Nowhere to hide now for Wenger

SURROUNDED on all sides, snipers shooting from every angle as even loyal troops reluctantly break ranks; a victim of his own stubborn refusal to listen to sense. The end game, it seems, has finally arrived.

No, this is not Tripoli (although Colonel Gadaffi may recognise himself in the description). This is Italy – Udine to be precise. And this is Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Such is football’s love affair with hyperbole that tonight’s Champions League qualifier between Udinese and Arsenal at the Stadio Friuli has been billed as the most important of the Wenger era for a team that appears to be lurching from one crisis to another.