Cautious Arsenal leave Cole feeling envious

Ashley Cole admits it has been frustrating watching Arsenal's title rivals splash money in the transfer market while the Gunners have signed only German Jens Lehmann to replace David Seaman.

So the England defender was more than happy when Patrick Vieira came on to help Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Celtic on Saturday, the Frenchman's first appearance in an Arsenal shirt since sustaining a knee injury against Manchester United in April.

However, he could not help but cast a jealous eye at Chelsea, who look set to add Juan Sebastian Veron to their star-studded line-up this week. 'It is a little bit frustrating knowing that other clubs are spending and we are not,' said Cole.

'It is not just Manchester United this time. Chelsea are chucking money around and Liverpool are buying some players so we know it is going to be harder than last season.

'I think Chelsea could change the balance at the top. I hope so, it will be better for everyone. Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle have bought players and they are going to be up there.

'But we have got a few decent players ourselves and we feel we are capable of doing it. We felt we should have won last year and it hurt a lot to miss out. I think if we had had Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira fit for the run-in we would have won it because they are big players for us.'

Vieira made a positive contribution as a substitute at Celtic Park, playing for 32 minutes and adding spark to Arsenal's play in a match that failed to live up to expectations.

But the big worry for Wenger is that he has still not signed his new contract. 'How close we are with Vieira I cannot say,' said the Arsenal manager.

'I am always positive but I cannot tell you much more. We are still negotiating but I am very confident it will be finalised before the start of the Premiership season.'

Once Vieira has signed and Robert Pires has followed suit - he is expected to agree an extension to his contract this week - that is likely to be the end of Arsenal's spending for the season.

But Wenger is unapologetic about his lack of activity in the market. Nigerian striker Kanu, a reserve these days, scored the equaliser for the north Londoners after Liam Miller had put Celtic ahead. And Wenger believes that shows how strong his squad already is.

He said: 'I have enough good players. I don't know where I can fit another player in if I buy one. Kanu came in against Celtic and he has not played for a long time but he again looked a great player.

'We also have Jermaine Pennant and Jeremie Aliadiere, who looked very sharp against Celtic. He showed good movement in the first half and looked like the one who could be dangerous.'

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