Paper Round: Crisis talks over Arsene Wenger's future at Arsenal

Arsenal hold crisis talks: Arsenal's chief executive has held crisis talks with Arsene Wenger, with the Frenchman fighting for his job as the pressure mounts. The Daily Star reports that the Gunners boss was visited by Ivan Gazidis at Arsenal's training base in Hertfordshire after their latest defeat, 2-1 at home to Manchester United on Saturday. The Star understands the meeting centred around the team's recent slump, with American owner Stan Kroenke believed to be aware of the frustrations of Gunners fans.

Paper Round's view: The report stops short of telling us what the outcome of the meeting was, but we can probably assume that Wenger isn't going to be given the boot just yet. More likely Gazidis was seeking assurances of how Wenger thinks he is going to turn around their recent form. Some smart January buys would be a good start, with defensive reinforcements an absolute priority - and please not any more attacking midfielders.

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Rodgers backed by Anfield top brass: Brendan Rodgers has been given assurances by Liverpool that his job is not in danger, according to several reports. The Sun claims that the under-pressure manager retains the "total backing" of the club's American owners and his position will not be discussed, despite the Reds' worst start in 22 years. The report adds that John W Henry has no plans to make a statement backing Rodgers but privately believes the manager has shown courage of accepting responsibility for his side's failures, rather than blame the players.

Paper Round's view: A wealthy foreign owner who is making a stand against knee-jerk managerial sackings? What has the world come to? In all seriousness though, this is refreshing to see. Rodgers was the manager of the season just months ago and although he failed spectacularly in the summer transfer window, surely he has done enough to be given another go at the end of this season. And if that means this season is a transitional one, post-Suarez, then so be it.

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City players set for chop: Manchester City are set to replace their under-performing stars if they fail to justify their salaries against Bayern Munich tonight. The Daily Telegraph is among the papers to report comments by Samir Nasri, who said ahead of the Champions League game at Etihad Stadium that those players "need to do something or otherwise next year it is going to be new players". City need to beat Bayern if they are to retain a realistic chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the competition.

Paper Round's view: Nasri, no doubt fearful of his own place in City's squad, could be on to something here. Failure to qualify would be extremely disappointing, given how much has been spent in assembling such a group of world class players, and we know how fast the revolving door at the Etihad spins. But it isn't just the players who should be worried - Manuel Pellegrini will be in equally dire straits unless he can mastermind a recovery and guide his side out of the group.

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Gundogan alerts United: Ilkay Gundogan has put Manchester United on red alert by revealing he is open to a move to the Premier League. The Daily Mail reports that the Borussia Dortmund midfielder has grown frustrated in Germany after seeing his career stall due to a back injury. The 24-year-old wants to get back on track with a move to England or Spain.

Paper Round's view: Not quite an overt come-and-get-me plea, but nevertheless encouraging for United, if they still want him. The trouble is, they may not - he has plenty to prove after playing just three times last season. And whether Dortmund will release him is another question entirely - the Bundesliga club rejected an offer from Real Madrid, pre-injury, according to Gundogan.

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Hammers prepared to sue FA over Downing: West Ham are fuming over England's treatment of Stewart Downing and ready to sue the FA, according to the Daily Mirror, after the midfielder was allegedly played by England having had a painkilling injection in his knee. The club are understood to be in the "very early stages" of ascertaining the full chain of events, with the FA disputing the timing of the jab. They claim the injection was not administered to get Downing through the first half of last Tuesday's game against Scotland. But the report claims there is a very real possibility the row could end up in court.

Paper Round's view: Depending on whether West Ham go through with this, and what the outcome of any legal battle would be, this course of action stands not only to set a dangerous precedent but also to harm the already-strained relationship clubs have with the national set-up. If negligence on the FA's behalf is proved, whatever faith clubs had in the national team when sending players away for duty will disappear, and could lead to more of the 'broken toenail, not fit' excuses that we already regularly see when international week comes around. That can only harm the future of the national side. And what about players who get injured while away on national duty? This could open up a Pandora's box of finger pointing and litigation - hardly a productive path to go down.

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