Arsenal's Champions League Draw

Well, we managed to qualify for the group stages for the 10th year running after beating Slavia Prague 5-0 on aggregate, so we get the excitement of getting to see our team play in the Champions League once again. I discussed the possibilities of who we could face in an article before, but now that the draw has been settled we know who our opponents are.

Our opponents in Group H will be Steaua Bucharest, Slavia Prague, and the winner of Monday’s Sevilla vs AEK Athens match which was postponed due to the tragic death of Antonio Puerta.

Assuming that Sevilla make it through, we should have a pretty entertaining list of fixtures to watch, as Steaua Bucharest are an attacking side, Slavia Prague were good enough to beat out Ajax, and Sevilla are one of the best teams in Spain right now.

I think it is a great draw, as we will have good matches, but we will still be fairly assured of making it through to the knockout rounds. However, it will be a tough challenge to finish ahead of Sevilla, and the Spanish giants should keep us on our toes throughout the group stages. It'll be great to see how Gael Clichy and Dani Alves handle each other as they are two of the best attacking defenders in world football.

Let's hope that we can once again make it to the Champions League finals.

Urby Emanuelson to come to Arsenal?

Rumor has it that Arsene Wenger is poised to make a move for talented Dutch international, Urby Emanuelson. Although he is fairly well-known (and not French) the Ajax left back fits almost perfectly to Wenger's mold - he is only 21. His experience, however, belies his age. He has played 61 matches for Ajax since his debut in 2004, and has also played 6 matches for the senior Dutch national team. He was also a member of the Dutch U21 team which recently defended their U21 World Cup crown. In the U21 World Cup, Emanuelson was named to the UEFA Team of the Tournament, following his impressive displays at right back. To top it all off, he was recognized as the Talent of the Year at Ajax Amsterdam, an award recently recieved by the likes of Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder.

So, he seems fairly qualified for a 21 year-old. The real question, though, is do we need him? Well he would be an able replacement for Armand Traore, but it would seem like a waste to have two of the most promising young left backs sitting on the bench waiting for Gael Clichy - one of the best left backs in the premiership - to get injured or suspended. My verdict: if we sell Traore, then Emanuelson would be a great buy - and the trade from Traore to Emanuelson would certainly be a trade up. However, if we intend on keeping both in our squad, it would simply be squandering talent (unless of course Arsene Wenger manages to work some of his magic by transforming one or the other into a player of a different postion - a left winger perhaps?) Wenger has said that he is not looking at any new players, but it would be great to see Wenger back in the transfer market, so lets hope this rumor is true.

Edit: The Sunday People is now claiming that Emanuelson is currently on trial with Arsenal.