Arsenal would ‘prefer’ to sign two alternative strikers to Ollie Watkins but have ‘panicked’ in the final week of the transfer window, according to former Gunners midfielder Emmanuel Petit. The north London club are considering making a second offer for England international Watkins after seeing their opening £60m bid rejected by Aston Villa.

Arsenal face a massive uphill battle to land Ollie Watkins and should late move fail their Premier League and Champions League title hopes will be in peril

Arsenal have had a bid rejected by Aston Villa for England striker Ollie Watkins; Watkins has scored 10 goals in 23 games for Villa in the Premier League this season; Gunners expected to return with improved offer;

And if the move goes through, Arsenal 's chances of securing Watkins may go up in smoke. The one sign of encouragement for Emirates chiefs is Al-Nassr's ongoing pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface.

Mikel Arteta is a known admirer of Watkins and has turned to the England international as he looks for attacking reinforcements before the transfer deadline. Arsenal are expected to make a second, improved offer for Watkins but Aston Villa boss Emery has no intention of losing him.

Amid rumours linking Arsenal with move to sign Ollie Watkins, Gunners legend Martin Keown makes bold claim about potential transfer

Mikel Arteta faces the media following Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League clash with Girona. The win guaranteed what we already effectively already knew and that the Gunners will skip the play-off round and progress to the last-16.

How does Ollie Watkins compare with Arsenal's current options? We crunch the numbers to see how the England international has fared in front of goal.

Manchester City stayed in the Champions League, barely. Paris Saint-Germain saved its elite status in style. Both had risked embarrassing exits before winning on Wednesday, grateful to be among the 24 teams in the knockout stage.

There were storylines across all 18 simultaneous kick-offs – not to mention 64 goals in total – but Aston Villa and Lille securing automatic qualification for the round of 16, as well as Manchester City coming from the elimination zone to reach the knockout phase play-offs, were among the headlines. UEFA.com rounds up all the action.

An insultingly low offer, reportedly £45million, made to a direct rival, at a time when everyone knew that Al Nassr were about to offer Villa more than £62m for Jhon Duran.