Written by George Tuesday, 09 August 2011 14:45

GunnerTalk Blog

Summer of transfer rumour hell, will the trophy drought end this year?
By - Tasha (@UniqueUsernameN)

It’s been quite a summer if you’ve been an Arsenal fan with your ear to the ground eager for transfer news…Well, if you’re just an Arsenal fan with eyes and access to an Internet connection really. Yes the Internet, specifically Twitter has set about torturing every Gooner in the known universe with constant speculation but very little official news. I have lost count of how many times Gervinho was having amedical or how many times ‘48 hours’ was mentioned from ‘sources’. We did eventually landed our man and secured the highly rated Oxlade-Chamberlain aswell but some Arsenal fans are still grumbling about our defence and with good reason.

In all honesty I find itvery hard to look forward to our season and generate even a slightly hazypicture of what we will achieve at the end. Part of this is down to us notsigning a defender, the partnership of Vermaelen and Koscielny looks promisinghowever one knock and we have to face the possibility of Djourou or Squillacistepping in. Both players scare me whenever they pull on the shirt, simplybecause they are prone to idiotic, crippling mistakes. I was hoping that by thetime of me writing this we would have secured Gary Cahill or Chris Samba or asimilar defender with physical strength on their level. Unfortunately thisisn’t the case and we are still shaky at the back.
I believe Wenger will bringin a defender, rumours are already circulating on Twitter of an impendingsignature from Cahill but if Twitter is to be believed we have almost signedhim at least 7 times over the summer, so we shall have to wait and see.
The other sagas surroundingCesc and Nasri have been hard to endure. Relentless media coverage has leftArsenal fans fighting amongst themselves about whether clinging onto them isreally the best thing for the club. I see it this way: Cesc owes Arsenal atleast one more year and I believe Wenger will fight to get that year. If Nasrirefuses to sign a contract before the transfer deadline, sell him to thehighest bidder and use the money on a replacement. How true these rumours of‘holding the club for ransom’ are, as yet, unfounded in my opinion and I planto say no more on the subject until official news is heard.
 
Enough about the transferrumours and moving on to the point (finally): What will the 2011/12 seasonproduce for Arsenal fans, or the better question: What will the Arsenal teamproduce for Arsenal fans? We are now 5 years without a trophy, a drought thanwill be unfamiliar to some Arsenal fans, this has undoubtedly led to calls forWenger’s head which I think are extremely premature. I believe this season wemay be able to pull off something special, something miraculous. I stronglybelieve we will win a trophy this season, whether that is a Carling Cup or theLeague remains to be seen. We have to get some luck somewhere and if Van Persieand a few other members of the glass limb brigade can actually make it throughthe season we have as good a chance as any.
Arsenal will finish in thetop 4 this season & win a domestic trophy. That is my prediction, a lot ofpeople believe we will slip out of the top four and land somewhere in EuropaLeague country or beyond. I, however think we have had the perfect pre-season(and yes, you did read that right). Last year our pre-season was near faultlessand we still just about clung on to our top 4 spot. Our failings in thispre-season have been crystal clear and if the board and Wenger correct themistakes we will be on course for the trophy that has eluded us for too long.Or at least that is my hope.