Wenger puts Bentley in his place + Arsecast 67

We’ll start with perpetual moaner, David Bentley, who made some comments about Theo Walcott needing to leave Arsenal to get first team football.

You might be aware that all Bentley has done since he left Arsenal is talk about how terrible Arsenal was, how he didn’t enjoy football when he was there and countless other crap, completely ignoring the fact that without the kind of football education he got with us he’d most likely be plying his trade for some bunch of mid-table shitkickers. Oh…

Anyway, Arsene Wenger wasn’t happy with Bentley’s comments and put the former Arsenal twat firmly in his place, saying:

Bentley is entitled to his opinion but it does not mean he is right. I don’t know why one player should incite another player to leave a club. It is not his job. When you are in one of the biggest clubs in the world you have to accept competition and if you accept it, it makes you better. If you move down you are down, not at the top.

Zing! Arsene one, Bentley nil. Bentley had his chances at Arsenal, failed to take them, then went off in a huff elsewhere (having handed in a transfer request) and has been bitter ever since. Personally I think he has a decent right foot but doesn’t come close to being half as good as he thinks he is. Meanwhile Theo was part of the team that won at the San Siro and set up the goal that sealed the match. I’m sure he’d love to be playing in a half-empty stadium every week like Bentley. Anyway, the more often Bentley speaks the more he reveals himself as an unctuous little rat who is easy to dislike. We need people like that now that Robbie Savage is close to retirement.

Ahead of the Wigan game the team news is not great. Already without the injured Toure, Song, Rosicky and Eduardo, we lost Abou Diaby after the Milan game and Theo Walcott who picked up a thigh injury in a behind closed doors game against Colorado Rapids yesterday. People might question the match but it was played like a very friendly friendly and this is the kind of thing that could just have easily happened in training. Denilson pulling a hamstring in the same game does leave us very short of midfield options.

We’ve got 4 left and they’ll be the 4 that start on Sunday I’m sure. Cesc will have to play from the right, Gilberto and the Flamster in the middle and Hleb on the left. On a positive note Robin van Persie played an hour and had no ill effects from his thigh injury, whether or not he starts against Wigan remains to be seen.

Fuller team news tomorrow, after the boss’s press conference later today.

Apparently there were some rumours that Arsenal weren’t happy with Birmingham City’s medical care in the immediate aftermath of Eduardo’s injury. Arsene Wenger says those rumours are not true. So there you go.

And that’s about it in terms of Friday morning news. Now, Arsecast.

In this week’s Arsecast, sponsored by OleOle.com, we get an Italian perspective on the AC Milan game, the Man in the Bar has a player history as well as Eboue, the Culture Corner and more.

To subscribe to the arsecast in iTunes – click here. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (12mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

And there you go. Early start today. Have a good Friday.