Premier League champions Leicester City and last season’s runners-up Arsenal are still waiting for their first win of the new campaign after a goalless stalemate at the King Power Stadium. Both teams were aiming to bounce back from opening-weekend losses, to Hull City and Liverpool respectively, but could not find a breakthrough in a fiercely-contested game. Referee Mark Clattenburg was the villain for Leicester fans after denying strong penalty claims in each half, first when Laurent Koscielny tangled with Danny Drinkwater then late on when Hector Bellerin appeared to upend Ahmed Musa. Leicester striker Jamie Vardy failed to punish the club he turned down this summer when he shot wide from close range as Claudio Ranieri’s side started to exert a measure of control after the break.

Arsenal keeper Petr Cech saved crucially from Riyad Mahrez in the dying seconds while Arsenal had opportunities of their own as they enjoyed the better of the first half, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shooting narrowly wide. Arsenal fans were not celebrating a hard-earned point at the final whistle – they were busy venting their fury at manager Arsenal Wenger’s lack of activity in the transfer market. Wenger was urged, loudly and in very industrial terms, to start spending some money as Arsenal fought through a spell of late Leicester pressure. It left Arsenal without a win from their first two games and means they are already five points behind Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea – and indeed Hull City. And there can be no doubt Arsenal’s fans have a valid point when they question why Wenger has not beefed up his squad more, certainly with more than the £35m acquisition of midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach.

Wenger is hoping to complete a £25m deal for Valencia’s German central defender Shkodran Mustafi but there is also a need for further class in attack to augment, and perhaps replace, Olivier Giroud. This is a defining season for Wenger so it could be said he faces a defining few days in the transfer market. Arsenal’s fans certainly know it. Wenger must surely know it too as he listened to those angry voices in the travelling support tucked away in a corner of the King Power Stadium. Koscielny’s return brought authority to Arsenal’s defence and also helped guide Holding through a spell of heavy Leicester pressure, particularly distinguishing himself with a lunge that forced Vardy to shoot high and wide. He is a fixture in Arsenal’s central defence – now Wenger must provide him with quality support.

Liverpool held on to beat Arsenal in a stunning Premier League opening-weekend encounter at Emirates Stadium. Theo Walcott fired in the first goal for the Gunners in the 31st minute, moments after missing a penalty. Philippe Coutinho equalised with a brilliant free-kick before Adam Lallana fired in after the break. Coutinho poked in his second and Sadio Mane slammed home, before Arsenal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a great solo goal and Calum Chambers headed in. It was billed as the best game of the Premier League opening weekend and more than lived up to expectations.

After quite a dour 30 minutes, Alberto Moreno’s second defensive mistake lit the flame for the encounter that followed. It was the second half that will long live in the memory. Four of the five goals were exceptional. There was Lallana’s chest control and strike followed by a 19-pass move finished off by Coutinho. Mane then capped off an impressive debut with a goal reminiscent of his strikes at Southampton – driving at the defence before a fierce finish. And substitute Oxlade-Chamberlain then produced a delightful cameo when he dazzled the Liverpool backline and then slotted past Simon Mignolet. Chambers’ header left Liverpool wondering whether a great win would become ‘what could have been’ – but they hung on.

Gunners deserved some plaudits for the character they displayed. At 4-1 down, things looked pretty bleak and the fans were on their backs, but they responded pretty well. They did not pull it back to 4-4 but they made the scoreline respectable, rather than it being an embarrassment. Watching Arsene Wenger in these last few seasons has been like watching an old man who thinks he can still do all the newfangled dance moves. Our lack of preparation is why we lost. Lack of transfer activity. Poor tactics. It’s ground hogs day, again. No one can or should defend Wenger now. Had weeks to bring in a defender and an attacker. He is incompetent. Wenger doesn’t attack the market he sits and waits for cast offs from the elites.

Is the board daft? Is Wenger senile? Do they even care? We saw fans throwing programmes onto the pitch, fans walking out, fans singing “spend some fucking money” wheres your “One Arsene Wenger” chant now. He deserves every bit of abuse he is getting now, at the ground, at the games on the internet. And that board who just kisses his balls and play along. You can’t compete in this era, get the fuck out!

This, his 20th, could very well be Arsene Wenger’s final season in charge at the club. He arrived at the club 20 years ago and was seen as a revolutionary but now is more like a reactionary. Hopelessly out of touch, out of date and perhaps even a little bit out of his mind, Wenger is a sorry man playing catch up with the rest of the major clubs. On Sunday, with a home game against Liverpool in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger begins his 20th full season in charge of Arsenal, the last for which he is under contract. With that in mind, it is no exaggeration to state that the next three weeks may decide his fate at the club he has served for two decades. And I can’t wait for it to end!

When Wenger signed his current contract to finally secure his position and put talk of an exit to bed, official confirmation only came two full weeks after Arsenal had beaten Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup final. The manager later confirmed that had Arsenal lost, and at 2-0 down that seemed a very distinct possibility, he could well have ended his reign at the club. Arsenal fans can expect another season of contract speculation, with a resolution likely to again outlast the domestic campaign. With nine months to go on his deal, Wenger told the BBC on Tuesday: “My contract runs until the end of the season. What I do after will depend on how the season goes.”

Winning the 2014 FA Cup and then in 2015 did a lot to placate a section of the fans who believed that progress was happening. The question now is: what constitutes the level of success that will convince Wenger to sign a new contract, and what kind of achievement would quiet supporters once again? He effectively confirmed there will likely be no option to go out in a blaze of glory; a trophy success would give this workaholic a fresh mandate, not the perfect exit strategy. If he is to avoid an undignified exit then Wenger may have to meet the expectations of a fan base that is just as febrile as it was three years ago. To do that, he may have to show a capacity for change that has appeared beyond him in recent years.

Not only is a £100 million fee no longer beyond consideration, an English club has broken the transfer record for the first time in 20 years, (Newcastle signed Alan Shearer for £15m from Blackburn Rovers in 1996). The huge new TV deal that comes into effect this season has changed football’s financial landscape; Arsenal are still wandering around with an out-of-date map. There are precisely three weeks left until the transfer window closes, and Arsenal are still at least two major signings short of where they need to be: an elusive new centre-back and striker. We won’t get them before Sunday and the first game. It’s a case of wait and see; what we thought was going to be a good season might end up in terrible shambles and we all know who to blame.