Money well spent imo and not like we can't afford it either. Not many other top class strikers out there available. If RM are willing to sell why not go for him. I'd say he's an improvement over Giroud as he linked better with Ozil when they were both there.

Just hope the rumours are concrete as Talksh*te aren't the most reliable of sources!

I'm with you on this one. Flame me now, but I think he's over-rated. But maybe a new and well known player will boost the rest of the squad and give Giroud a reason to fight for his place.

PLEASE, PLEASE let the Benzema rumour be true. It might just give us a chance. Still find it hard to believe though.

10 shots on target and 2 goals is a pretty poor return. No point Ozil creating all these opportunities without someone to get on the end of them.

Or will it be Edinson Cavani? Or will all these rumours amount to nothing.

Cavani or Benzema is fine with me but I have a feeling it will be "We tried to sign Cavani/Benzema/Reus etc etc but werent successful"

Well it better be somebody because if our entire transfer business of the summer was just bringing in Chelsea's 33 year old reserve keeper, that would be insane even by Wenger's standards.

Benzema odds-on to sign for us with the money going towards the purchase of Reus to RM.

Just hope it goes through unlike Higuain a few seasons back.

Wenger answer on possible transfers: “We expect, like you, but at the moment, we are not close.”

That is more positive and I would say the same in his position. We'll see...

Well, firstly I think that's a rather belittling description of a great goalkeeper, and also a great signing for our club.

And as Wenger said today, he won't just bring in 'anyone'. I'm sure the players he has identified as transfer targets are of a very high quality (nothing less than we should expect, I'm sure you'll agree), and that probably means they are already playing for a wealthy club, that can comfortably pick and choose who they want to sell and at which point in time.

The transfer window is far from over, and I'm sure we'll soon see a merry go round of players coming in and out of some of the top clubs. I hope we are in the mix for one or two very good players who can complement the squad.

Agree with this, he could even say he didn't buy a striker because he didn't want to kill akpom!!

Completely agree with this but it is typical of Wenger's attitude in prior seasons.

West Ham 1-0 down to Bournemouth at Upton Park

What does that make us? How crap are we?

That was somewhat expected.

Good to see Cesc play spectacularly well for Chelsea.

Notable absentee from Real Madrid's line up this evening.

Not even on the bench. It'll be interesting to see if he's in the crowd. If he's not I'd suggest something is afoot.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34011871

I thought he was injured.

Let's see if he's in the crowd.

Not sure why this story keeps running. Real Madrid have no strikers. Why are they going to allow Benzema to go when they are so short up front?

I would he shocked if he went as they simply do not have enough strikers to allow the move to happen.


Why would he be. Madrid were playing away.

I would be shocked to see Madrid sell Benzema given that they are up against the best attack in the world in Messi/Neymar/Suarez and have much less options up front than Barcelona. It would be a superb signing for Arsenal though and finally a worthy replacement for Van Persie!

Has Benitez not indicated that he wants to play with Bale through the middle? If thats the case having strikers isn't high on his list of priorities.

That said when Benitez is sacked by Christmas they will probably want to have a couple of strikers in the squad for the new man coming in.

Even so you take Benzema from the squad and Madrid will he left seriously light. Rafa still needs options.

good match hopefully

I'd be surprised if we got Benzema. My guess is his agent is angling for a new contract at Madrid - just as Sergio Ramos did.

The assertion that we are signing him is originating from just two questionable sources anyway - an internet journalist in South America who sometimes works for ESPN, and an Italian sports reporter. The rest of the press and media have picked it up and ran with it, always starting their articles with "It is reported...". Yeah, it's reported by two obscure people on Twitter, and nobody else. So if we don't end up signing him, that's probably because it was always a load of bollocks. My guess is that if we are to sign anyone before the window closes, it will be pulled out of a hat just as Ozil and Sanchez were - and virtually every other player we sign.

Tonight's match - if both teams play to their best, we will win.

After a good pre season, the reality check against WHU, and a dogged performance/result against Palace, I'm hoping/expecting that we find our form today.

While it's very early in the season, a loss will put us 6 points behind Pool who we'll be challenging for the CL spots, I fear if we don't add to the squad.

Benzema or even lacazette will be great, and will add competition to giroud/walcott. I'd like to see Theo play more, whether centrally or on the right (where he's more effective, imo). What's the point if giving him 140k per week if he's not given time on the pitch?

I feel like Theo's contracts are always rewarding potential. I think it is definitely now or never for him.

Lacazette - not sure about him, yeah he scores a lot of goals in the Ligue 1, but in Europe not so much. I feel we need a more proven solution. I think Pedro will reinvigorate Chelsea, the West Ham result shows me that there are still issues for Arsenal.