Arsenal have nothing to shout about

With Martin Keown in outstanding form at the back, Arsenal look much tighter, but the concern must be what is happening ahead of him.

In Moscow, Robert Pires missed the best chance of the match while Sylvain Wiltord's sharpness appears to fade with each day that he has not been offered a new contract.

Keown, though, retains faith in his strikers but Wenger has little at his disposal to shake

things up because Francis Jeffers is on loan at Everton and Dennis Bergkamp is rarely available due to his fear of flying.

Keown said: 'We had chances against Lokomotiv and didn't take them. But, in fairness to the lads, they normally put a couple away and I'm sure they will next time. We'll have to wait and see whether it's a good point. We need to get a result in our next away game (Kiev).'

Christian Vieri's last-minute goal, in fact, almost put Inter out of reach and effectively left the other three Group B teams fighting for one qualifying slot.

Former manager George Graham would no doubt take pride from the Moscow performance of 37-year-old defender Keown, whom he took back to the club. In Graham's time, one goal was usually enough for an Arsenal win and even he is at a loss to explain the goal drought.

'Going forward, there's no better team in England. And in midfield and up front they rank among the best in Europe,' Graham told Sky Sports News. 'Defensively, they've improved greatly - at Old Trafford they defended really well - but they let themselves down badly before that, especially against Inter.

'Martin Keown is a defender who loves to defend and that's why he's still one of the best. But it's a shame for the young

defenders in this country that he's still up there. The situation at Arsenal is that for more than a year now they've known they need to get some young defenders in and haven't.

'The Inter who beat Dynamo Kiev were a very different side from the one who won at Highbury. If Arsenal had beaten them at home, then drawn in Moscow, they'd be in a very strong position. But as it is, they're looking at winning their remaining two home matches, need at least a draw in Kiev and then have to see what happens in their match in Milan to go through.'

The long trip to the Ukraine is the next challenge, though before that Arsenal face Liverpool on Saturday and Chelsea at home next week when many of their international players will be on duty elsewhere.

Anfield holds a special significance for Wenger's players as winning there two seasons ago, where they played for an hour with only 10 men, was the turning point of a season when they went on to win the Double.

In view of events at Old Trafford, it would be easy to say their disciplinary record has not changed much since, but it is interesting to note that in their last two games they have not had one caution - and you have to go back nine months for the last such display of temperament.