Gilberto and Flamini are memories now. Lassana Diarra was sold on for a profit in January. Cesc Fabregas is unfit, as (predictably) is Abou Diaby. Alex Song is in China, so Arsenal will presumably line-up for the first leg of their key Champions League qualifier this evening with Denilson partnered by the 17 year old Aaron Ramsey. Both have experience of big games – albeit only an FA Cup final substitute appearance for Ramsey. But this is as big a game as either have played in terms of its significance for Arsenal’s season. A bad defeat would make life very, very difficult for everyone at the club.

The irony of the situation is that there seems little point in the team attempting to put everything on hold and play cautiously in the hope of home advantage telling in a fortnight’s time. So, frankly, they might as well go for it. Denilson, partnering Cesc against Ajax, tended to play the deeper role, and Ramsey is a physical player who can get a tackle in. But neither really read the game well when the opposition has the ball in the way that a quality central midfielder can. So, Arsenal are vulnerable. Djourou has the chance to prove he can be the missing rock at the back so badly required, and win the physical battles that Gallas and Toure don’t seem to be able to. But the second ball is critical, and it is here that, alongside Gallas, one of Denilson or Ramsey has to work and work hard to cover ground at the back. Arsenal have become sloppy in defence. There seems little doubt that Wenger will sign at least one player to address this weakness, hopefully two. But that isn’t going to happen before this evening.

So Arsenal have to put in some substantial effort, and ideally, win the match against FC Twente. The Dutch team are not actually playing at their own stadium, so maybe there is a slight loss of advantage there. In truth, I do not think they believe they can beat Arsenal, but they will have a damned good go, such is the prize at stake, and a result like 2-0 could be catastrophic. The stakes for Wenger’s team are incredibly high though, and there can be no sense of complacency.

On a separate note, I received an email earlier this week from Yasir Matloub. It’s too short for an exclusive on its own, but it’s worth a read. The subject line read ‘Greedy Footballers’ and this is what Yasir had to say –

I have supported Arsenal since 1965 when I was living in my home country, Iraq. I have had a season ticket for many years but this year I decided not to renew it. Arsenal is and will always be in my heart but the attitudes of today’s players has made me make this sad decision. They live in a cloud cuckooland when our Togolese player wants £120k a week, while Hleb is struggling to manage on £55k a week.

These people do not live in the real world when the whole world is facing mounting debts. Do they know that a university professor who has published hundreds of research papers can only command £60k a year? They can sit on a large contract which is not performance related like ordinary human beings. We at Arsenal will never see the likes of Adams and Bergkamp again.

Me again… It’s certainly true that there is a sense of disenchantment amongst supporters with the amount of money players are earning and the protests that they want more, more so now that most ordinary people are having to tighten their belts. And in this light, I was very interested to see that the second leg of the key game against FC Twente at Ashburton Grove has gone to general sale. This is hugely significant, and I think the first time this has ever happened for a competitive match since the stadium move. Basically, the club has over 100,000 silver and red members and it is unable to sell out the 12,000 available tickets to them.

Prices are too high and people are opting not to come, but save money and watch it on the box. It’s a situation we’ve laughed about at Stamford Bridge for years, but now, the credit crunch has made the chickens come home to roost at Arsenal. It is not a disaster by any means. In fact, it is very good that people are able to buy tickets without being a member. But it is also a sign of what could happen if the club fell away competitively. And that is the huge concern of Gooners as we go into this evening’s vital match.