The challenge? Select a team of Arsène’s signings from his years at Arsenal that would be beaten by some of those sides of ours from the mid 90s under George Graham. This was the best (or worst) I could come up with. See what you think… 1. Manuel Almunia. Protests? Not from Ryan Giggs anyhow as Almunia came flying out like a ferret up a trouser leg before skinning poor Manuel somewhere on Avenell Road in 2004. As convincing a piece of support for Bob Wilson’s view on Arsène’s keeper myopia as you could wish to find.

2. Rémi Garde. Rémi appeared along with Arsène as a taster of the French treats we were to be blessed with over the coming years. Vieira, Petit, Pires and Henry have all given us fantastic moments. Rémi shuffled around in an inoffensive manner before wisely hanging them up and returning home.

3. Nelson Vivas. Arrived with a good looking CV which included a sackful of games for Argentina. Just goes to show that you should always conduct an interview, preferably invoving a challenge to hit a barn door from short range. Only redeeming factor was a somewhat liberal interpretation of the rules on hacking at opponents knees.

4. Gilles Grimandi. Yes, he has his plus points, especially his completely cynical qualities as shown in the recent Bergkamp testimonial game when pulling down Edgar Davids. And he seemed a nice fella. He even took public transport to training during the fuel shortage. However, most things; the lack of speed, the inability to play a pass to a red shirt, the fact that George Graham would have loved him, all make Gilles a shoe in for the ‘unable to replace Vieira’ holding role in midfield.

5. Pascal Cygan. Go on, admit it. When Pascal was unveiled to the world’s press in the summer of 2003 you thought, ‘great’. We all did. Here he was. 6 feet 5 inches of defensive steel. An enforcer to bring tears to the eyes of Premiership number 9s. A cultured, left footed Jaap Stam. And all for around £2million! A bargain. The brochure, though, was a little deceiving. What did we get? An accident waiting to happen. Take the faux-pas of Andy Linegan and a young Tony Adams and multiply infinitely and you get an idea of the potential for disaster that Pascal’s name on the teamsheet brings. He undoubtedly sees himself as a Beckenbaur type figure, stroking passes around. Unfortunately, more often than not a Cygan stroke reached row X in the East Stand. Maybe Highbury was too small for him. The recent game v Ajax supports this. Several Pascal passes only reached row W. The only player in living memory who actually shrinks when he jumps for a header.

6. Igor Stepanovs, February 25, 2001. Old Trafford. Manchester United 6 Arsenal 1. End of. 7. Junichi Inamoto. Definitely increased the take of touts selling over the odds tickets to gullible Japanese tourists to get a glimpse of Junichi on the bench, at best. On the pitch there was very little achieved. Plus, admit it, during the World Cup of 2002, you did think, ‘Arsene’s dropped one here,’ when he started scoring goals just after we’d given him a free.

8. Lauren. Controversial one, this. ‘Lauren the full back’ has won medals and played steadily, albeit with the odd embarrasing dive. ‘Lauren the full back’, however, is not included in the team. How many times have you seen ‘Lauren the goalscoring attacking midfielder’ that we signed play? Exactly. And anyhow, £7 million at 2000 prices was always a bit steep.

9. Davor Suker. This one might also be a bit harsh, but missing a penalty in a UEFA Cup final shoot out with your last kick is no way to go out. 10. Emmanuel Adebayor The jury remains out on this one but there are some indicators that it may all end in tears. His record of falling out with most people he meets, the dodgy hair-dos and the unerring (and frankly unwanted) ability to scoop clear chances clear over the bar. If he scores a Premiership winning goal at Old Trafford, of course, this selection will seem extremely foolish. I’m not holding my breath.

11. Jermaine Pennant. Pennant is here as a representative of the young Englishmen who have given us so much to be proud of in the last 10 years. Jail terms, late for training, overpaid and underperforming, he perfected the stereotype with his moan after leaving about British youngsters not getting enough chances at Arsenal under Arsène. Why’s that, Jermaine?

Question is, could they win in a battel of the giants against a George Graham team of: Vince Bartram, Pal Lydersen, Eddie McGoldrick, Andy Linighan, Steve Morrow, David Hillier, Ian Selley, Jimmy Carter, Mark Flatts, Paul Dickov and Kevin Campbell?