Kroenke increased his holding yesterday towards the "trigger stake" of 30pc that would force a mandatory bid, but informed sources insist he feels he is already effectively in control of the club's destiny. His latest purchase of 427 shares, announced yesterday, cost him £8,500 each, or £3.6m, to take his total holding to 18,394 shares, or 29.56pc.

Kroenke's long-term ambition is to own Arsenal, or a majority, but he will not go above the trigger stake until at least May 2010, possibly longer. The trigger holding would be 18,666 shares, so Kroenke can buy a further 271 shares before having to make a mandatory bid. Yesterday's purchase values the club at £528.8m.

The other major shareholders are the predatory Uzbek-born, Russia-based billionaire, Alisher Usmanov (with 25pc via his Red & White investment vehicle), Danny Fiszman (16.11pc) and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith (15.9pc).

Rules

There are several reasons why Kroenke is in no rush to make a full bid. In a takeover now, he would be obliged under stock market rules to offer all shareholders the highest price that he himself has paid in the last 12 months for shares. That is the £10,500 per share he paid to the Carr family for 4,839 shares (7.7pc of Arsenal) in May.

If he waits until the 12 months expire, any bid would cost £2,000 per share less, a saving of £88m, at least. Kroenke is also relaxed that he has enough support among other shareholders to reach 50pc ownership (and control) at a time of his choosing. Usmanov almost certainly cannot.

Even if Usmanov bought Lady Nina's stake, he would hold around 40.9pc. He would struggle to attract another 9pc of fan-shareholders (of 12pc) to sell to him. In fact, it is estimated that around 1pc of Arsenal's shareholders, dating back generations, are dead and untraceable, so the ownership battle actually focuses on 99pc. Again that favours Kroenke.

He has the support of Fiszman and the board, including chairman Peter Hill-Wood, who owns 0.8pc. He also has the qualified support of the influential Arsenal Supporters' Trust. Of the AST's 750 members, around 300 of them own shares, and they control about 1,860 shares (3pc) between them.

Wenger says he has "no fear" of a Kroenke takeover in any case. "I know what I want in life, how I want to work," he said. "As long as that is respected I am not involved in the rest."

Wenger has admitted that he may be without Gael Clichy for up to two months, as the defender has a stress fracture of his back. Wenger explained that his first-choice left-back has been playing with the injury all season but after it flared up after the win against Tottenham on Saturday, a scan revealed the extent of the problem.

Wenger, who is also without Nicklas Bendtner for up to a month with a groin strain, revealed it was related to the same injury that kept the Frenchman out at the end of last season. However, Wenger has full confidence in Kieran Gibbs, who will step into the Parisian's position. Not that all Arsenal fans will share that belief.

Almost six months ago to the day came an evening Gibbs would like to forget. Maybe tonight, even if the occasion is not quite so grand, he will finally bury the memories.

Only eight minutes into the second leg of the Champions League semi-final with Manchester United, a cross came in, and Gibbs -- playing as Clichy was again injured -- hesitated, slipped and allowed Ji-Sung Park in ahead of him to score. It gave United a 2-0 lead overall, and a crucial away goal, and set United on the way to a 3-1 win at the Emirates to reach the final.

However, Wenger is convinced Gibbs (20) has put that horror-show behind him. "The luck he had was that Clichy was injured so he played again three days later and played," Wenger said.

"Sometimes if you had Clichy coming back you'd say 'okay, give him a breather' and he would not play until the end of the season. I don't remember him for the mistake against Manchester United. After that he played and he played well so for me it is forgotten."

If Arsenal win and Olympiakos beat Standard Liege then Arsenal will qualify for the last 16 . Wenger will start with Manuel Almunia in goal but Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky are doubtful starters. (© Independent News Service)

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