when a ludicrous penalty was given against them.

Their strength seems to be in getting full-backs forward, so it will be interesting to see if we can pin Ilunga and Neill back.

Robert Green seems to save his best games for matches against Arsenal and I fear he will have another fine game tomorrow.

Although Gianfranco Zola has bounced back from a shaky run that he endured after joining the Hammers, I still think we’ll have enough to beat them tomorrow.

But with Alex Song playing so badly, I’d change the formation and use it to our advantage, playing King Kolo in a holding role.

Addict XI

               Almunia

Sagna Djourou Gallas Clichy

                 Toure

      Nasri  Denilson Diaby

      Van Persie   Adebayor

Let us know below what your Arsenal team would be.

UPDATED - Arshavin on his way - or maybe not

As far as Arsenal transfers are concerned, following the dreariness of the summer, I am now losing the will to live.

Andrei Arshavin is no closer to being an Arsenal player after Arsene Wenger denied on Friday afternoon that the club had successfully applied for a work permit for the Russian playmaker.

The long drawn out saga seems to have reached a conclusion after Arshavin dropped his wage demands but Wenger said: "These kind of stories sometimes develop in the last minute on the final day of the transfer window. It is very difficult to predict.

"Whether we are close or not has little meaning - it does not matter how close you are, what is important is that you agree. At the moment, we have no agreement with anybody for any transfer.

"We are always confident, we try our best and respect our budget. If we can find an agreement, we will do it, if we cannot we will not overspend what we have planned to do. I can only give you the way we think on our side. I cannot give you what other people think."

So Arshavin is now unlikely to be confirmed as an Arsenal player before Arsenal’s match against West Ham at Emirates tomorrow.

Given the creative ineptitude we have shown lately, the Russian’s impact would be welcome relief for Gooners who have seen the side shorn of Eduardo, Tomas Rosicknote, Theo Walcott and of course, captain Cesc Fabregas.

The fee is said to be about £15m and Arshavin will pay back a huge slice of that if he helps us regain fourth spot and the Champions League which seems to be Arsène Wenger’s main domestic target now.

He can't play for us in this season's Champions League, so let's just hope he helps get us there again by the end of this season.