Emmanuel Adebayor could be the catalyst to push Manchester City past Arsenal

The gap in financial spending power of Arsenal and Manchester City is one of the sub-plots of the summer, with City busily installing new pegs in the dressing room to make room for up to six more £10m+ players to go with the four signed in January. City will probably be fielding a team costing around £200m by the start of next season. Arsenal has few such luxuries and after spending £10m on Thomas Vermaelen, looks set to sell on Emmanuel Adebayor for around £25m to Manchester City. Ordinarily this would be good business, a big profit on a £7m buy and a sale to a team that won't threaten Arsenal's position in the world. But given the improvement in City's squad there is a strong possibility that Adebayor could tip the balance in the fortunes of the two teams.

You can quibble about money all day, but there is little doubt that the quality of the City squad is improving with every purchase. Carlos Tevez will join today but it is Emmanuel Adebayor that could flick the balance between the squad strengths of City and Arsenal. At the moment I reckon that the Arsenal defence is the only area of either team that is significantly stronger, with a strong case to suggest that the entire Arsenal back four is superior to the City equivalent; even if Shay Given remains better than Manuel Almunia. With Adebayor in it, the Arsenal attack also has the edge over City.

But the big question is now clear - will City's spending mean that it will go into next season with a stronger first team and squad than the most vulnerable of the 'big four'? If City bag Adebayor then I reckon that Arsenal's first team will remain marginally superior at this stage of the summer - largely down to a sound defensive base. But if City then turns its attention to the defence and recruit John Terry or Joleon Lescott or the like then Mark Hughes will have a first team to challenge Arsenal directly and a stronger and deeper squad to survive the season.

Hughes will have the funds to make one or two more defensive recruits and if Hughes can get his new recruits settled and playing like a team quickly then City now look likely to offer the strongest and most sustainable challenge to the 'big four' for a decade.

COMBINED ARSENAL/MAN CITY XI: (4-2-3-1)
Shay Given (City)
Bakari Sagna (Arsenal)
Gael Clichy (Arsenal)
Nedum Onuoha (City)
William Gallas (Arsenal)
Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)
Gareth Barry (City)
Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal)
Robinho (City)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal or City)

Possible Man City (2009/10): (4-2-3-1)
Shay Given
Micah Richards
Nedum Onuoha
Richard Dunne
Wayne Bridge
Nigel de Jong
Gareth Barry
Stephen Ireland
Robinho
Carlos Tevez
Emmanuel Adebayor

Senior Replacements:
Stuart Taylor, Kasper Schmeichel
Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Tal Ben-Haim
Elano, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Javier Garrido, Michael Johnson, Martin Petrov
Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy, Valeri Bojinov, Benjani, Felipe Caicedo, Ched Evans

Possible Arsenal 2009/10: (4-2-3-1)
Manuel Almunia
Gael Clichy
William Gallas
Thomas Vermaelen
Bakari Sagna
Cesc Fabregas
Samir Nasri
Tomas Rosicky
Theo Walcott
Andrei Arshavin
Robin van Persie

Senior Replacements:
Lukasz Fabianski
Kolo Toure, Kieran Gibbs, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, Philippe Senderos, Mikael Silvestre
Denilson, Vassiriki Diaby, Aaron Ramsey, Alexandre Song Billong, Jack Wilshere
Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo, Carlos Vela