Arsenal Need to Spend Big Now to Challenge EPL Leaders

Good morning to everybody and I hope you are enjoying the weekend wherever you are. Today's blog is going to be very short for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I have a very busy day ahead of me, but secondly, and most importantly, there is virtually nothing happening in the world of Arsenal.

In yesterday's blog, I reported that we are now the second richest football club in the world after "Manure" and surely this is proof enough that as the club continues to grow, it is time for a little bit of investment in the squad to help the footballing side keep pace.

There's no point in producing healthy balance sheets year after year and having a large transfer kitty if we don't use some of it to buy the players that everybody knows are needed.

Last summer, the club made a huge profit on transfers and now this summer with the arrival of Koscielny and Chamakh and the departure of Eduardo, Gallas, Silvestre, Senderos and possibly Campbell too we have a net spend of no more than £5 million to date and four or possibly five players off the wage bill, with only two added.

The boss told us last summer that he would buy the players needed and then he told us again this summer that he would do the same thing.

According to the latest reports, he is still in the market for defensive players but he is happy with our striking options.

We suffered very badly last season when RVP got injured and in my opinion neither Bendtner or Chamakh are in his league, and if he gets another injury we will be up the same creek again.

Despite the boss saying that he is still in the market for defensive players, the feeling is that he is waiting for Campbell to make a decision about his future when he comes back from his honeymoon in a few days and that he is his preferred option as our fourth centre back.

I think that leaves us a little light in that department, as Djourou is still a relative novice and severely injury-prone and Koscielny, by his own admission, needs to beef himself up to play in the Premier League.

Campbell may have done well when he came in last January but don't forget how slow he looked at certain times or that he is now another year older.

He struggled to play more than one game a week last season and with Djourou so injury prone also we could be very quickly down to just two centre backs and the youngsters to back them up.

I know Nordtveit has played a full season in Germany and looks good so far in preseason, but I personally don't think it's a chance we should take in not signing the likes of Mertesacker.

Besides all that, there's also the obvious need for a new goalkeeper, as that's a position where we suffered very badly last season. So far in preseason, Almunia hasn't featured at all despite pictures of him training with the rest of the squad.

The stated reason he missed the first game was illness, but there was no reason at all given for him missing the second game.

It looks like the manager is giving his deputies their chance to impress in these games and will decide who to play before the season starts.

We are, of course, still linked with Schwarzer, but does any fan really think he is a top-class goalkeeper who will install the confidence in our defence that is needed?

He's seen as "better than Almunia at least" by most fans and that's not a good enough reason to sign a goalkeeper in my opinion.

I also think we need him now, as it takes time for a goalkeeper to work with his defence and build a relationship.

The boss has called for the players to come flying out of the blocks this season and he thinks we can again sustain a challenge in the league, but I'm sure that most of us fans feel that we can go even further with the right additions and they just don't seem to be coming in.

I for one don't want to be waiting until five to midnight on Aug. 31 before we eventually manage to sign a player.

I'm not part of the brigade that think it's time for Arsene Wenger to leave, but we have been in this position for the last two summers where the boss says it's crucial that we challenge at the top. With only a year left on his contract, the rumours will start to mount if we don't challenge.

I honestly believe that our current squad is still not good enough to win the league, as we have not improved on it from last season.

I know we were desperately unlucky with injuries last season, but our main challengers cannot be as poor as they were for the second season in a row and we need to improve to be genuine contenders.

I hope I'm proven completely wrong and the boss splashes the cash or the squad rises to the challenge and we romp home with another famous league victory, but at the moment, it's hard to see any of those things happening.

As I said, there isn't very much to report on and with our next pre-season game not until Tuesday, I can already see the tumbleweed blowing past in my attempts to find some news to report over the next couple of days.

However, fear not, as I will still be here and hopefully feeling a little better about our chances for next season, too.

Finally for today, there's the small matter of my Fantasy league and the fact that it now has over 100 teams in it, which means that there will be a trophy for the winner.

If you want to sign up, the link is here and the code to join my league is 33954-12064 after you have set up a team. 

If you do sign up, please take the time to join Captain Arsenal's league, too, as he has been a great help to me in promoting my blog on Twitter.

The code to join his league is 13028-5211, and he would be delighted to welcome you to his league.

Here are a few goals from Sylvain Wiltord.

And to finish today's title track from The Clash. I'm not feeling too good about our chances next season unless we get the players.