march 31st
Not a whole lot going on because of the very important international matches that are taking place tonight. Last night saw a couple of Arsenal players involved for their respective countries at U-21 level. David Bentley played for England, while Gael Clichy and Jeremie Aliadiere played for France, with the latter scoring in their 1-1 draw.
Arsenal reserves played Luton in a behind closed doors friendly yesterday, and ran out 4-0 winners. The goals came from Kanu, Popopodapalopolous, Sylvain Wiltord (remember him?), and teenage Irish sensation Anthony Stokes, who despite only being 15 curled in a peach of a free kick from the edge of the box. This boy has scored a lot of goals so far this season, watch out for him in the coming seasons.
With Martin Keown also playing, it might well be that the boss arranged this game to give some of them a little bit of match practice, for one of two reasons. He wants to get a couple of them sharp to play on Saturday against United, or he’s not going to change his team too much and he wants to keep their freshness up if they are required due to injuries and suspensions as the season draws to a close. I suspect the latter.
News from the United camp ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup game is that Ruud van Nistelrooy may be missing due to a knee injury. That would be something of a blow for them with Saha cup-tied and only Solkskjaer and Forlan as recognised strikers. I would imagine he’ll be given some kind of horse tranquiliser which would enable him to play.
That aside there’s very little else to tell you. Fingers crossed that Thierry comes through tonight’s friendly unscathed then we get on with the build up to the weekend’s proper football.
