Ok, let’s lash through the news this morning because there’s a fair bit of it around.
We’ll start with Arsene Wenger who has been charged with ‘improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute’ for remarks he made about the linesman after the Carling Cup final. He has until March 30th to respond and given how forthright and upset he was when he made those remarks you can be sure he’ll be contesting the charge. He’s probably been in and out of the FA a little more than he’d like this season though.
As expected Raymond Domenech has hit back at the boss’s criticisms of Thierry Henry’s handling by the French squad. If you want some insight into the mind of the French coach then make sure to listen to this morning’s Arsecast.
Ahead of the Everton game the early team news sees the return of Kolo Toure but Gael Clichy and Emmanuel Eboue miss out because of injury. Adebayor is still suspended so who plays up front will be interesting although perhaps Baptista’s back injury and reaction to being taken off was more to do with confusion than anything more sinister so he could well figure. Hleb should be back from his injury, Rosicky could start (and we have to hope he’s somebody who can stay injury free next season) and that’s as much as we know at this stage. There was also some news about Robin van Persie and the boss thinks he could be back at the end of April.
Cesc talks about stuff. He’s got such an intelligent outlook on things. Theo Walcott could miss the rest of the season if he undergoes surgery to fix his shoulder while Jens Lehmann could leave Arsenal to join Hertha Berlin in a two year deal.
1.1% of Arsenal was sold yesterday and according to Nigel Phillips of the Arsenal Supporters Trust it’s Danny Fiszman who sold that amount of shares for just over £4m. The identity of the purchaser is not known at this stage.
It seems that the club is actively looking to take advantage of no international tournament this summer and it’s believed that a post-season tour of Asia is being planned. As well as that there is a suggestion that a pre-season tour of the United States might be in the works as well although that is yet to be confirmed. I’ve got mixed feelings about these tours I have to say, particularly the post-season ones. We could do with our boys getting as much rest as possible. Pre-season has to take place somewhere and I don’t see any real hassle in playing some friendlies in the states and it’ll no doubt put some shillings in the piggy bank. Anyway, we shall see what happens.
Now then, after a week off the Arsecast returns with a bumper 45 minute show.
This week’s Arsecast, sponsored as always by Savile-Rogue.com, features two blogchats! One with Philippe Auclair from France Football and the other with Arsenal legend Bob Wilson who talks football, goalkeepers and about the Willow Foundation. The Man in the Bar has another player history, Arsene Wenger Hawkins looks on the bright side of life and there’s some other arsebloggery waffle in there too.
As well as that there’s a bet of the week from BlueSq.com – “Arsenal’s first goalscorer against Everton to be 23 years old or younger 6/5 – 24 or older 8/13”
Listen into the Arsecast for more details and if you haven’t got a Bluesq.com account please sign up using the link above or the one on the right hand side of the blog.
And of course there’s the winner of the two Savile Rogue scarves for the best contributions to this week’s Arsecast. Remember, if you want to email or leave a voicemail for the show you can find all the contact info here.
To subscribe to the arsecast in iTunes – click here. To download this week’s arsecast directly – click here (22mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here.
And that’s that. Have a fun Friday. More tomorrow.
