Arsenal ready to hand Arsene Wenger fresh contract until 2019

Four more years of silky football and no titles, then?

Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League with yesterday's win over Everton and it looks like the Gunners' board are aiming to strike while the iron is hot by handing Arsene Wenger a contract extension. The club have hit a rich vein of form in recent weeks, with big wins over Manchester United and Bayern Munich this month giving hope that Wenger might be able to mastermind a first title victory since 2004 and qualification from a Champions League group that seemed beyond them after defeats by Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos. The Frenchman, who is by some distance the top flight's longest-serving manager, is in his 20th season at Arsenal and his current deal runs until the summer of 2017, but the Mirror is reporting that club officials are keen to extend his stay by a further two years, which would keep Wenger at the Emirates until close to his 70th birthday.