Wenger - We can win everything

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal are capable of winning the Premier League and UEFA Champions League next season.

The Gunners finished last term without any silverware after suffering a dip in form at a crucial period.

They won just one league game in eight from 23rd February to 13th April and were also knocked out of the Champions League by Liverpool at the quarter-final stage.

However, Wenger was encouraged by Arsenal's performances and is hopeful of mounting an even stronger challenge when the new campaign gets underway.

"I think we can win everything. We are very, very close," Wenger said in the Daily Express, taken from the Arsenal Season Review DVD.

"Now that the Champions League final has become an FA Cup final (after Manchester United beat Chelsea in Moscow) the team who is very strong in England has a good chance to win the European Cup.

"The Premier League title goes down to one game, won or lost."

Wenger thinks Arsenal were the best attacking force in the Premier League last season and would have finished top had their defence been stronger.

He added: "I believe overall quality, going forward, we were the best team in the League.

"However, Arsenal conceded 10 more goals than the others and that made the difference.

"It's very difficult to take a perspective in what people expected from us at the start of the season, and the fact we are disappointed for not winning the championship.

"We have done beyond expectation, but, as well, we are disappointed beyond expectation as we have not won the championship. But we feel we are very, very close."

Arsenal's poor run of results started with the 2-2 draw against Birmingham, when Eduardo da Silva suffered a sickening leg injury and decisions seemed to go against Wenger's side.

The Gunners boss accepts it was a pivotal moment but feels confident his players will have learned from the experience.

"It's very difficult to swallow because, on the day, so much happened," he explained.

"But, then again, maybe we could not deal with that frustration and that's what we have to learn, to keep our calm and continue to win just the next game."

Sagna pens Gunners deal

Arsenal have handed a new contract to right-back Bacary Sagna.

The French international full-back had an outstanding maiden campaign in England following his move from Auxerre last summer, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Now, despite only being less than 12-months into his original deal, Arsenal have moved to tie him down for a further two-years, taking his contract up to 2014.

Sagna himself was delighted to have put pen-to-paper.

"I love Arsenal, they are a great club," Sagna stated.

"The manager is also very good and next season we will be fighting for all the trophies."

Nasri not before July - Wenger

Arsene Wenger has informed the French media that Samir Nasri will not sign for Arsenal before Euro 2008 ends.

The Gunners boss, currently resting at Merano’s health centre in Italy, has declared that the Marseille playmaker could play in North London next season, but he will not sign next week.

The attacking midfielder was expected to be transferred to the Premier League giants before the start of the European competition but Wenger, pushing for his signing, claims that the 21-year-old will not commit his future to Arsenal before July.

Nevertheless, the Alsatian boss remains optimistic about his chances to bring the France international to Emirates Stadium and was impressed by Nasri's display during France's friendly with Paraguay on Saturday night.

“Nasri, he interests me,” Wenger told RMC.

“I hope I will do it after the Euros.

“It is more complicated now because the wage differences [between the French and the English league] are not as big as they used to be.

“Just watch [Karim] Benzema. He is 20 and recently signed a new deal.

“It is very difficult [to transfer players from the French league] but England is considered one of the two top leagues and the best players want to play against the best players.”

Bould - Kids exceeded expectations

Arsenal Academy’s target of developing players ripe for the first-team is working, according to Steve Bould.

The former Gunner currently plays a key role, alongside Liam Brady and Neil Banfield, in turning raw talent into the finished article. This season the conveyor belt that the Club has been working towards really gathered pace.

Nacer Barazite, 18, Gavin Hoyte, 17, Fran Merida, 18, Kieran Gibbs, 18, Mark Randall, 18, and Vito Mannone, 20, have all made the step-up to the senior squad this term. But it is further down the order that Bould has been most proud.

With the Reserves and first-team ‘robbing’ him of the slightly older crowd, the Under-18s manager uses a squad of predominantly 15 to 17-year-olds. No problem though, they still topped their division.

“I think it has been a great year for my team in all honestly,” Bould told Arsenal.com. “Most of the kids have progressed well and one or two have even surpassed what we thought they might achieve. They are ahead of where we expected them to be.

“If you had told me that we were going to play the younger bunch and do so well I wouldn’t have been quite sure. Don’t get me wrong though, I knew that we had good players at the start of the season, and they have proved just that.

“Some of the kids have been dipping their toe in at Reserve level too. That is really pleasing and I am hopeful that they will be full-time with that team next season.

“I think we can happy with what we are doing; that is, developing good footballers.”

Success-a-plenty then, but what has pleased Bould the most?

“To be honest I think the quotes that I have seen from the boss [Arsène Wenger] about the set-up and the ability of our young kids, not just one but he has mentioned several lads, has been great and at the start of the season I would have settled for that,” he said.

“To hear those compliments and to know that he has his eye on one or two of the youngsters for the future proves that our target of developing the players is working.”

Fifa's quota plans concern Dein

David Dein has urged caution over Fifa's plans of restricting the amount of foreign players in the English game.

Fifa president Sepp Blatter wants to introduce a 'six-plus-five' principle whereby teams could only field a maximum of five non-nationals.

But former Arsenal vice-chairman Dein has issued a warning over the plans.

"This is probably the most contentious issue to hit English football since the Premier League was set up in 1992," he told Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek.

"It's a hot potato and in my view it's not going to get any cooler.

"I think Sepp Blatter is on a mission to try and push this rule through.

"As it stands at the moment, it cuts right across article 39 of the EC treaty which covers the freedom of movement of professional footballers in the UK.

"Sepp Blatter and his colleagues have a lot of work to do to get this through."

Dein's former club Arsenal have been accused of hurting the English national team with a dependence on overseas players, with manager Arsene Wenger often not fielding an Englishman in his starting XI.

It is an accusation that can be levied at a number of top-flight clubs but Dein, a former vice-chairman of the Football Association, defended his former club and believes any quota could harm the Premier League.

"It is unfair to isolate Arsenal," he said.

"Look at Bolton and Fulham, who have got over 60% of their players from overseas. Arsene Wenger always said he looks at the quality of the player and not the passport."

He added: "Most of the Premier League clubs spend millions of pounds on their youth development programme and as we speak (Arsenal academy director) Liam Brady will probably be training six or seven teams from the ages of 11 to 17 to try and find the best of English talent.

"There is the home-grown rule which UEFA have introduced which seems to be working quite well. That is where you can have players come in from the age of 15-21 and as long as they have had three years training with the club in England then they qualify as home grown.

"What Blatter is trying to do is very contentious and will hurt the Premier League. It needs a lot more thought. It needs the Premier League, the FA, the Football League and PFA to sit down and think it through.

"You need as strong a national team as possible but there is a duty to protect English football and the Premier League sits at the pinnacle of English football."

Minister of Sport Gerry Sutcliffe was in agreement that Uefa's route was a positive step and also believes that to have a successful Premier League and national team is a difficult balancing act.

"I think he (Blatter) is committed to this route but I think the Uefa movement on home-grown players is a step in the right direction," Sutcliffe told Sportsweek.

"Certainly the Premier League is the best in the world and we don't want to do anything to damage that.

"But obviously it's very embarrassing that none of the UK teams are in the European Championships and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again. A balance has got to be struck."

Van Persie won't be risked

Robin van Persie has confirmed Holland coach Marco van Basten will not be rushing him into action too early.

Although the Arsenal forward feels 'super fit' it has been a season of frustration for the 24-year-old having made just 13 Premier League starts.

With Van Persie paying a heavy price for returning too early last season for The Gunners, Van Basten is keen to avoid any recurrence that could rule him out of Euro 2008.

That means Van Persie's playing time against Wales on Sunday could be limited, if he even appears at all ahead of their Euro 2008 opener against France.

"I am super fit," he told the Sunday Mirror. "But coach Marco van Basten does not want to take any risks. I have been so unlucky this season with injuries.

"I have made a couple of comebacks too early. I paid the penalty for that and we both don't want it to go wrong again.

"But I can sprint, I can shoot, I can do the lot. And I am bursting to produce some really good football in the Euros."

Wenger wants teams rewarded for positive football

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels a bonus points system would encourage teams to play positive football.

The French tactician is disappointed when he sees teams surge into leads only to sit back and defend their advantage.

Wenger feels that if extra points were on offer, then it would encourage teams to continue to attack and make games more exciting.

"I can see a system working whereby the difference between goals scored and conceded earns you extra points," said Wenger.

"That would mean that, if a team was leading 3-0, they would still be encouraged to go on and try to score more goals in case their opponent pulled one back, and it would encourage the losing team to try to close the gap.

"It would stop a team who was leading one or two nil from sitting on their lead.

"That would be better than just awarding a team a bonus for scoring a certain number of goals - they tried it in France whereby teams who scored three goals earned an extra point, but it didn't work.

"This way the game would become more exciting and I feel the leading clubs have a responsibility to play positive football."