A very quiet morning, that’s the lack of midweek action for you, I suppose.

Ahead of Sunday’s game against United it appears we could be without Robin van Persie, our top scorer, who picked up a knock in training. That is a bit of a blow actually because he’s a player capable of making an impact coming off the bench if he doesn’t start. The boss will now have to choose between Adebayor and Baptista to partner Thierry Henry up front. Personally I’d go with …erm… …er… crap, I don’t really know. I have a sneaky feeling about Baptista though.

It certainly won’t be Jeremie Aliadiere and he could be on the move again as Boro renew their interest. Meanwhile the Sun reports Lauren could move to Portsmouth.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe I would be at Arsenal for a lifetime of four decades. I remember the day as if it was yesterday, when I walked through the doors for the first time to join the family. How overwhelming it was, but once an Arsenal player always an Arsenal player.

Pat Rice talks about his 40 years at Arsenal. You rarely hear about him or what it is that he does but you suspect that’s the way he likes it. With those big sunglasses he’s like our very own Roy Orbison except more alive. To be at the club 40 years is quite an achievement and Pat Rice is an Arsenal man through and through. Well done, Sir.

Well done to the youngsters as the youth team beat Hull City 2-1 in the FA Youth Cup last night. The goals came via a Jay Simpson penalty and Mark Randall. Steve Bould’s team go into the draw for the 5th round.

And that is about that. Make sure you tune in to tomorrow’s Arsecast as, amongst all the usual rubbish, there’ll be a chance to win £100 of credit for our sponsor’s website – classicfootballshirts.co.uk. I’m assuming there’ll be a bit more team news and we can give a little more time to the game on Sunday.

For now though, I bid you all good day.