Andrew Fifield begins a weekly column on the Premiership by arguing that Patrick Vieira's departure is no reason to write off Arsenal
Something was missing at Highbury yesterday. As the captains of Arsenal and Newcastle exchanged pennants and pleasantries before kick-off, there was an almost funereal hush around the famous old stadium. On a day that should have been flooded with summery optimism, north London went down with a winter chill.
Not even Arsenal's 2-0 win could waft away the cold front that has been hanging over Highbury since July 15th, when Patrick Vieira completed his surprisingly swift transfer to Juventus.
Few had predicted it. Even England's tabloid press, which usually scoffs any scrap of transfer gossip it can lay its greasy fingers on during the slow summer months, seemed taken by surprise.
But should they have been? Vieira almost joined Real Madrid last July, but while that had been a long-running, will-he-won't-he transfer saga, this deal was wrapped up in a matter of days. The man who had revelled in the limelight at Highbury for almost a decade simply slipped off stage left while nobody was looking.
The French international's departure may appear the latest hammer blow against Highbury's marble halls - especially as it came so soon after Chelsea wrenched the Premiership trophy out of Arsenal's grasp - but it is hideously premature to declare the club a busted flush.
Like all good managers, Arsene Wenger knows who to sell, as well as who to buy. In the season before Nicolas Anelka was offloaded to Real Madrid, the teenager scored 19 goals and was hyped as one of the hottest properties in Europe. Wenger, aware of the striker's penchant for melodrama, thought otherwise and cashed in to the tune of £23 million.
That proved a wise decision, and for Anelka in 1999, read Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit in 2000. Both were deemed dispensable by Wenger, despite the pivotal role they had played in leading Arsenal to the double just two years previously.
Now Vieira is the latest big name to be chopped, and there is no reason to suggest that Wenger has blotted his copybook.
The Frenchman may have once been the top flight's top midfielder, but his edge has been blunted ever since Real first cast covetous eyes in his direction.
The extent of his demise can be measured by the way Manchester United cruised to victory at Highbury in February. Before the game, Vieira attempted to ruffle United's feathers in a tunnel tête-à-tête with his opposite number Roy Keane.
Nothing wrong with that, perhaps, but whereas the Vieira of old would have backed up his verbal barbs with a thunderous performance, this time he was toothless. United duly won 4-2.
Wenger knew his skipper was on the wane, so when Juve tabled a £13.75-million bid - less than the £18 million offered last season by Real, but still an attractive price for a 29-year-old - there was never likely to be much procrastination.
The heartiest endorsement of the Arsenal manager's decision was delivered, perhaps surprisingly given relations between the two clubs have plummeted from icy to downright frostbitten in recent months, by his counterpart at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho.
"Arsenal are not stupid," he said. "I don't believe they would do this just on instinct or without discussing and analysing the whole situation. They think it's good for them."
Quite right. Arsenal fans are a genteel bunch, and do not have the militant streak of their rivals from Old Trafford, but even so the lack of any palpable protest when Vieira's sale was announced spoke volumes. They trust their manager, and after leading the club into the Premiership's top two in every one of his full seasons in charge, he has earned that trust.
Nevertheless, it is clear that Wenger is facing the stiffest test of his Highbury career. Quite apart from dealing with Arsenal's mental block in Europe, there is the small matter of how to rein in Chelsea. Mourinho's team were a blue speck on the horizon last season and since then they have signed Asier Del Horno and Shaun Wright-Phillips, a player Wenger desperately wanted but could not afford.
Then there is Manchester United. Alex Ferguson's side were limp last term but their 2-0 victory at Everton on Saturday suggested they have rediscovered their appetite for Premiership bread and butter.
It is because of these conundrums, rather than despite them, that Wenger chose to sell Vieira.
Arsenal's squad may be thinner without their former captain, but his departure will usher Mathieu Flamini and Cesc Fabregas into centre stage. Both are prodigiously talented; both are feisty competitors; both will flourish as the season progresses.
Stiffer tests await, and the true ramifications of Vieira's departure may only be felt in two weeks' time when the Gunners meet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
But if the last decade of Premiership football has taught us anything, it is that Arsene Wenger gets big decisions right.
Arsenal fans will be fervently hoping his form holds.
