van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin > Henry, Pires and Bergkamp?

After Arsenal’s 4-1 Champions League cakewalk against the Eredivisie champions last night, Arsene Wenger was moved to compare his young team to the unbeaten Gunners squad of 03/04:

We’ve never had as many options on the creative side. We still have Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott who are offensive players who are not available.

Denilson, Eduardo, Tomas Rosicky did not start - that is why I was amazed when people said, ‘Buy, buy, buy’. And Carlos Vela as well… I forgot him!

Fair assessment, or another one of Le Prof’s attempts to tack an extra psychological boost onto an impressive performance? Ljungberg, Henry, Pires and Bergkamp had racked up 16 goals and 10 assists in all competitions by this time in 03/04 season; while van Persie, Arshavin, Bendtner and Fabregas are already on 24 goals and 23 assists.

In terms of depth, Wenger has a point - as backups go, Eduardo, Rosicky and Nasri are a more desirable trio of reinforcements than Reyes, Wiltord and Kanu were. But does the overall attacking quality of the squad match up?

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The stars who have failed to live up to their transfer fees

As the folks who ploughed their cash into the Sega Saturn, Minidiscs and HD-DVDs will testify, sometimes smart investments don’t quite work out. With this in mind, Spoiler correspondent Joe Thompson has compiled a list of ten Premier League players who have failed to deliver on the financial commitment their respective clubs made to bring them in…

Andriy Shevchenko
(Chelsea, £31m)
When Chelsea signed ‘Sheva’ in 2006 on a four year deal, it was for a club record fee - but this was a record breaking player. He’d won everything with Milan, bagged the Ballon d’Or and had twice been top scorer in Serie A. Since his move to West London, however, he’s managed 20 goals in 83 appearances, and a season shipped out on loan back to his beloved Milan. Did he rediscover his form there? Did he f**k. He’ll be 33 next month as a once-great career slides away. Abramovich’s ultimate vanity signing has been his worst.

Kolo Toure
(Manchester City, £14m)
While part of the 2003/04 title-winning ‘invincibles’, he could have been in the Best Value top ten. One of Wenger’s best buys for £150,000, he was immense. The past couple of seasons though, Toure and Arsenal have struggled with consistency, with the team’s spine being called into question. Unlike Chelsea with Shevchenko, The Citizens have bought a player who has already lost his form.

Zat Knight
(Bolton, £5m)
You’ve got to feel for Bolton fans.

Yet more semi-clothed madness from the qualifying nations

Yesterday we introduced you to four of the best reasons to stay tuned throughout Euro 2008, and today The Spoiler brings you three more of the finest WAGs the continent has to offer. First up is Anine Bing, partner of Sweden’s Anders Svensson. This Danish lovely was outlawed by Birmingham City Council, as residents of the nation’s second city kept crashing when they became transfixed by a steamy billboard campaign in which she featured. See more pictures of her here, but try not to think of them while driving.

See the supporting ladies of Iker Casillas and Tomas Rosicky after the jump

Tolerates Arsenal star’s looks and off-the-field antics

The modern WAG has to put up so much nonsense. Their partners work weekends, use up all their energy on the pitch and spend all their time at home playing Halo and trash talking Japanese school children. Tomas Rosicky’s missus suffers much more than others - not only must she look at the mysteriously-injured star’s funny face, but had to go through a humiliating ordeal when he ‘partied’ with the Czech Republic team and six hookers. Radka Kocurova, you’re clearly a very forgiving woman.