Striking Options

I am indebted to a friend for the snap of the ground at Wednesday's FA Youth Cup semi-final (thanks Dave). For those who haven't seen any coverage of the game it does give you an idea of how much space is left when you fit a Highbury-sized crowd into the Grove.

The column inches this morning are largely devoted to Arsene Wenger's comments about strikers, and two in particular.

Nicklas Bendtner, currently scoring the goals that could bring Birmingham City back to the Premiership, will be returning to the club next season. Wenger said "He is 18, strong and has a big future. He knows we want him back and he's happy about that. There is a lot of competition, a lot of good young players but if they are good enough then they will come through."

Wenger also reveals we were also in the market for Andy Johnson before he was snapped up by tomorrows opponents, Everton. Tipping the nimble hit-man to partner Wayne Rooney in an England shirt, Wenger added "You need another striker who can stretch the defence, like Johnson. I did consider him at one stage when he was at Crystal Palace but the price stopped it happening."

That begs a further question for me. Given that Johnson moved for £8.6 million does this suggest that we did not have that sum available? Was it rather that we did not value him at that figure, a pretty reasonable fee by todays absurd standards, and Arsene is just charming a man who could do us some damage tomorrow? My money is on the latter, but the way the season has panned out Johnson could have provided something for us with Henry and Van Persie missing for long periods.

That's it for now. To those of you intending to celebrate Paddy's Day I leave you with only one thought. You can never have too much of what is good for you (and Guinness is very, very good for you!)