Emirates insist their partnership with Arsenal will be unaffected by Dubai's financial concerns.

Gulf stock markets went into meltdown last week when investment company Dubai World, which manages projects for the Dubai government, announced it was seeking to suspend repayments on some of its US$59million (£35.6m) debt.

Emirates is not part of Dubai World, but some business analysts suggested that the profitable Dubai airline might be merged with Abu Dhabi's airline Etihad as part of a deal between the neighbouring states of the United Arab Emirates.

This theory has been dismissed by Emirates and a spokesman for the airline said: "Emirates is a completely separate entity to Dubai World and so the current situation facing that company will have no effect whatsoever on our Arsenal sponsorship, which is a long term commitment and partnership."