Arshavin in line to make Gunners debut

ARSENE WENGER could be ready to hand new signing Andrei Arshavin his debut in tomorrow’s north London derby at Tottenham – and declared Arsenal had “nothing to hide” over the Russian’s protracted transfer.

The move to land his number one target went right to the wire, with official confirmation of the deal being pushed through ahead of the deadline not coming until almost a day after the window had closed.

Reading manager Steve Coppell has labelled the whole saga “a sham”, after the matter was not, as had been expected, raised at Thursday’s meeting of the Premier League board.