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With Champions League football back on the agenda, Arsenal’s squad will once again be tested in a match that could, in any other year, be drawn up as a knockout round tie, with Napoli being welcomed to the Emirates.

There’s an odd perception when it comes to the Champions League group stages. Strive all season to make the top four and then hope for an ‘easy’ path into the latter stages – at least that’s the view from some sections of support. A group consisting of Napoli, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, and even regulars Marseille, is one of the glamour groups of this year’s competition.

What can be said, however, is that there are supporters who may fear that qualification from the group in either first or second place may be a stretch. It’s not that Arsenal lack the quality to match the consistently impressive Dortmund or the dark horses from Naples, it’s the question of depth and whether sacrifices can and should be made when juggling European and domestic league fixtures.

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It was a concern that Arsene Wenger chose to play Per Mertesacker for 120 minutes in the League Cup away to West Brom, only then to go on and start him in the away tie at Swansea. Thomas Vermaelen may be an able backup to the first-choice centre-back pairing at Arsenal, but considering Napoli’s potent attack, most at Arsenal would be far more assured of a good result if the German stays in the defence for this particular tie.

And the thing is it’s only the start of October. Even Wenger expressed concern over the long-term fitness of his squad, though it’s not something that couldn’t be combated via the market. The Premier League, of course, should be the priority. It’s a logical step for a club of Arsenal’s stature to regain a foothold at the highest tier of football.

So there is a question. In the likely event that Arsenal do finish third in their Champions League group – and again that isn’t a knock to the club, but an awareness of the limitations of the squad – would the Europa League and a strong charge in the Premier League be considered an acceptable or even good balance for the second half of the season? Conversely, would a lack of Champions League football in the second half of the season be deemed acceptable?

The Europa League door has fortunately been pushed open a little further for audiences in this country, with last season’s Premier League top three competing in the competition over the past two seasons. It doesn’t represent a failure by any stretch, but rather an opportunity. The League Cup, for arguments sake, is a write-off, such is the squad and the nature of Arsenal’s opponents in the next round.

Arsenal are nowhere near to winning the Champions League, and in a traditional sense have no business being in the competition, along with many others. From one point of view, it makes little sense to ‘throw away’ European football for this season, though incidentally many who are involved in the Europa League group stages do exactly that. The reality, unfortunately is that Arsenal don’t have the means to maintain this strong start in the league while offering maximum input to the Champions League.

The end result to sacrificing, in a way, one major competition is that Arsenal could be very well placed come January to strengthen and further their cause for a strong finish in the Premier League. Couldn’t it be argued that, considering the inconsistency of other title challengers, the league title is more or less up for grabs, in that there is no clear winner?

Arsenal don’t have the squad of a Bayern Munich or even an Atletico Madrid, who can afford to successfully juggle two major competitions. Instead, the domestic form of the club indicates that the Premier League will bring the most success, in one form or another. Qualifying from the Champions League group stages would be a bonus, but a third place finish wouldn’t be as disastrous as may be initially thought.

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Where should Arsenal’s priorities lie this season?

Join the debate below

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Aston Villa stepped up their bid for Premier League survival with a late win against Norwich at Carrow Road that drags them back into the dogfight.

Chris Hughton post-match…”I’m annoyed and frustrated because there was no way we should have lost or deserved to lose. We were the better side over 90 minutes but Villa have pace on the counter-attack and we have conceded two poor goals today.”

Paul Lambert post-match…”Our effort after playing on Monday night was outstanding. All credit to the team. We hung on and in the second half it could have been more. Gabby Agbonlahor has been playing excellently for us, he has the speed to hurt teams and power as well.”

Good day for…Gabriel Agbonlahor: After a frustrating first period the Villa striker put his ruthless hat on after the break and punished some poor Norwich defending to score twice and earn a crucial three points for his side.

Bad day for…Sebastien Bassong: Doesn’t look the same  player without Michael Turner alongside him and showed his fragility in the closing stages when he allowed Agbonlahor to breeze past him to nab the winning goal.

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As Tottenham Hotspur have looked to take their season into a higher gear during the festive period, for Emmanuel Adebayor, it’s felt much more like a chance to take the handbrake off, rather than increasing on any momentum gained.

Since making his superb loan spell from Manchester City permanent during the summer, the big Togolese striker has of course endured something of a difficult start to life as a fully-fledged player at White Hart Lane.

After joining up with Andre Villas-Boas’ squad without a proper pre-season under his belt, Adebayor has struggled for both form and fitness as he’s endeavoured to try and recapture the form that saw him net 17 Premier League goals for Harry Redknapp’s side last term. The superb goalscoring exploits of Jermain Defoe has offered the ex-Arsenal man only another obstacle to overcome in a set-up which has tended to only accommodate one striker for much of the season.

And in more ways than one, Adebayor’s goal in the 3-1 win over Reading yesterday couldn’t have come at a better time for both club and player. Because while it set the Lilywhites on their way to third in the Premier League table, it also saw Adebayor finally alleviate some of the mounting pressure that had begun to build amongst supporters in recent weeks.

Yet while some of the critique aimed at Adebayor has been both fair and due, especially so in the wake of his disastrous sending off against Arsenal back in November, there has been a growing sense of malaise developing from a small section of supporters towards the Togolese international. While Adebayor isn’t without his faults, fans must remain patient with him as we set off out into 2013.

Given his chequered history, it’s fair to say that supporters are well within their rights to dabble in an element of cynicism when it comes to evaluating their No10’s current run of patchy form. While Adebayor has scored goals wherever he’s gone in his career, he’s also tended to serve up large spells of inconsistency, too.

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Since he first arrived at Spurs in 2011, supporters have yet to really be treated to the darker side of Emmanuel Adebayor, but come the North London derby back in November, they were given a timely reminder of the other side of the one time Real Madrid man’s game. His 18th minute lunge on Santi Cazorla saw him correctly sent off during Spurs’ disastrous 5-2 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, in a game which coincidentally saw him notch his only other league goal of the season.

It was a moment of stupidity and an exhibition of the fiery blood that has always pumped through the body of Adebayor, but nothing more. Yet judging by some of the views emanating out of White Hart Lane in recent weeks, the negativity heaped upon him suggests that not all may have necessarily got over the mauling caused that day by Adebayor’s moment of madness.

Yes, he’s not hit anywhere near the heights of last season, but first of all, let’s not forget quite what an outstanding contribution Adebayor produced for the Lilywhites last term. A tally of 17 league goals and 11 assists is outstanding whichever way you look at it and while he may not come close to matching it this time round, don’t underestimate the work he’s been performing for the side since his return to first team affairs.

Patience appears to have been running thin for Adebayor for a while now, but given the disruption he’s faced to his season so far, is it really that much of a surprise that he only may just now be coming into form?

Even though we’re now already half way through the Premier League season, Adebayor simply hasn’t had the solid, consistent run of starts in the league until the start of last month. Given his abject lack of fitness via an absent pre-season, early season cameos against Norwich and West Brom are reduced to little more than token statistics and following a niggling hamstring injury, he had to wait until November 11th to make his first start of the season against Manchester City.

The subsequent three-game suspension that awaited him following his next game against Arsenal is no one else’s fault bar his own, but consequently, his next start in the league didn’t come till the 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park. That was only his third Premier League start of the entire season.

And for a player that’s been described as everything from a passenger to a mercenary in recent weeks, his side haven’t half done bad with him in the team. Since that defeat to David Moyes’ side, Tottenham have been unbeaten in five, picking up 13 points along the way. Adebayor has started all five of those games.

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Playing in Villas-Boas’ altered 4-4-2 like set-up, the hard work Adebayor’s been doing off the ball, striving to win it back and linking up play from far deeper than what we’ve seen before, will never win as many plaudits as the goals Jermain Defoe’s recently been scoring. But don’t underestimate his value to the team.

Only in the past four weeks has Adebayor really got that run of games he’s needed to try and find both form and fitness. There’s been some knocks along the way, a few unconvincing performances and a touch in front of goal that certainly won’t return overnight. Yet slowly but surely, we’re finally starting to see Villas-Boas’ faith pay dividends.

Emmanuel Adebayor can’t stop here and for all his hard work, he must do more to start putting the ball in the back of the net. Although wheeling out tired clichés about him giving up the ghost now he’s got a permanent contract is both as uninformed as it is missing the point. He’s doing his bit to try and recapture the form of last season. It’s time the small section of naysayers started doing their bit to help him, too.

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Manchester City and Chelsea target Radamel Falcao has refused to rule out a move to Italy, with Juventus and Milan both an attraction to him.

The Columbian international has become the most sought after striker in the world, following a prolific time at Atletico Madrid since his arrival from Porto in August 2011.

A number of Europe’s elite are monitoring him including Premier League giants Manchester City and Chelsea, but the striker hasn’t ruled out playing in Italy.

“I cannot rule out a future in Italy. Juve or Milan? I have a favourite club, but I prefer not to say,” he is quoted by the Independent as saying.

Wherever he ends up going, he won’t come cheap with Atletico only willing to sell him if a club can match his buyout clause of £48million.

However, his average of almost a goal a game in hugely successful spells at Porto and Atletico Madrid suggest that the 26-year-old would be worth the money.

Chelsea seemed favourites to sign him at one point but have since recruited Demba Ba, in a period of time in which Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has been reported as being interested in bringing the likes of Falcao or Napoli’s Edinson Cavani to the Etihad.

A move away from Spain seems likely for Falcao in the summer, with him often discussing in the press how he would relish playing in the Premier League, but also being reported as saying he wants to remain loyal to Atletico for at least the remainder of the current season.

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For a team as rich in history as Liverpool F.C, there hasn’t half been some tosh pull on the famous red shirt and walk past the ‘This is Anfield’ sign. Although the Reds might have picked up seven domestic trophies and three European ones since the inception of the Premier League, they have never quite managed to pull off the big one, indeed their last league title came under Kenny Dalglish in 1990.

Although there have been some great players turning out for the club in the Premier League era, think Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypia or Robbie Fowler, some of their other signings have been simply miserable. Old boss Rafa Benitez had a reputation for loading his squad with unheard-of, and often useless players, while more recently, Kenny Dalglish went the other way, paying big fees for overrated talent.

There are a lot of contenders for such a team, but we’ve selected the worst XI signings to play for Liverpool in the Premier League era. See if you agree:

Click on Paul Konchesky to unveil the XI

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We all think of footballers as well paid individuals and indeed they are. If a Premier League star invests his money correctly, then there’s a good chance he’d never have to work again for the rest of his life. However, a football career isn’t exactly a job for life, as you never know when injury or loss of form may strike that could result in your career plummeting to depths of horrendous lows.

It’s wise therefore, for players to have some sort of other interests outside of football, to keep them occupied off the field, but also to earn a living if things go wrong. The vast majority of players just invest their money into property or start life as a media pundit, but others take a more interesting route and immerse themselves in something a little different. We bring you 15 footballers with a different life outside the game that you should definitely know about.

Click on Stuart Pearce to unveil the 15

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As Manchester City and PSG have shown in recent years that a big money takeover can prove to be an enormous windfall in terms of financial and on the field success, however some takeovers can prove to be a nightmare.

We take a look at five of the worst buyouts in football.

Malaga

Whilst PSG and Manchester City have been living the high life, Spanish side Malaga are left to rue what might have been.

The Andalucian side were bought for around 35 million euros in 2010 by Sheik Abdullah Al-Thani, who invested millions in building a side that would qualify for European football.

However two years later after Champions League football was achieved, the Qatari removed his investment in the Spanish side, forcing them to sell some of their star players and leaving some players with unpaid wages.

Reports that the Sheik is looking to sell the club after growing frustrated with the lack of progress with his other business ventures in the area, have turned Malaga’s dream owner into the sugar daddy from hell.

 

Peter Ridsdale – Leeds United

Peter Ridsdale’s tenure as Leeds United chairman was one of the biggest rollercoaster rides in English football over the last decade and a half. Success followed in the early days of his ownership as Leeds reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the Champions League, but financial mismanagement saw the club slide down the Premier League table.

Ridsdale quit as chairman in 2003, leaving the club with debts of over £100m. Leeds were then relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2003-04 season. The turmoil that Ridsdale left behind saw the Yorkshiremen relegated from the Championship in 2007, and began the 2007-08 in League One with a 30-point penalty due to insolvency.

The Venkys – Blackburn Rovers

The Venkys ownership of Blackburn so far has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. A seemingly lack of knowledge about the English game, or football in general, has seen the chickenmen ridiculed by the press and fans alike.

Having replaced Sam Allardyce with Steve Kean in December 2010, Rovers went on narrowly avoid relegation at the end of the 2010-11 season. Despite Kean originally being hired on a temporary basis, the Venkys eventually gave the Scot the manager’s job full time.

With the club looking like certain favourites for relegation under the stewardship of Kean in January 2012, the Venkys failed to inject more transfer funds into the club, or sack the hapless Kean in order to help save the club from the drop.

To rub salt in the wounds the club made a pre tax loss of £18.6m during the Venkys first year at the helm.

 The Glazers – Manchester United

When it comes to the question of sugar daddies any Manchester United fan will happily tell you that the Glazer family has pumped more debt into the club than they have invested.

After an unprecedented £800m buyout of United in 2005, the Glazers have left the club paying around £70m a year in interest – the equivalent of one Cristiano Ronaldo every season.

The Florida based owners have been a figurehead of contempt at Old Trafford, and whilst much of the management of the club has remained constant, the animosity towards the American owners has not lifted in the last seven years.

In many ways United are lucky that their extensive commercial arm has helped to finance the club in recent years, although there have been rumours that Alex Ferguson has had to curb his spending to help the club clear its debts.

Portsmouth  

With the sheer number of disastrous takeovers at Portsmouth in the last six years, it would be unfair to pin the club’s current financial problems on just one man.

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Perhaps the biggest villain of the piece must be the Franco-Israeli businessman Alexandre Gaydamak, who started the rot after taking soul ownership of the club in 2006. Gaydamak had allegedly stripped the club of £32m before selling it to Sulaiman Al-Fahim for £60m in 2009.

Al-Fahim’s tenure at the club lasted less than three months, before he sold the club to Ali al-Faraj in October 2009. The sale provoked much controversy with one report claiming that Al-Fahim had sold the club for ‘zero pounds’.

Al-Faraj’s reign was met with similar financial mismanagement. The club was transferred into the hands of Balram Chainrai in February 2010, after Al-Faraj defaulted on a £17m loan. Chainrai’s first major action was to take the club into administration, becoming the first Premier League club to earn the dishonour.

Relegation swiftly followed and the club was sold yet again in July 2011 to the Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) consortium headed by Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov. “In CSI, I believe we have found owners who will take the long-term view,” said chief executive David Lampitt at the time.

By November Antonov had resigned as chairman of Portsmouth after being arrested for asset stripping. His Convers Sports Initiatives was placed into administration and subsequently so were Portsmouth.

In many ways perhaps Pompey are best off in the hands of the administrators.

QPR have agreed a transfer fee of up to £4 million as compensation for Junior Hoilett’s move from Blackburn, The Daily Mail claim.

The Canadian attacker impressed over a number of seasons at Ewood Park, but left the Lancashire club following their relegation from the Premier League last term.

Hoilett’s contract was up and joined the Loftus Road club on a free transfer, but due to his age Rovers were due a compensation fee.

An initial amount of £3 million will be paid to the Championship side, with an extra £1 million in the offing dependant on the number of appearances the North American makes for the London club.

It is believed that Blackburn are also entitled to a portion of Hoilett’s sell-on fee should it be more than the figure they have just received from QPR.

The agreement between the clubs means that the matter does not have to be determined by the Professional Football Compensation Committee.

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By Gareth McKnight

The summer was a case of ‘same old Arsene’ at Arsenal, as the Frenchman opted once again to miss out on two problem areas in his squad: a prolific striker and a holding midfielder.

Danny Welbeck arrived on deadline day in a £16m deal, but the England international’s record in front of goal is not great, while an enforcer was sought for some of the window, but never found. Alexis Sanchez was signed in a big money swoop, while Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers have addressed defensive issues, but Wenger’s squad is still short in key areas.

Here are FIVE players the Frenchman could turn to in January…

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William Carvalho

Since the days of Patrick Vieira, Arsenal have not really had a driving force in midfield, giving them a reputation as ‘soft’, which has hurt them on trips away from the Emirates Stadium. Carvalho was a player mooted as an option to add some steel to the Gunners’ ranks over the summer, but talk of a swoop never truly materialised, despite suggestions of a late, late swap bid involving Joel Campbell.

Sporting Lisbon are thought to be ready to sell their Portuguese international for around £25m, which is money Arsenal could have spare in January if they make it through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

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Sami Khedira

Another player rumoured to have been on the Gunners’ radar is Khedira. The German won the World Cup over the summer, but Real Madrid may lose him for a cut price fee in January with his contract due to expire at the end of the season.

Los Blancos may accept offers of below £10m, and Khedira is understood to have shown a willingness to join his international compatriots – Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski – in north London. No-brainer, surely?

Sokratis Papastathopoulos

The man with the impossible name was a target for Arsenal late on in the window just gone, but a deal could not be done in time to meet the cut-off point. Sokratis has shone for the Greek national side in recent years, and his versatility – he can play on either flank at the back or as a holding midfielder as well as in his favoured centre-half role – has kept him in Dortmund’s XI for a while.

Wenger seems keen on the utility man, who could come in to replace departed captain Thomas Vermaelen, whose presence may well be missed by January.

Edinson Cavani

While Welbeck is a perfectly serviceable striker, Cavani is the sort of name to get pulses racing at the Emirates Stadium. The Uruguayan ace was the man fans called for as the clock ticked towards the transfer deadline on Monday, but a fabled swoop for him never became reality.

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With Zlatan Ibrahimvic the main man at PSG, Cavani may well be agitating for a move again in January, which could allow Arsenal to pounce with an offer of close to his £50m valuation.

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Marco Reus

Reus is likely to become Europe’s most sought after forward next year, with a £20m release clause in his Dortmund contract due to kick in. Reports suggest Arsenal are already plotting to trigger this, but a move in January may make more sense for the Londoners.

Although they will likely pay more than £30m, BVB may be keen to accept a greater sum if they are unable to tie Reus down to a new deal, which might allow Arsenal to avoid a war with the likes of Man City and Man United as well as Real Madrid – whom can all offer massive wages. The German star would fit Arsenal’s system well, and could allow Podolski to be shipped out.

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After a rollercoaster season at White Hart Lane, it is time to start analysing the hiccups along the way.

Gareth Bale’s stunning performances defined last season and without him, Tottenham potentially would not have finished with their highest points tally in the Premier League. Therefore the work of Andre Villas-Boas was hypothetically not an integral part to their success.

The beginning of Spurs’ season would support this claim, with the eventual downfall of the Portuguese manager happening on the 16th December 2013 – highlighting that perhaps the Premier League  just isn’t right for AVB.

Was there another Premier League manager that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy could have approached?

With AVB secured as manager in 2012 (the same year as Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool), Roberto Martinez was still in his final year at Wigan Athletic, desperately plugging away in the bid to avoid relegation to the Championship, whilst at the same time, playing some stylish and classy football.

Tottenham’s appointment of Villas-Boas signified that the north Londoners were on the prowl for a youthful approach to management and the selection of the former Porto manager should have been carried with caution when considering his negative stint at London rivals, Chelsea.

Roberto Martinez always stated that it was his intention to keep Wigan in the top division, however after four years of the same tireless quest, would it have been best suited for his career to move to a club challenging at the higher level of the league with money to spend? Martinez was most likely the youthful reformist that Spurs were looking for.

Eventually, the Spaniard left Wigan after failing to avoid the drop. He managed to secure a move to replace David Moyes as the manager of Everton and career-wise, Everton was an intelligent move.

However, had Martinez have left a year previously, he would have ended his spell with the Latics as having successfully manoeuvred them to safety. Tottenham should have moved for Martinez instead of AVB, with the club’s tradition and heritage matching perfectly with the former’s footballing philosophy.

Tactically, Roberto Martinez and Tottenham would be an ideal fit. Martinez often adopts a 4-2-3-1 shape that relies on strong tacklers which, with Tottenham, would suit the likes of Sandro, Nabil Bentaleb, Etienne Capoue and Paulinho – with each player able to hold the midfield well and place a strong challenge should it be necessary – as was shown by Bentaleb’s show-stopping performance against Newcastle in Spurs’ 4-0 win last week.

The former Wigan boss also enjoys a team with skilful passers in the attacking third as is often exhibited by Steven Pienaar, Ross Barkley and Bryan Oviedo at Everton.

Should Martinez have been installed rather than AVB, Spurs could have potentially seen their former Dutch magician Rafael van der Vaart pulling the strings in the final third, if he had chosen to remain at White Hart Lane. With the existing squad, Martinez could see the likes of Paulinho, Christian Eriksen and Lewis Holtby implementing their skilful passing into this structure.

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Yet another trait that Martinez holds is his tactical flexibility, something Tottenham players were all too used to under AVB.  At Wigan, Roberto successfully operated a 3-5-2 formation at times and with multiple players at the north London club able to rotate (such as Vertonghen and Capoue) Martinez would have a wealth of options at his disposal.

Had Martinez taken over in 2012, the outcome of the season wouldn’t have panned out too differently to how it did under AVB. Spurs were fairly busy in the summer of 2012 securing acquisitions such as Jan Vertonghen, Emmanuel Adebayor (permanently) and Hugo Lloris.

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With Daniel Levy personally dipping into Tottenham’s transfer strategy, it’s possible to suggest that Spurs would have secured these players with any manager in charge, therefore whether it was AVB or Martinez wouldn’t have mattered;  the squad for 2012/13 would have remained the same.

However, the season of last could be contributed to Gareth Bale’s constant player of the year performances and the ability of AVB is therefore debatable considering that the Welsh wizard was evidently the reason for their record points tally in the league. With Martinez in charge, Spurs could have gone on to even greater things, with a manager eager to prove himself in a position he could feasibly hold for many years.

Had Spurs appointed Martinez, we could be looking at a very different Tottenham side with a manager of equal ambition to match the forever attractive philosophy of playing ‘the Spurs way’.

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