Arsenal
11/8, Tottenham 2/1, Draw
9/4
Arsene Wenger could be ready to hand new signing
Andrey Arshavin his debut in Sunday's north London derby at
Tottenham - and declared Arsenal had "nothing to hide" over the
Russian's protracted transfer.
The move to land Wenger's number one January target went right
to the wire, with official confirmation of the deal being pushed
through ahead of the deadline not coming until almost a day after
the window had closed.
Reading manager Steve Coppell has labelled the whole saga "a
sham", after the matter was not, as had been expected, raised at
Thursday's meeting of the Premier League board.
Wenger, though, maintains all the correct procedures had been
followed and revealed Arshavin may be handed a baptism of fire
against the Gunners' fierce rivals at White Hart Lane.
"It was done in the last minute, but regularly. We have nothing
to hide," the Arsenal manager declared. "We just did the deal very
late in the afternoon, sent it to the Premier League and they
ratified it. "Of course, we want everybody to question the deal. If
the deal was not right we would have cancelled the transfer and
accepted it. We have done nothing wrong.
"We were not the only one in this case. In every transfer window
you have at least 10 or 15 clubs who have to wait until the next
morning usually to get agreement from the Premier League. "We just
didn't want to announce it as long as it wasn't officially
accepted."
