Trouble at the back

Just as we've discovered a modicum of defensive resilience, injuries threaten to derail the whole thing. With Celestine Babayaro, Stephen Carr and Olivier Bernard already out, Craig Moore limped off with ten minutes remaining at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and could well miss Thursday's UEFA Cup game against Celta Vigo (and a few more) with a hamstring problem.

Promising young reserve defender Paul Huntington could find himself pressed into action as a result - but this situation just underlines the folly of allowing Jean-Alain Boumsong and Robbie Elliott to leave without bringing in quality defenders to replace them.

In other news, today's papers see us linked with three players north of the border, and another who used to ply his trade up there. The Express claims we, like Rangers and a whole host of English clubs, are keen on Hibernian midfield duo Kevin Thomson and Scott Brown. Meanwhile, the Mirror reports on our continued interest in picking up Celtic's Shaun Maloney on the cheap, and the Times has us and Fulham both sniffing around Leicester's former Hearts central defender Patrick Kisnorbo, one of Moore's international colleagues.

Additional bodies would be welcome, yes, and not too pricey - but are any of them really players of the calibre we need? I remain sceptical.