Thursday, April 10 2008 -- Arsenal have steadily slipped in both the Premiership and in Europe since February and their 4-2 defeat in the second leg of the last 8 tie against Liverpool at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League has possibly hit the final nail in the Gunners' coffin this season.

Arsene Wenger's men have consistently slipped in the Premiership and are now actually second behind Manchester United with just 5 more rounds of matches remaining this season. Their dip in form and string of poor results have been accredited to Arsenal's lack in depth and strength in their squad and after their European Cup exit on Tuesday, several football commentators anticipate manager Arsene Wenger to make additions to his squad in the summer.

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor too has strongly hinted at the prospect of Wenger spending lavishly in the summer to strengthen the squad for next season and has told The Sun:

"At the end of the season in every club, there is a lot of changes and there will be here. But it is up to the boss to decide who is going to stay and who is going to leave the club. I am enjoying it here and a lot of players are happy here. But we have to stay focused and keep on going until the end of the season. We have learned a lot of things this year. Defeat can be painful and, hopefully, we can learn from this one. We have to pick ourselves up. It is better now to focus on the game [against Manchester United] on Sunday. It will be another big game for us and we will see what we can do."

Meanwhile Arsenal captain William Gallas too has blamed their bench strength for the defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday and laments:

"We lacked experience. You can't concede a penalty 30 seconds after equalising. Now it will be hard to bounce back. Morale is low. Nobody expected much from us at the start of the season and we've overachieved. But when you get this far, it still hurts."

All of this is true. Arsenal still tend to play glorious football and in Cesc Fabregas have arguably the best midfield player in the Premiership while the rest of the first eleven indeed is superb. But they do not have much strength and big name players on the bench and it is here where it hurts for Arsenal. The London club do have the necessary funds to make some key summer signings and maybe time has ultimately arrived for the Frenchman toad some big name players into his unit so as to compete with full throttle next season.