Arsenal news LIVE updates: Sanchez Lemar swap deal, Wenger talks Liverpool Ox tapping up

Arsenal News LIVE updates: Follow below for the latest news and gossip from the Emirates

Saturday September 9

Dick Law steps down

10:30: Arsenal’s chief transfer guru Dick Law is to step down at the end of the month.

Law will return home to the United States for family reasons.

He has been a close ally of Arsene Wenger over recent seasons.

Arsenal appointed Huss Fahmy, formerly of cycling’s Team Sky, in June to work alongside Law – chiefly on player contracts.

No decision has yet been made on whether Fahmy will now step up and fill Law’s shoes.

Friday September 8

Parlour worried about Gunners riots

23:00: Ray Parlour is worried there could be riots at Arsenal if they concede to Bournemouth early on.

“This is such an important game. I know it’s Bournemouth, and only the fourth game of the season,” he told The Sun.

“But you always look to see how a team can come back and respond from a bad result -if you can come back and put in a good performance and win the game it shows you have got a bit of character in the dressing room.

“But if you lose, that’s unthinkable for Arsenal.

“They have to go out and put a positive performance on and hopefully turn the fans around because if Bournemouth do go there, play well and score the first goal it could be a real dodgy atmosphere there – for the players and everybody.”

Sanchez/Lemar swap

20:27: Arsenal are willing to offer Alexis Sanchez as a makeweight in a January deal to land Thomas Lemar from Monaco.

Arsenal tried to sign Lemar on deadline day after agreeing a £92m fee with Monaco but the player turned them down.

But The Sun say Wenger is ready to throw Sanchez in to a swap deal for Lemar in January, with the Gunners star looking highly unlikely to sign a new contract.

Sanchez wanted to quit the Emirates this summer and was devastated after his £60m deadline day move to Manchester City collapsed.

Gunners gear up for Bournemouth

18:15: Arsenal have been hard at work at London Colney today, with Arsene Wenger's side training ahead of their Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

Alexis Sanchez was spotted beaming from ear to ear while Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere both took part ahead of late fitness tests.

Academy youngster Joseph Olowu also made a surprise appearance as the first-team were put through their paces.

Check out all the best pictures in our gallery below.

Wenger brainwashed fans - Robson

17.00: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has brainwashed fans and the media, according to former Gunner Stewart Robson.

Robson says there has not been enough changes for his former side over the summer to get back into the Champions League.

“I’ve often said Arsene Wenger has brainwashed the public, he’s brainwashed the media,” Robson said on ESPN FC.

“Well I was brainwashed by the hype that was coming out of Arsenal at the start of the season. 

“They (said they) were working harder on the defensive side of the game, they were working harder tactically on the training field.

“There was a great spirit amongst the players, they were going to buy more players in the transfer window. 

“What a load of old rubbish I was thinking at the time.”

Burley predicts top four

15:50: Arsenal and Tottenham will be the two teams to miss out on the Premier League top four come the end of the season, according to pundit Craig Burley.

Burley says the reigning champions Chelsea will finish second and Manchester United, who have started the season with three wins and three clean sheets, down in third and Liverpool fourth.

"I’m happy with Man United in third, Liverpool squeezing in in fourth, and Man City top with Chelsea second. I mean, it probably won’t happen,” he said on ESPN FC.

“But there’s a good bet it could be something similar.”

Wenger is arrogant - Burley

15:20: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been branded “arrogant” in an angry rant by pundit Craig Burley.

Burley says Wenger should have left in May but his arrogance made him sign an extension.

“We’re having the same discussion about a guy whose arrogant, how can he not have seen over the last few years it was time to step aside?” he said on ESPN FC.

“He’s in the exact same scenario, if not worse, than he was last season and the season before. They’re going absolutely nowhere.”

Sanchez will knuckle down - Merson

14:05: Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez will not be happy he was forced to stay at the club beyond the summer transfer window, according to former Arsenal forward and Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson.

But Merson does think Sanchez will knuckle down until the next transfer window in January at least.

“I can’t see him being happy, it was a big bid," Merson said.

“His contract is nearly up, they’ve let Oxlade-Chamberlain go. 

“I think he will be very unsettled but he plays one way. 

“He works his socks off and I think he will give his all for the club for probably another six months.”

£65m Lemar contract

13:17: Arsenal are willing to hand Thomas Lemar a staggering contract to convince him to join in January, according to reports.

Arsenal remain hopeful of securing the France international when the January transfer window opens.

And the Guardian claim they will handsomely reward the 21-year-old for finally ditching Monaco.

According to the report, Arsenal will offer Lemar a five-year contract worth £250,000-a-week.

That would amount to £65m over the duration of the terms.

And, if the UK’s current top tax rate stays at its current 45 per cent, Lemar can expect to have earned £35.75m by 2023.

Sanchez will be welcomed back

11:06: Danny Murphy says team-mates of Alexis Sanchez, Virgil van Dijk and Philippe Coutinho will bring the players back into the fold despite their failed transfers this summer.

“Occasionally, some of the lads are glad to see the back of players for whatever reason,” Murphy told the BBC.

“But that is not the case with Van Dijk, or Coutinho and Sanchez for that matter.

“From the players I have spoken to who know them, they are all decent guys who train well and work hard.

“They are all very good players too, of course. That is another reason their team-mates will want them back in contention for selection.

“With Coutinho at Liverpool, for example, his team-mates will know that when he has played for the club he has always given his all and the fact that it was Barcelona who were in for him completely justified his desire to leave.

“None of them would have begrudged him one bit for going there and it was not about the money for Sanchez, either. If it was, he would have signed the new contract he was offered.

“For me he is the Gunners' best player by a mile. He seems to work harder than everyone else and he gets frustrated that not all of his team-mates have the same standards or work ethic.

“He wants to move on to win trophies and, if he was my team-mate, I would understand why he was unhappy.

“I don't think Arsenal fans should worry about Sanchez's attitude now either, because he has the kind of character where he has to give 100%.

“He cannot play any other way and, from what I know about Coutinho, he is exactly the same.”

Evans fail

10:20: Arsenal and Manchester City failed to meet West Brom’s valuation for defender Jonny Evans, says manager Tony Pulis.

And Pulis said on Evans: “If Arsenal or Man City had met the valuation it could've been different. He has to get his head down and get on with it.

"I hope we can offer him a new contract and tie him down, we will speak next week about what Jonny is thinking and what he wants to do."

Wenger suspects Liverpool tapped up Ox

08:45: Arsene Wenger believes it was “inevitable” that Alex Oxlade-Chamberalain was tapped up by Liverpool before his £35m deadline day move to Anfield.

But the Arsenal boss does not believe it affected his performance in the Gunners’ 4-0 defeat to Liverpool before the international break.

Wenger said: ”Even in the games, you sit there before the games and even in players' minds they have no clarity. Are they tapped up in the afternoon of the game by people who want to get them out? 

“You are not naive enough to think that will not happen. Have they been tapped up? Of course. But on the day of a game? I don't think so, I hope not. But it's inevitable.

"France played against Holland on the last day of the transfer window. Do you really think that not one French player or Dutch player had phone calls in the afternoon about do they move or not? 

“Not naive enough to believe that. If I am a football player, I can perform even if Liverpool is in my head.

"I don't think that should stop you to perform. Did it? I think [Oxlade-Chamberlain] was not worse than any other player on the football pitch.”

Lemar told Arsenal he wanted move

08:15: Thomas Lemar informed Arsenal he wanted to join them in the summer, according to BBC Sport journalist David Ornstein.

Ornstein told Arsenal podcast Arseblog: "The messages I was getting was that the interest in Lemar was absolutely concrete.

"They were hoping to make him their next signing [after Lacazette], but it wasn't close at that point.

"Monaco weren't interested in selling. Although, he had given indications, as I understand it, to Arsenal that he was prepared to join at that point.”

Merse not confident

07:30: Arsenal legend Paul Merson would not be surprised if the Gunners lost to Bournemouth on Saturday (3pm).

“This is a massive game for Arsenal," Merson told Sky Sports. "A few years ago I would have said Arsenal to win 3-0 or 4-0.

“However, I just don't see that now. I am going to favour Arsenal slightly but something just tells me they are not going to win. 

“I watched the game at Liverpool and they were an embarrassment.

“I just don't know how you turn that around, especially after the international break as all the players have been apart for over a week.

“This Arsenal team are good going forward but they are terrible at the back.

“I am going to give Arsenal the edge but I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was a shock in this one.”