After his magical hat-trick in the San Siro it was inevitable that Gareth Bale was going to start being linked with Europe’s elite. The Spurs winger announced himself on the European stage with one of the most thrilling and impressive quick fire hat-tricks in the competition’s history.

The Welshman very nearly single handily salvaged a point for his side after Inter had dominated the game for so long, leading 4-0 going into the 52nd minute before Bale scored a lovely solo effort. The goal looked nothing more than a consolation with the match entering time added on before Bale scored a carbon copy of his first, earning the match ball straight after with another deadly finish. The champions hung on, but Spurs will have the chance for revenge when they play host to the Italian giants next week. Anyone who has bet on Champions League group stages will know the game is crucial for their hopes.

Bale has been an ever present in the Spurs first team this season and has flourished in his role as winger. His form and amount of games has prompted Harry Redknapp to give the 21-year-old a few days off, with the order to go and get a tan before Spurs’ tough upcoming fixtures. They’ll want the winger fit and raring to go when Spurs face the daunting trip to Old Trafford this weekend to face Manchester United before the Inter game.

The Champions League specials suggest Spurs can progress and they currently lie in the all important second qualifying place in Group A, thanks to a victory over Twente, a draw against Werder Bremen and their narrow loss to Inter.

Amongst all of the negative press surrounding Liverpool and Manchester United at the moment, Arsenal have put out some positive news out there with regards to their captain Cesc Fabregas.

After working hard to keep the Spaniard at the club in the summer, Wenger has said that he aims to keep him at the club for ‘a few more years’.

Fabregas was very close to joining Barcelona a few months ago, with many free bets being placed on him never playing for Arsenal again, so this might come as quite a surprise to football fans around the world. The general opinion was that the Spanish champions didn’t get their man this time around, but would do come next summer.

Wenger isn’t having any of this though. He says: “At the end of the day, I believe he wants to win with this club. For how long I don’t know but hopefully for many, many years. I’m not pessimistic. I’m confident we will keep him for a few more years.”

The Arsenal boss went on to speak about Fabregas’ love for the Gunners:  “He deeply loves this club believe me. If he did not love the club, he would have gone.”

As we know, Arsenal rejected two bids from Barcelona in the summer for their star midfielder. Wenger has a record of selling players once they have shown their best form and this clearly isn’t the case for Fabregas as yet. He still has a lot to give in his career and Wenger wants this to be at the Emirates for as long as possible.

Fans of the club will be delighted with this. They don’t want to just let their best players leave. They want to be challenging for major honours this season and beyond. This means Fabregas staying is in their best interests.

How realistic is Wenger’s aim though? Will Fabregas still be an Arsenal player in three years time? It will certainly be interesting to hear the player himself react to these comments.

One thing for sure is that if Arsenal can win the Champions League or Premier League this season, tote betting pundits would make Wenger’s quest to keep Fabregas at the Emirates a very realistic possibility.

Arsenal had a shaky start to the 2010-11 Premiership season with the defeat at home to West Brom having the Arsenal fans worrying if it was going to be another one of those seasons. Many have already written off Arsenal as real title contenders with many seeing Chelsea, Man Utd and now Man City as the three teams that will be slugging it out come the end of the season. However none of the other three are without their weak spots, so can Arsenal take advantage of this and lift the league trophy?

Chelsea have looked in great form so far this season scoring a huge number of goals, however the squad is considerably weaker than last seasons so the question marks remain if they can last the full season with their current squad. A number of the Chelsea players, including Frank Lampard and Yossi Benayoun, are already on the treatment table and with some key players like Ricardo Carvalho having failed to be replaced in the summer injuries could be what derails Chelsea’s title defence.

Arsenal of course could sympathise with Chelsea with injuries affecting them potentially more than any other club in recent years. However the Arsenal team now looks to have more depth. The signing of Koscielny and Squillaci has given the Gunners much needed cover in defence and with the advancements that young players like Jack Wilshere, who has been one of the star performers in Arsenal shirts this season, has made means there is now more depth in midfield . The signing of Chamakh has also given Arsenal an option they didn’t have last year and gives them a more physical presence in the box.

Man Utd’s problems are well documented at the moment, not only have they been unable to hold onto leads but their top striker has also declared he wants to leave the club. This type of news can only unsettle the players around him and with Man Utd already looking more vulnerable than we have seen them for many seasons this could be what ends Uniteds title challenge this season, especially if Wayne Rooney is indeed coming to the end of his days in Manchester United shirts.

This season Arsenal seem to have much more unity about them and they have managed to scrape out victories in games that you could have seen them dropping points in. Also with Fabregas having been injured for a large part of the start of the season other players like Wilshere have stepped up to stake their claim for a starting spot, and to show the Arsenal fans the future of the Arsenal midfield if Fabregas eventually gets his move to Barcelona.

Man City probably have the most talent packed squad with the main criticism of them at the moment seeming to be the inability to score goals. City sit second in the league at the moment so it is hard to criticise them too much but they have dropped points in games you thought they would have won, but then again so has Arsenal. City’s main concern this season is going to be  keeping all their very expensive players happy with many having to sit on the sidelines and watch.

The pressure on Arsenal has been removed to a certain extent at the moment, many already see them as out of the running for the title. However Arsenal may just have enough to surprise everyone and win the title if, and it is a big if, they can keep their players fit. Too often Arsenal have fallen short for this reason but with a larger and more talented squad this year the club could mount a serious challenge and take advantage of the weaknesses the other top teams have.

Written by Colin Hill, a sports blogger who writes about new soccer jerseys.

Over the weekend many would have thought that the biggest news story surrounding Man Utd would be the 2-2 draw at home to West Brom on Saturday, which saw Man Utd again lose a two goal lead to get their fifth draw of the league season. However the biggest story of the weekend was the news than Wayne Rooney is refusing to sign a new contract with the club and could leave as early as January.

Wayne Rooney has been in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons over the past couple of months with his form appearing to suffer for it. His performances in Man Utd shirts have been a shadow of what we have come to expect. The club have left him out of important matches appearing to want to protect the player but it appears as if there has been more to it with rumours that Rooneys relationship with manager Sir Alex Ferguson has deteriorated, possibly beyond repair.

The stories surrounding Rooneys refusal to sign a new contract are varied with some stating that the club simple won’t meet his wage demands with others seeming to point directly to his relationship with his manager. 

Unsurprisingly there will be a number of clubs interested in signing Rooney with Chelsea, Man City, Barcelona and Real Madrid all clubs linked with possible moves. Man City are thought to be the early favourites being able to meet the transfer fee and salary demands. Whether he will be seen in the new Man Utd shirt next season remains to be seen.

The speculation surrounding Rooney is the last thing Man Utd need. The club are not too far behind in the league at the moment but need to start wining games if they are to realistically compete for the title this season and with their top striker possibly looking towards the exit door it doesn’t exactly inspire the other players in the team who looked to Rooney last year to drive the team forward.

There are sure to be a number of developments over the coming weeks with this story but if it proves to be true, and Rooney is heading for the exit door, then this will intensify the need for Man Utd to invest considerably in their squad. Man Utd already look weak in some positions and depend on players that are coming to the end of their careers. These players need to be replaced with top quality players and if Rooney goes, potentially relatively cheaply, it will be near on impossible to replace everyone with players of a similar standard.

Written by Colin Hill, a sports writer who blogs about football shirts.

There was a time that anyone suggesting Manchester United’s best player would choose a move to Manchester City would be considered delusional. That time has passed. The fierce neighbours are operating in different worlds they have grown accustomed to over the last 40 years and as rumours of Wayne Rooney’s proposed switch across the city gain momentum, they gain credence.

The selection of City over United is perhaps the easy bit for Rooney. He has endured a disastrous six months on and off the pitch and might feel a move will revitalise his career more than Sir Alex Ferguson can.

The riches of Eastlands are attractive for a man settled in Manchester who would not be alone in thinking United and City are going in opposite directions in both footballing and financial terms. Old Trafford does not hold the allure it once did, as Cristiano Ronaldo’s desperation to move to Real Madrid proved and City are proving adept at attracting star players.

Football betting pundits note how coping with the rancour a cross-city move would generate would be the hard bit for Rooney, as he would become a hate figure in his home town. However, just Ronaldo’s move last year provides inspiration, there are other precedents that might reassure the unsettled England star.

Rooney can look at Carlos Tevez, who has flourished since swapping Manchester red for blue. The adulation of his new supporters compensates for the bile directed at him from his former followers. In this regard Rooney can look at himself, as he might consider things can hardly get worse than are for him at Goodison Park. He has never let the abuse Everton fans reserve for him affect him.

Ferguson rarely loses out in personal battles with players – he generally keeps the ones he wants and sends packing the ones who outstay their welcome – but that hold is weakening. As strange as it may seem, if football betting prices are to back anyone to test his resolve, it is City.