Will Arsenal starlet be the difference between success and failure?

Football
FanCast columnist Rob
Facey wonders
whether Arsenal new boy Samir Nasri can be the difference between third spot and a genuine challenge for the title.

Samir Nasri started his Arsenal career with a dream debut and one that could set the foundations for a genuine challenge for the Premier League title.
An unspectacular yet highly efficient 1-0 win over West Brom on Saturday lunchtime may point to a changing Arsenal side.

Just days before the season, striker Emmanuel Adebayor urged his side to learn how to win dirty, and although there was nothing in the display that could be described strictly as dirty, there was a ruthless and mechanical style of play which enabled them to cope with whatever the Baggies had to throw at them, which has perhaps been missing in recent years.

Clearly only 90 minutes into the new season it is hard to gauge exactly how this new Gunners side will settle down, but the signs are good.
Boss Arsene Wenger seems quietly confident too that, as the title talk seems to be focusing on whether Chelsea can topple United, Arsenal remain the outsiders.
Strong outsiders they are too, thanks to their £12m summer signing Samir Nasri who scored a debut goal to kick off the Premier League season.

“Nasri can give us increased cutting edge,” said Arsene Wenger, as reported in the Guardian.
“He is intelligent, he looks to have good acceleration, he sees a good vision of the game and that left flank suits him quite well.

“There is maybe a bit of Robert Pires in him because he looks to be able to change direction very easily and he has a little bit the same style of run,” Wenger added.

The player himself, only 21 and already regarded as the future of French football is confident that despite comparisons to ex-Gunners he will be able to make a name for himself at the Emirates.

“When I arrived at Arsenal, no one told me as well that I was the successor for Alex Hleb, we play very different football. I will try to bring my own game here and take the team forward. I would rather be known as Samir Nasri.” Nasri said.

Could that name go down in Arsenal history?
Just how much of a difference can Nasri make to the side this season? Is he the missing link between midfield and attack that Arsenal have been lacking since losing Pires and Ljungberg?

He already looks as though
he has more cutting edge and drive that Hleb ever threatened to possess; can he
be the difference between finishing third and finishing as Premier League
champions?

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