Declan Rice – GAME OF THE PEOPLE

ARSENAL have lost their place at the top of the Premier League and have tumbled out of the FA Cup at the first time of asking. They are, however, still in the UEFA Champions League and have a good chance of taking their European campaign further. Some die-hards are trying to talk themselves into crisis mode, but they are a little premature. They’ve hit a bad patch, for sure, but they have a few weeks before they can write-off their title bid.

It’s not Liverpool they need to worry about, or indeed Aston Villa, but reigning champions Manchester City. Liverpool could be without Mohammed Salah until mid-February if Egypt enjoy a lengthy run in the Africa Cup of Nations. Liverpool without their prolific striker are simply not the same side. City are still most people’s favourites and there’s no talk about any desperate need to reinforce their squad.

Arsenal, like so many teams today, need a striker. There’s rumours they’re interested in Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, but while the former may turn out to be rusty, the latter has just signed a new contract and will cost a huge fee. Osimhen has not had such a spectacular season with Napoli due to injury and a disagreement with his club. However, his performances in 2022-23 mark him as a special talent.

Something has gone wrong and repairs are needed soon otherwise Arsenal will be scrambling to retain their top four place. Since December 1, Arsenal have won three of nine games and they have lost their last three league and cup fixtures, including a 2-1 defeat at Fulham and a home derby with West Ham United. It was the West Ham game that highlighted some of Arsenal’s problems; they carved out 30 shots on goal and only eight were on target. They lost 2-0, despite enjoying 74% of possession. In their last seven league starts, Arsenal have had 136 shots of which 31% were on target. This is lower than Liverpool (36%), Manchester City (35%) and Aston Villa (33%). While the difference may appear minimal, it is also very tangible given the small margins between success and failure in football.

Invariably, Arsenal have a higher rate of possession than their opponents, but finishing has been poor – in their past three defeats, they have managed to get 26% of their chances on target.

Since Mikel Arteta took over in December 2019, Arsenal have won 57% of their games, a very decent percentage. But they have had barren periods in that time. In 2020-21, for example, they lost eight of their first 14 league games, while in 2021-22, they started badly and ended with five defeats in 10. In 2022-23, their best campaign under Arteta, they were top as late as May 1. They lost only six league matches but Manchester City demonstrated to the title pretenders their strength with two victories late in the season against the Gunners.

To their credit, they brushed the disappointment of blowing the title well and in 2023-24, they have topped the table again and were brimming with confidence until recently. There has been investment in the team and in the summer, they spent close to £ 200 million on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber. Rice has settled, Havertz had shown some nice touches, but is not an out-and-out striker, but they lost Timber early on to injury. The Arsenal squad that played against Liverpool cost over half a billion pounds and that didn’t include the likes of Gabriel Jesus.

Inevitably, Arteta is coming under some pressure at present, but it is far too early to start questioning the coach. A short while ago, he was being idolised for the way he had turned Arsenal into challengers. He’s not everyone’s choice and increasingly doesn’t seem very user friendly, but he proved his doubters wrong a couple of years back when it looked as though Arsenal were going nowhere. Likewise, the Arsenal owners came under fire three years ago, with “Kroenke out” graffiti appearing just around the corner to the stadium. Those critics have mostly been silenced, but it won’t take long for a revival of #ArtetaOut and similarly intense social media pleas for the board to spend.

Much will depend on how Arsenal strengthen their squad in the current transfer window. They paid a record £ 100 million for Declan Rice and they will need to shop at the same store for players with that type of price tag. Once a club dips its toes into the expensive pool, there is pressure to return to that market to demonstrate their ambition and status. If nothing else, a new striker will make such a huge difference to Arteta’s squad.

BRITAIN may be on the brink of a burgeoning economic crisis that is characterised by deteriorating infrastructure, neglected schools and hospitals and the rising cost of living, but the Premier League just carries on as if it is business as normal. While so many people are struggling to make ends meet, football at the highest level continues to extend the gap between itself and reality. Last summer it was Chelsea, this year Arsenal are spending big, about to secure their first £ 100 million player and paying more than £ 60 million for a forward who needed to move to rediscover his verve. Both have come from London clubs, and in the case of West Ham’s Declan Rice, it could be the most significant inter-London transaction of all time.

In the past the big London clubs were reluctant to trade players with each other, although it was perfectly acceptable to plunder talent from the next tier, including Fulham, Crystal Palace, QPR and others. But in the case of Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham, cash transfers were surprisingly rare between them. “Never sell your best players to neighbours or rivals,” said one manager back in the 1970s. There’s some logic in that statement; after all, why would any club willingly weaken itself while strengthening their main competitors? Financial crisis permitting, of course. In any climate, it would be difficult for any club to resist the temptation of cashing in on a prime asset.

It is difficult find a relevant signing by Arsenal from West Ham in their entire history. Players have gone in the other direction and there have been some loans, but generally the two clubs rarely get round the table to discuss business. One transfer that failed to deliver was John Radford’s in 1976, the double-winning Gunner was very out-of-sorts at Upton Park.

Arsenal seldom enter into transfer relationships with Tottenham, the last major deal was in 2001-02 when Sol Campbell, very controversially, moved from Spurs to Arsenal on a free. Other notables include Pat Jennings joining Arsenal in 1977-78 from Tottenham and a swap deal involving Jimmy Robertson and David Jenkins, with the former, a FA Cup final scorer in 1967, moving to Highbury.

Chelsea and Tottenham have also rarely traded on a grand scale, the last players to join Chelsea from Spurs were Micky Hazard (1985 £ 325,000) and Colin Lee (1979 £ 225,000). There have been more taking the route to Tottenham, including Gus Poyet and Gordon Durie. The most fruitful Chelsea-Tottenham deals were, arguably, the low-key transfers of Les Allen and Bobby Smith to White Hart Lane, with both players becoming part of Bill Nicholson’s double winners in 1961. Terry Venables, in 1966, found himself surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge and was sold to Spur.

Chelsea raided West Ham on a number of occasions in the early 21^st century, acquiring Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson, deals that earned the Hammers close to £ 35 million when that was a significant sum of money. The biggest deal going the other way was Kurt Zouma’s £ 35 million farewell in 2021-22.

Arsenal, have, in recent years, been happy to take Chelsea players who have run their course at Stamford Bridge, including David Luiz, Willian, Peter Cech and Jorginho. Havertz is a far different story, he has mileage left in this career. Prior to this quintent, William Gallas in 2006, made the short journey from South-West to North London. Go back further, and George Graham and Tommy Baldwin exchanged employers, with the latter joining Tommy Docherty’s young side in 1966.

West Ham and Spurs have completed some notable business, the sales of Michael Carrick for £ 4.1 million in 2004-05 and Jermaine Defoe a year earlier for £ 10.5 million among the highlights. But a transaction in 1970 stole the headlines when Martin Peters, a member of England’s 1966 World Cup winners, moved to Spurs for £ 220,000 with Jimmy Greaves used as part of the deal in exchange. Greaves would bow out of the professional games in 1971, but Peters had a very durable and long career that saw him win three major trophies with Spurs.

Many players have played for more than one London club – Clive Allen, for example, turned out for QPR, Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and Millwall, and he was also signed by Arsenal in 1980 but after three pre-season games, was sold to Palace in exchange for Kenny Sansom. Another Palace man, Barry Silkman, a journeyman if ever there was one, also appeared for QPR, Wimbledon, Brentford and Leyton Orient. There are others.

It may be that London rivalry is not what it used to be, and that wouldn’t be surprising given the cosmopolitan nature of first team squads. The average number of foreign players in the capital’s seven Premier clubs is currently 70% and across all 12 London clubs, the figure is 59%. The top players of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham could be forgiven for feeling that matches against each other are just another high-profile Premier fixture. For the fans it will always be different. But this may explain why clubs are now more open to selling to any club that can give them a good deal and for West Ham United and Chelsea, Arsenal have provided a big pay day for them, and at the same time, added some quality to their squad.