His inaction proved to be the biggest answer to his detractors. Watching from the sidelines as Alexis Sanchez had been given the nod as Arsenal’s centre-forward for the trip to Everton, Olivier Giroud’s second half introduction for the Chilean gave weight to the importance of the French international to Arsene Wenger’s side.

Had it not been for Giroud’s involvement, it is unlikely Arsenal would have been able to mount a comeback that saw them leave Goodison Park with a point after going two-nil down in the first half. Alexis is the quicker, more inventive of the two, but his position as the team’s central striker doesn’t provide the balance offered by Giroud’s game. The Frenchman can appear rough around the edges, lacking the dribbling skills and speed to get away from defenders. But he gives focus to Arsenal’s attack, which looked desperately short of ideas for much of the first half.

There have been many who have alluded to Mesut Ozil’s positioning on the left of the front three, which allowed for Wenger to build his attack on the base of a midfield three. But the playmaker has shown recently for Germany at the World Cup that he can be effective playing from the wide positions. If the surrounding personnel are correct, Ozil can be dangerous from any area of the attacking third.

The real problem Arsenal faced in Giroud’s absence was the overall lack of ideas, movement and speed to the attack. It was laboured and predictable, allowing Everton to read the situation multiple times. That’s not to say Giroud is the answer to Arsenal’s problems, and that without him the team are far worse than they are with him; the French striker still has his shortcomings. It’s more to say that the midfield is lacking the kind of individual that sets the rhythm for the rest of the team, the one who controls from deeper positions and launches attacks.

WANT MORE? >> Arsenal transfer news | Latest transfer news

Jack Wilshere was again disappointing, though he wasn’t the only one. Had it not been for his goal, Aaron Ramsey would likely have come in for more criticism. But Wilshere can easily frustrate in his drawn out possession of the ball and his continued runs into traffic which amount to nothing more than a loss of the ball. Neither he nor Ramsey are conductors comparable to, say, Cesc Fabregas.

But it made Giroud’s involvement all the more important. Everton had time to organise themselves defensively amid Arsenal’s sluggish forming of attacks. There was no going through the home side’s defence, and pushing the play out wide left little in the way of a target man for Arsenal’s full-backs to aim for.

If Alexis is to have a purpose and a role as an alternative at centre-forward, it’s to mirror that of Theo Walcott’s best use: in open games where the team’s attack can get the ball from back to front much quicker than what they did at Goodison Park.

Giroud may not have been in the frame for Ramsey’s goal, but he won a rather one-sided aerial battle to secure a point and a 2-2 draw for the visitors. He can frustrate, of course, but few others in this Arsenal team are as good around the six-yard box, both with the ball on the deck or in the air.

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Arsenal’s game picked up significantly upon Giroud’s arrival after the break, as if they had a reference point for attack. There are still concerns going the other, and if Arsenal are serious about challenging for silverware this season, they will have to upgrade at centre-forward.

But Giroud has his purpose and he is good enough for Arsenal. Providing the equaliser and changing his side’s game for the better is more than enough proof of that.

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Radamel Falcao, Angel Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind. These are just some of the big names that have joined the Louis van Gaal bandwagon at Manchester United after a miserable 2013/2014 under the guidance of former Everton gaffer David Moyes. Looking at the players that the Dutchman has recruited, as well as the players already at the club, it’s safe to say that scoring goals won’t be a problem for the Old Trafford side.

However, on the basis of the start of the 2014/2015 campaign, a panic stricken backline has been the fundamental reason why the Red Devils have dropped vital points. After losing valuable experience in the shape of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra to QPR, Inter Milan and Juventus respectively, the likes of Jonny Evans, Rafael and youngster Tyler Blackett have been exposed at the back on several occasions.

Although the club are in a transitional period, winning one game in six in all competitions, conceding 12 goals in the process is not the ‘Manchester United way’. With a mega spend on the frontline, splashing the cash on a world class defender should be the priority in order for the 20 times Premier League champions to at least bring Champions League football back to the red side of Manchester.

One notable centre half that would fit perfectly into the heart of the defence is Mats Hummels. The Borussia Dortmund centre back is your all round, complete defender. As well as revelling in the tackle and reading the game, the Germany international has the capability to compose players around him and play from the back. Strong in the air, and a decent target man from set pieces, the strong defender can also provide the occasional goal. In the 2012/2013 season, the Dortmund centre back made more tackles than any of his teammates and committed the second fewest fouls in the side. With reported interest already rife for Hummels, van Gaal should make the German signing on the dotted line at Old Trafford his main priority in January.

An alternative to Hummels, one of the best defenders in the world, is Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian defender Miranda. Probably a surprise to many not to be selected for Luis Felipe Scolari’s World Cup squad, the centre half had a magnificent 2013/2014 campaign, that included aiding Atletico Madrid win the La Liga title and reaching the Champions League final. Also being courted by Premier League rivals, the 30-year-old can bring vital experience to a youthful United defence that includes 18-year-old £27m left back Luke Shaw and youth prodigy Tyler Blackett. Despite not being the tallest centre half at 6”0, Miranda has an incredible leap, as well as good awareness and a quiet aggression.

United’s leaky backline is something that teams will look to exploit. However, despite the lack of experience, the potential is there for the likes of Shaw, Blackett and Rojo to establish themselves as players that can be relied upon. Nevertheless, with the undoubted quality of the forward line causing havoc in the Premier League, a world class and experienced centre half is desperately needed.

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Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp has admitted to being pushed over the edge by Adel Taarabt.

The Moroccan’s future in west London is all but over after the pair came to blows last week.

Redknapp said: “I have tried everything with him, it was the first time I had gone public with him, things happen that pushed me over the edge you can only keep your mouth shut for so long, I just got fed up with it.

“I just got the hump and when I had it all week; people questioning my job all week and every day.

“We got beat in the last minute at home to Liverpool and I said what I said. If it makes him want to show everybody I would be delighted – I wasn’t getting anywhere the other way.

“He is 25 – but that’s how it’s been. Hopefully he will come out and train and he will work on the training ground and get fit.

“People think I am mad trying to continue believing him. But the boy has talent.

“Ask Glenn Hoddle, Joe Jordan, Kevin Bond, Clive Allen, Neil Warnock, anyone who has worked with him.

“We need his Championship form and if he’s fit he can do it. Has he been badly advised? He’s very close to people, I could write a book on it.

“Why carry on? Well, maybe I don’t put up with it, maybe you get to the stage where you are fed up with.

“He’s not a Messi, a Suarez, a Bale or Ronaldo, they produce every week. You cant compare with them.

“There will be a time when he regrets it and will be a shame because he has great god-given talent but he needs to produce.

“I have without a doubt been his biggest ally and everyone who knows me knows that.

“I’m the one person who has stuck by him. I have had other people come in and say to me that I am off my head for sticking by him. They tell me he’s never going to do it.

“And I say ‘yes he will, we have got to make him do it, that’s our job’.That is how I’ve been with him since day one.

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“He claimed I am rarely on the training ground. That is not true. I am there every day around 7.30am and I defy anyone to say differently. I have no idea what he claimed it.

“Whatever I say now, I don’t need a big story blown up again, it’s history now, we need to move on and get on with the game and get a result against Villa on Monday.

“Why no fine? I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what chairman Tony Fernandes has done, I haven’t got a clue.

“I’ve not seen Adel all week, he hasn’t been here. He has had a sore throat and not been available to train since. But it is done and we have to move on. I’m looking forward to the Villa game now.”

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Robert Green believes that QPR’s current side has more spirit and “heart” than the star-studded one he was a part of in the 2012-13 campaign, which ended in relegation.

The Super Hoops bounced straight back up to the top tier last season via the play-offs after sliding out of the division on the back of some limp showings.

QPR’s relegation season was one in which the club were criticised for possessing a number of overpaid and under-motivated players, with big names such as Julio Cesar, Jose Bosingwa, Djibril Cisse and Park Ji-Sung – who all had Champions League winners medals in their possession – in the squad

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Nowadays the Londoners boast a set-up with less glamorous names in the starting XI on a weekly basis.

And Green – a regular this term – believes that the new attitude makes this side a tougher proposition than the one he used to be in:

“In terms of what people have done, there were more medals in that 2012-13 squad, but there is undoubtedly more heart in this team. I know which camp I’d rather be in.” he told the London Evening Standard.

“The caring and the willingness to do well for each other, the club and yourself is there. You can’t buy that as proved by a couple of years ago. When you’ve got a group of 20 lads, inevitably over the year people will fall by the wayside sporadically. But if you have the majority all pushing in the same direction, like we are now, you need that movement to keep pulling everyone along.

“When you’ve got 20 lads and just five or six pulling in one direction and 14 in other, it’s nigh on impossible. It’s like herding cats. You can’t get everyone in the same place let alone in the same direction. It sounds simple, but when it goes wrong like it did back then, it’s very hard to drag back.

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“We had such an awful start last time (it took a Premier League record 17 games to record their first victory), we never recovered from it.

“On paper the team was good. We fell under the impression that ‘of course we are going to win games’. It hardly happened. Credit to the manager (Harry Redknapp) it was recognised and through a lot of hard work, fire-fighting and transfer windows, it’s been turned around.”

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January has been a quiet month for Liverpool. Only the re-arrival of Jordan Ibe – he had been on loan at Derby – has pierced the transfer silence on the red half of Merseyside, despite the club having entered the window with areas of concern in their squad. One of those ‘zones of worry’ has been up front, where the absence of Daniel Sturridge – who last played for the club in August – through injury has increased the focus on the failing of new duo Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert, as well a Fabio Borini.

But, reports over the last 24 hours have indicated that the area is set to be addressed with a move for Danny Ings of Burnley. Although many fans want the ‘box office’ name, the Clarets forward actually does make some sense for the Reds, even though any swoop would see him spend the rest of the season at Turf Moor.

We all known that Balotelli, Borini and Lambert have been awful so far this season, and when compared to Ings their stats are even worse than expected. That’s no dig at the Burnley man, though, who has been impressive since stepping up from the Championship – where he netted 21 goals last season – with seven efforts showing his deadly edge. He also strikes more shots from inside the area than any Liverpool striker, and hits the ball goalwards more often – albeit with more game time under his belt.

Per 90 minutes his numbers aren’t quite so domineering, but he certainly of more use than Balotelli in terms of creativity.

Opinion seems divided on the 22-year-old, with Sky Sports’ poll – albeit vague – showing a new 50/50 split on the worthwhile nature of a deal. And it appears voices on Twitter are similarly polar… 

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Since first signing for Manchester United back in 2010, after an impressive World Cup campaign with his native Mexico, Javier Hernandez has been a player many fans of the Premier League could fail to forget. Whether it be through his excellent movement in the box, his uncanny ability to find the right place at the right time, or just his somewhat unique nickname, ‘Chicharito’ has found himself many genuine supporters throughout his time at Old Trafford.

His subsequent loan move to the Bernabeu indicates just how highly valued the Mexican really is, as with Carlo Ancelotti seeing fit to include him in a squad already boasting the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, the quick-footed no. 14 really does deserve credit.

However, much of Hernandez’ praise has developed around his status as a ‘super-sub’ and an impact player from the bench. As every player wants to be starting games as a nailed on first choice asset, does Chicharito deserve more than his ‘super-sub’ status in club football, or is a place on the subs bench all Javier Hernandez can realistically expect these days?

In true reminiscent style of Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford, the £8million Mexican has developed a reputation with Manchester United for impacting his respective matches late on in the proceedings, rather than starting from the outset. Hernandez is capable of baffling somewhat tired defenders with his impressive runs, as well as displaying an often unmatched desire to get on the end of loose balls and seemingly fruitless passes.

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Many of his goals would come from unexpected scenarios, from which the former Guadalajara star would put the ball in the back of the net when most other onlookers thought the chance had gone. He is capable with scoring with either foot, has become very adept in his link-up play, and quite surprisingly for someone of his size, is able to leap up in the air a send the ball home with his head in real style.

The Mexican’s form has never been entirely consistent however, with some games passing him by without many even noticing his participation on the pitch. Yet as more often than not he would record a priceless goal for United, his seemingly little contribution often turned out to be very significant.

With the somewhat endless collection of world renown stars turning up at Old Trafford in recent years however, Javier Hernandez simply could no longer command a place in the starting XI, having to except his status as a ‘super-sub’ with very little choice. The same fate seems to have reached Chicharito at Real Madrid as well. Despite scoring four goals from almost as many starts in the Spanish campaign, most of the Manchester United loanee’s time at the Bernabeu has once again been spent warming the subs bench.

It seems that Carlo Ancelotti may have even recruited Hernandez simply for his role as an impact player, despite what may have initially been agreed between the two parties in the summer.

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So then, with everything taken into account regarding Javier Hernandez’ role in club football, it seems that at the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid, the substitutes bench is simply the best option available for the little Mexican. He will never be able to oust the likes of Ronaldo, Bale or Benzema, but maybe at a slightly smaller club where expectation and competition is not as intense, perhaps Hernandez may just find himself a new place to become a first team starter.

Until then however, the Chicharito we know is simply going to have to resume his role as Europe’s favourite ‘super-sub’ for now.

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As England prepare to take on Lithuania at Wembley in this evening’s Euro 2016 Group E qualifier, there’s only one question the public want answering; will there be a starring role for Tottenham’s prodigious striker Harry Kane?

In just a matter of months, the 21 year-old has moved from the fringes of the Spurs squad to the peripheries of greatness, a hat-trick against Leicester City last weekend seeing him rise to the top of the Premier League’s scoring charts with 19 goals, alongside Chelsea’s Diego Costa and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero. Les Ferdinand has even described him as a mix between Teddy Sherringham and Alan Shearer – high praise indeed.

More than just his goals and recent form, there’s something uniquely captivating about the young forward. His relentless enthusiasm for the beautiful game, and particularly Tottenham, constantly shines out, especially amid a Premier League era dominated by foreign stars and billionaire owners. He’s a throwback to simpler times; of local lads coming good for their hometown clubs; of Roy of the Rovers – or Kane of the Lane – fairytales; before supranational corporate sponsors began pouring unprecedented fortunes into all sectors of top flight football.

The chant “he’s one of our own” is by no means exclusive to Tottenham fans. Along with the Lilywhites fan base, the majority of England supporters will want to see the country’s latest potential hero in action tonight. It feels only fair, considering the orgasmic goalscoring pleasure he’s brought us all this season.

International minnows like Lithuania, however, throw up a rather bemusing proposition. In theory, facing a 94th-placed FIFA-ranked team in front of a supportive Wembley crowd should be the perfect opportunity for Kane to get his first taste of competitive senior international football, but in practice, such matches never quite pan out as expected – especially for a fatally flawed, over-pressurised England side.

Whilst Kane’s found superfluous form in the Premier League, a division defined by it’s up-down pace, chaotic defending and sweeping counter-attacks, the Lithuania fixture will offer none of the aforementioned. More simply, all eleven men behind the ball, camping in their own defensive third, trying to keep the score at nil-nil for as long as possible, knowing that the Wembley crowd will eventually get restless. Does Kane, although clearly a prominent young talent, possess the temperament and composure not become overawed by the unnecessarily apprehensive circumstances England will likely face tonight?

It may seem like a rather boring alternative, but in a qualifier that could see England move nine points clear of the competition in Group E, it’s likely Roy Hodgson will reserve the striking role for his captain Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United star has, after all, claimed 46 international goals almost exclusively against this calibre of opposition, and will enter tonight firmly in the knowledge he’s only three strikes shy of Bobby Charlton’s all-time top scorer record – a huge source of personal motivation.

Of course, it largely depends on how Hodgson sets up his side this evening. If he opts for the midfield diamond that secured a 2-0 win over Switzerland in September and gave England a refreshed sense of their industrious identity, then Kane should be starting. After all, he’s almost matched the Premier League career haul of the only other striker in the England squad, Danny Welbeck (with 24 goals) in the space of a single campaign, and unlike the bit-part Arsenal star is amid a run of 20 consecutive Premier League starts. On the back of a hat-trick at the Lane last Saturday, he’s fresh, sharp and at the top of his game.

Yet, fearing an ever-conservative Roy Hodgson, a cameo role seems the likeliest scenario for Kane this evening. That may not be the most popular choice but probably a sensible one, not only sparing the debutant from a potentially tepid opening atmosphere, but furthermore resting him for a starting berth in the friendly against Italy next week. Hurrikane will get a few minutes – but probably not enough for his forceful breeze to start uprooting Wembley trees.

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Harry Kane has nabbed all the limelight for young English strikers this season, but Danny Ings’ form should not slip under the radar.

In a Burnley side assembled on a shoestring budget with a fair amount of Championship standard players, the 22-year-old has notched an impressive nine Premier League goals in his debut season in the big time – including a lovely diving header at Old Trafford in a 3-1 loss.

Manchester United are believed to be leading the race for his signature this summer as a free –albeit compensation will have to be paid to the Clarets – transfer at the end of his contract awaits, but Spurs are also lingering in the background. The lure of the Theatre of Dreams and working under Louis van Gaal may be tempting, but we at FFC Towers thing White Hart Lane is the right place for the marksman… and here are FIVE reasons why.

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Greater chance of first-team football

At 22, Ings needs to play football. His development at Burnley has been excellent due to regular minutes on the pitch, and the only way he’s going to get better and establish himself in the Premier League is by playing games. Although Tottenham have Kane, the England U-21 star does have a good chance of getting regular minutes at White Hart Lane, with the Lilywhites likely to be balancing domestic and European football again next season – so long as they can sneak into a late Europa League spot.

Spurs need a centre-forward

Coinciding with the regular football angle, Spurs are short on attacking options. Kane’s rapid rise to become the club’s key centre-forward shows how poor Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado have been, and with reports suggesting they may be shipped out this summer, Pochettino may find himself with only one genuine striker.

Ings would surely benefit from this and be given the chances he needs.

Is he good enough for Man United?

Manchester United have title aspirations and dreams of Champions league glory. Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie are strikers at Old Trafford. The pressure is massive and top players in the past have struggled. Is Ings up to it? Maybe not. We shouldn’t forget that this is the Burnley man’s first season in the top tier, and although he’s netted nine goals, the leap from playing alongside the likes of Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes to linking up with Angel di Maria or Rooney is massive.

Pochettino good with young players

His work at Southampton with Jay Rodriguez, Calum Chambers and Luke Shaw was impressive and Pochettino has built on that at White Hart Lane by transforming Kane from an also ran into potential Premier League Player of the Year. All of the aforementioned players are at the starts of their careers, and with Ings being 22 he still needs nurturing.

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Harry Kane may be a one-season wonder

Battling Kane for first-team action in a one-striker system – as it stands – may not be entirely appealing for Ings, but the fact that this was the Spurs man’s breakthrough campaign offers some encouragement. Kane has been good, but there’s no getting away from the feeling that he’s not amazing technically, not overly fast in a straight line and, in general, not a brilliant player.

This season could prove to be a flash in the pan, and should his form and confidence dip next term, Ings could find himself leading the line for a team with genuine top four ambitions.

If Harry Kane’s Hurrikane were powered by the ridiculous hype he receives in the media, the Tottenham striker’s swirling winds would have decimated the whole of London by now – and probably bordering parts of Kent.

That’s no disrespect to the 21 year-old, who fully deserves the PFA Young Player of the Year award for emerging from the peripheries of the Lilywhites squad to finish the season as the Premier League’s top scoring Englishman – not to mention netting just seconds into his England debut against Lithuania.

But comparisons with German World Cup winner Thomas Muller? An apparent crossbreed of the Premier League’s all-time top scorer Alan Shearer and the thinking man’s preferred England centre-forward Teddy Sheringham? A £40million target for Manchester United? The Hurrikane is spinning out of control.

You have to wonder whether the whimsical nature of Kane’s sudden rise to the top – the accompanying soundtrack of ‘He’s one of our own’ chants, the intoxicating fairytale of local boy comes good in Roy of the Rovers style, mythological fables of him being born with the Spurs badge birthmarked on his buttocks and raised by a gang of feral cockerels on the mean streets of Chingford – have sensationalised opinions on the young striker.

The meme-a-minute world of social media and the realm of Premier League punditry appear to have overlapped, a disturbance in the footy-opinion-continuum making Kane the heir apparent to Shearer, Wayne Rooney and possibly even Bobby Charlton.

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Of course, there are some logic to the comparisons. Like Muller, Kane’s energy and enthusiasm is infectious, whilst he echoes the Bayern Munich forward’s manner of finding the net in simple-yet-clinical style. Like Sheringham, he’s a shrewd link-up player, crafty and technical with his back to goal and like Shearer, he’s imperious in the air with an obvious passion for his local club.

Overall, the Three Lions starlet is already a very well-rounded centre-forward; but after just two caps and single season in Tottenham’s first team, he’s still yet to prove himself truly worthy of association with some of England’s all time greats.

One-season wonders are hardly unheard of in the Premier League. In fact, they’re pretty common. Marcus Stewart was the Premier League’s second-top scorer during the 2000/01 campaign with 19 goals but bagged just seven more in his next 47 top flight appearances, succumbing both Ipswich and Sunderland to relegation.

Likewise, Michu, once an apparent target of Arsenal and Manchester United after netting 18 times during his debut Premier League campaign, has managed just two goals and 20 league appearances since. After spending the season rotting in Napoli’s reserves – representing them in Serie A only thrice – Swansea now face the improbable task of getting the Spaniard off their wage bill this summer.

Michael Ricketts, Roque Santa Cruz, Michael Bridges, Mikael Forssell, Benjani and Tottenham’s very own Mido all accompany Michu and Stewart in the Premier League’s one-season wonder Hall of Fame. As big a chance Kane has of producing another twenty-goal season during the 2015/16 campaign, at this point he’s equally likely to become the Hall of Fame’s next inductee. Lets not forget, two seasons ago he was struggling to score in the Championship for Millwall and Leicester City.

Indeed, the continuous hype says far more about the footballing world surrounding Kane than the striker himself; the media’s lust for hyperbole and sensational price-tags;  the manner in which every home-grown player now costs three or four times as much as their foreign counterparts; the lack of hope invested in the current national team, to such an extent any young, promising player is billed as the next Three Lions legend.

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To give credit where it’s due, the 21 year-old seems to have taken it all in his stride, batting away rumours of a summer move to Old Trafford, netting against Lithuania with emphatic ease, yet to involve himself in the fag-puffing, hippy-crack-toking world of some of his England team-mates.

But if there’s one thing young players don’t need, it’s added pressure.The lingering concern of Kane not fulfilling his ultimate potential simply because everybody keeps talking about it so much verges upon Shakespearean irony.

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After what seemed like an age, Petr Cech finally completed his move across London when he signed for Arsenal earlier this week. The Chelsea legend cost the Gunners around £11m and brings a wealth of experience gained during a trophy-laden spell at Stamford Bridge.

Signing Cech is exactly the short-term ruthlessness Arsenal have been craving for so long. No longer worried about the development of Wojciech Szczesny, or how David Ospina might fare having settled in for a year, Wenger has paid over ten million pounds for a 33-year-old. The mentality behind it is what winners are made of, as proved by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ten years ago, Fergie took Edwin van der Sar from Fulham for what now seems a steal, with a reported fee of £2m putting the Dutchman between the sticks at Old Trafford. Perhaps not the most sound financial business for a ‘keeper then well into his 30s, but the player himself proved that age is just a number time and time again.

The purchase of Van der Sar finally put an end to the desperate attempts to replace the Great Dane, Peter Schmeichel. Already a Champions League winner from his time with Ajax, Sir Alex knew he was buying success. And success is what he got.

Four Premier League titles followed, with the stopper breaking the Premier League record for consecutive clean sheets along the way. The success story hit its highest peak when Van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s penalty in the famous 2008 Champions League final, winning the trophy for the Red Devils.

Could Arsenal’s capture of Cech lead to similar success? The glove seems to fit. The parallels in this signing and Sir Alex’s stroke of genius are striking. Like Manchester United a decade ago, it seems Arsenal are finally addressing their ‘keeping conundrum. Just as Schmeichel proved nigh on impossible to replace, the Gunners have found it notoriously difficult to replace their own iconic shot stopper, David Seaman. Jens Lehmann might argue with that, though.

Arsenal are also buying a proven winner. Cech’s stoic performances in West London rightly earned him the right to call himself the best ‘keeper in the world. Though ageing, his heroics in the 2012 Champions League final can’t be so quickly forgotten.  Only the emergence of Thibaut Courtios, an exceptional ‘keeper with age on his side, could keep Cech from being the undisputed No. 1 at Stamford Bridge for many more years to come.

Wenger himself may have looked to the Van der Sar deal as a precedent. Signing a European Cup winner the wrong side of 30 to improve your squad in the (relative) short-term is the complete opposite to his entire philosophy during the eight barren years spanning from the 2005 FA Cup win to the 2014 repeat.

The Arsenal boss is now buying success rather than potential, an approach the Gunners have desperately needed for many a year now. The Cech signing has the potential to replicate the van der Sar deal near enough a decade its previous. Whilst Wenger before may have recruited an obscure teenager from God knows where, he has pulled off perhaps the biggest transfer coup in ten years.

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This ‘keeper holds the key to success.

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