A painful weekend for Arsenal saw our inexperienced squad exposed and an ideal replacement for Cesc Fabregas all but sign for one of our rivals.

Juan Mata captained the Spanish U21 team to victory and was also a part of their World Cup squad, he is a great talent and looks like he will complete a move to Chelsea for £23 million, less than what we will receive for Samir Nasri. Wenger’s decision not to make a bid for him is as concerning as his apparent refusal to consider Jose Enrique as a very affordable replacement for Gael Clichy.

As the pressure for Wenger to add to his squad mounts, rumours linking us with Eden Hazard have once again resurfaced and they could be the reason for Wenger not attempting to sign Juan Mata. Hazard has reportedly been a long term target for us and could fill the creative hole that caused our attack to be isolated for long periods against Liverpool.

Despite the ongoing rumours, however busy we are in the transfer window will have no bearing on the most important game of the season, Wednesday’s qualifier in Udinese. If we do not get the right result then Wenger may struggle to persuade anyone to sign for us. He has to work with what he has and rumours that Jack Wilshere may make his first appearance of the season are just the boost that we need. As domestic suspensions do not apply our squad should be in half decent shape even if Wilshere doesn’t recover in time and if we show the heart that we saw on Sunday, we should be capable of securing qualification in Italy.

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