Arsene Wenger can't wait to start season

Arsene Wenger was a changed man last night... and the spring in his step is because he believes his young Gunners can make a real impact this season.

The Arsenal manager has spent the summer attempting to prevent his squad falling apart at the seams.

Mathieu Flamini walked out for nothing, Jens Lehmann too, Alex Hleb forced his move to Barcelona and the experienced Gilberto left for Panathinaikos.

It looked like a familiar story, of Wenger making players into superstars and then seeing them snatched from his grasp, having no option other than to wave them goodbye.

Had Wenger, for all his faith in the likes of Samir Nasri, Carlos Vela and Aaron Ramsey, lost Emmanuel Adebayor too, then even the great French magician would have struggled to convince the Arsenal fans that he could keep on pulling rabbits out of the hat.

But Adebayor's decision to sign a new contract, having flirted with AC Milan and Barcelona ever since the end of last term, altered the whole mood of the club - and allowed Wenger a smile of quiet, determined contentment. Not only does the Togo striker offer a proven source of goals - 30 last term - but the out-ball that allows Wenger's side to play long and direct when the need is there.

And to the doom-mongers predicting this is the season when the miracles stop happening, Wenger offered a promise that their lack of faith in his team would once again be shown to be wide of the mark.

"I am very confident we have a squad to compete at the top level in the Premier League," vowed Wenger. Before the season starts, the predictions are always against us. They were strongly last season and they will be again this season.

"But we have enough strength to deal with that.

"Yes, we lost Flamini, Hleb and Gilberto, we lost three very good players. But we replaced Hleb with Nasri who is a very, very good player, you will see.

"I believe we were very unlucky last season. We feel we made a big improvement. We were 23 points behind the leaders the year before and last season we lost the championship by four points. So we were very unlucky last year - we had 14 points more than the season before.

"This year we want to make another step forward and challenge even more and win the championship.

"There is no reason why with such a young squad why we will be less good this year.

"We feel as a team we can develop because we work together for a few years, and that we are on the same wavelength about the way we want to play the game."

That way, the Wenger way, is the beautiful game, yet three seasons without any silverware have raised doubts that even the manager's brave, assertive words will not cure overnight.

Wenger will bring in one more experienced midfielder - and deliberately did not close the door on the option of Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry - while giving William Gallas another chance to show he deserves the captain's armband.

More pertinently, he attempted to play down the impact of Flamini's departure by pointing out the Frenchman, now at AC Milan, only made his mark on the team last term because of injuries elsewhere.

Arsenal face Juventus and Real Madrid in the Emirates Cup over the next two days and Wenger added: "In this Emirates tournament last year I planned to play Abou Diaby, not Flamini.

"But he was injured just before, Flamini came in and played the whole season. That's why it's important to have very good players.

"Gilberto was a very important player in the team even if he only played 12 games in the league but you cannot deny a player who is 32 and does not play regularly a chance to play somewhere "We have enough young players who can step in but we lost experience and if we can get a midfielder with experience who can play a tactical role we will do it.

"Usually people speak only about contracts and money, but it is more inside the club that you want to meet the needs of a player who loves football, wants to improve and loves to win.

When all is together, the players are happy at the club."

Wenger looked happier than anybody last night. He looked like a man ready to lock horns with Sir Alex Ferguson, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Rafa Benitez on even terms.

He looked up for the fight again.

EMIRATES CUP LINE-UP

TODAY

Real Madrid v Hamburg kick-off 2pm

Arsenal v Juventus kick-off 4.15pm

TOMORROW

Juventus v Hamburg kick-off 2pm

Arsenal v Real Madrid kick-off 4.15pm

All matches live on Sky Sports 2