Arsenal’s signing of Russia’s most talented player Andrei Arshavin on the final day of the transfer window (just about) brought an end to months of speculation, but will he or any of the other January transfers make an impact in what is left of the Premier League season?

If Arsene Wenger’s previous transfers are anything to go by Arshavin, like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Mathieu Flamini before him, will need a settling-in period to adapt to Arsenal’s distinctive patient style. Unfortunately for the Gunners, who are five points off the Champions League places, time is running out.

After letting Hleb and Flamini go in the summer, Arsene Wenger’s side was always going to look short of depth in midfield and fans were screaming out for the signing of Arsharvin in the summer. Has this deal come four months too late?

The other big January story came from Tottenham Hotspur, who bizarrely bought back Pascal Chimbonda, Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe. Good business by Harry Redknapp? Hopeless optimism? We’ll see about that.

Man City also spent a lot of money, if not quite as much as they would have liked, but I wonder if the cleverest deal might turn out to be Aston Villa’s purchase of Emile Heskey from Wigan for £3.5million. If Villa make it into the Champions League, that may well come to seem the bargain of the year.

Otherwise, who do you think will turn out to be the next Javier Mascherano, Nemanja Vidic or Emmanuel Adebayor? And who will be the next Jean-Alain Boumsong?

PHOTO: Andrei Arshavin celebrates a goal for Russia against Germany in a World Cup qualifier in Dortmund, Oct. 11, 2008. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Somebody must have bought Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger a calculator each for Christmas because both managers have done their sums and criticised the Premier League’s fixture programme.

After the United boss wondered aloud if the league was handicapping his club through their fixture list, his Arsenal counterpart crunched the numbers over the weekend

“I saw Ferguson made the case about fixtures,” Wenger said. “And we checked because we are always curious. And he has a case, and in this case so do we.

“If you take the international fixtures plus the Champions League, everybody has played ten games, six Champions League games and four internationals. And after those 10 games, we played eight away games and two at home. Manchester United played nine away games, Chelsea played six games at home and four away. And Liverpool played eight times at home and two away.”

With domestic fixtures necessarily organised before those in Europe, it’s difficult to completely follow their arguments but there’d certainly be one easy way to end the fixture problem in England.

It might be a bold suggestion in the current economic climate - and one which the Premier League would never accept - but never mind the 39th fixture, let’s cut the top flight down to 18 teams and why not scrap the League Cup while we’re at it.

In the Bundesliga (18 clubs) they get to put their feet up for six weeks every winter. And sure, there are 20 sides in the top divisions in Spain and Italy but they only have one domestic cup competition to distract them.

As for the League Cup, why not follow the German lead again and make it a pre-season tournament, an extension of the Community Shield. I doubt you’d hear a peep from Ferguson or Wenger.

Maybe then we could get down to tacking another tradition - the Boxing Day programme - and give these poor overworked players a few festive days off.

PHOTO: Arsene Wenger at Arsenal training, London Colney, Nov. 24, 2008. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

The William Gallas saga behind them, Arsenal have reached the last 16 of the Champions League after a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev.

A late winner from substitute Nicklas Bendtner was enough to send the Gunners through with a game to spare but will Arsene Wenger have to change things if his young side are to progress further in the competition?

Vlogonthepitch regular Owen Wyatt discusses Arsenal’s chances with Joe Brock in the video above. Let us know your views.

“There’s a lot of cover-ups sometimes and players need to stand up and be counted. I’m not sure that happens a lot at this club.” — Roy Keane, May 7, 2002.

“When you play for Manchester United nothing should interfere with what you are doing during the week and during a match. I have felt that one or two of the younger players have slackened off in training. I have not been happy about it. I have said it to them but maybe I have had to say it in public for them to sit up and take notice.” — Roy Keane, Feb 19, 2004.

And he did it again in 2005.

So what’s new about William Gallas revealing ’secrets’ from Arsenal’s dressing room? Nothing. And what’s so terrible about a captain hitting out at his team mates when they fail to deliver?

Gallas was doing the job of a captain at a club without a trophy since 2005.

Alright, Gallas is no Keano, but we cannot blame him for trying.

After all, it can get a lot worse in Germany. I remember in 1999 Bixente Lizarazu reportedly slapping Lothar Matthaeus in the face during a training session at Bayern Munich.

Perhaps some people will see a pattern emerging, and seek to blame the French, but then you may also remember the Italian Giovanni Trapattoni criticising players by name.

PHOTO: William Gallas trains with Arsenal, November 24, 2008. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh

For 12 years, Arsenal fans have been used to a manager so loyal it borders on the belligerent, but that quality appears to be lost on the team’s captain, William Gallas.

According to reports this morning, Gallas has been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy. For the sake of the club’s future, the manager may have to go even further and boot him out altogether. (more…)

Even manager Arsene Wenger has no clue which version of Arsenal will turn up to matches at the moment.

The one that swept aside Manchester United last week with a dazzling brand of football, thrashed Blackburn Rovers 4-0 away and dismantled Fenerbahce in Istanbul or the one that lost at home to Hull City, got bullied into defeat at Stoke City and was well-beaten 2-0 at home by Aston Villa last weekend.

Wenger moaned about a lack of consistency, while goalkeeper Manuel Almunia said that changes were going to be needed if Arsenal are to mount a serious challenge for the title.

While on their day they are the best team to watch in England, they are also extremely fragile. (more…)

A seismic weekend at Tottenham resulted in the ruthless cull of Juande Ramos and his coaching team and the sacking of director of football Damien Comolli.

Harry Redknapp was then hired as the club’s new manager just hours before the north London club claimed a first league victory of the season against Bolton.

However, their league position is still precarious (they are bottom, a point worse off than Newcastle) and there are many Spurs fans who are uncomfortable with the appointment

Not just because Redknapp has strong connections with West Ham United, but because his main attribute appears to be guiding average sides away from relegation.

Apart from last year’s FA Cup victory with Portsmouth, the 61-year-old Redknapp’s CV highlights are none too impressive.

Sure, he saved Portsmouth from relegation a few years ago and will probably have enough tricks up his sleeve to get Tottenham into mid-table by the end of the season.

But, what then? Is Redknapp really the man that can make Tottenham a force again? Can anybody?

It is a stark admission of failure by chairman Daniel Levy that he has gone back to basics after several unsuccessful attempts to discover Tottenham’s own “Arsene Wenger”.

Since Wenger took charge of Arsenal in 1996, Spurs have entrusted Swiss Christian Gross, Frenchman Jacques Santini, Dutchman Martin Jol and Spaniard Juande Ramos with trying to close the gap on their north London rivals.

Quite frankly, apart from Jol who turned Tottenham into a serious league force and came within 90 minutes of taking the club into the Champions League, the flirtations with European coaches have been a disaster.

The appointment of Redknapp also spells the end of Levy’s preference for a European-style management structure. There will be no director of football and Redknapp has made it clear that only players he wants will be in the squad.

What many fans cannot understand is why Jol, who guided Spurs to consecutive fifth-placed finishes, was not allowed the same responsibility.

Instead, he was undermined by Comolli and eventually sacked — a decision that now appears to have put the club back years.

Tottenham play Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday and thousands of Spurs fans, whether they admit it or not, will be looking on with envy and asking the nagging question, “What if Wenger had chosen the other half of north London?”

Redknapp may provide some instant comfort but sadly, Tottenham fans seem destined for many more years of pain.

PHOTO:  New Spurs boss Redknapp comes out of the tunnel ahead of his side’s game against Bolton Wanderers. Oct.26 REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

When Aleksandr Hleb and Mathieu Flamini left Arsenal in the close season with no obvious replacements you might have been tempted to question Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy.

Well, Cesc Fabregas was not among the doubters, as he told Reuters this week. Cesc says he always had faith in the man who brought him in from Barcelona as an unknown teenager (as well he might).

Owen Wyatt “caught up with” the Spain midfielder at a trendy London nightspot and clearly picked up some fashion tips while he was there.

Check out the video above, and give us your thought on Wenger and his 2008-09 vintage Arsenal in the comments below, or in a vlog of your own, which we’ll be happy to host here (if it’s any good).