I'm tired this morning. Wishing I could get that extra hour of sleep back.

Funny how this 'Earth Hour' thing happened, everyone turned their lights off in a pathetic attempt to save the planet, and then we lose an hour's sleep? Coincidence? I think not. It's nature's way of telling us to stop being such a pack of Marys and just get on with things. I hope people will think twice before taking part in such nonsensical stunts in the future.

If we try it again who knows what might happen. We here in Ireland may finds ourselves with 12 months of winter as Mother Nature takes away those long, hot, sweaty summers we enjoy and for which we are famed. And if that happens I will be most crotchety, let me tell you.

We're still in the middle of the Interlull although now, at least, there's some light at the end of the tunnel. There's another round of games though and hopefully our lads will come through without so much as nick or a scratch.

Sadly, speaking of Nicks, it seems as if Nicklas Bendtner has picked up a knee injury playing for Denmark. I can only find word of it on one site and when you click the story the page doesn't load. The headline says "Denmark Admit Concern Over Extent Of Injury To Arsenal Star Bendtner".

They're obviously so concerned that they've forced a media blackout to prevent widespread panic and rioting on the streets of Copenhagen. I hope it's not too serious.

But wait, a little more digging around and I've found some quotes from the Danish coach, Morten but not Morten from Aha Olsen. He says:

It is an unfortunate injury, but we do not know yet how it looks in terms of Wednesday. He has irritation and pain in the left knee.

I like that. I can imagine Bendtner's left knee with a nose and eyes and a mouth making a face like an old woman listening to teenagers on a bus playing the latest hit from Nelly or Sean Paul or Dustin Timbersnake on their mobile phones for the rest of the passengers to 'enjoy'. What is the story with that anyway?

Do the youth of today have no interest in the quality of sound at all? When I was a lad we'd strive to get the best quality audio we could. That involved buying a new stylus every few weeks, saving up and getting speaker cable that was a bit more expensive than the bog-standard stuff, tweaking amps, adding equalisers and much more.

Now these little bastards download a 64kb MP3 from some dodgy site and play it via their mobile phone's speaker, making it sound like a retarded wasp in a biscuit tin. No wonder the old lady is irritated. Idiots. Anyway, I digress. Bendtner's knee is sore. Erm. Yeah.

Hull City are set to provide The FA with their dossier about the Cesc Fabregas/Brian Horton/We're just making stuff up now and have gone too far to back down incident. As usual Arseblog is ahead of game and can provide you, exclusively, with a copy of the letter Hull are sending to the powers that be.

To view simply click the thumbnail image (you may need to click again on the image that loads to view it at its full size). It's quite compelling, you have to say.

Robert Pires says Arsenal need more English players. I can see where's he's coming from but it looks like the balance he refers to will happen via young English players coming through from the youths rather than the manager going out and buying them.

Personally I think Arsenal need more evil robots with twirling helicopter style blades on the end of their arms like Maximilian from the original Battlestar Galactica the Black Hole film but English players are probably easier to come by.

Right then, that'll have to do for a Monday morning. Have at it, Arsers.

You know those people who go about the place with their bluetooth headseats for their mobile phones? And you know the way you look at them and think 'twat'?

Well Phil Brown is the football equivalent of those people. A man forged by the unholy union between Bolton and Sam Allardyce, squeezed into the world through the septic anus of Satan himself, he out-twatted a million bluetooth headset wearers after last night's game.

He claimed Cesc Fabregas spat at his assistant, Brian Horton.

Cesc reacted after the game and categorically denied spitting at anyone. As you would expect. He said:

I can understand the frustration of losing a game to a dubious goal, that has happened to me many times in my career as well. But this is not the fault of me or any of the Arsenal players.

I don’t even know who the assistant manager of Hull is or what he looks like. I am told Hull will be making an official complaint about me. Well, I am perfectly relaxed about that. I have nothing to hide. Not one drop of spit left my mouth...I am certain of that.

While Brown says:

For their club captain - Cesc Fabregas - to spit at my assistant-manager at the end of the game just shows you what this club is about.

Well, he can go fuck himself, the cunt. Even if that did happen, which I very much doubt, it says nothing about what Arsenal Football Club is all about. And he knows that well enough. Let's see if they take it any  further than the cosy post-match microphone, where it's easy to rant. For me it's simple - if Cesc says he didn't spit then I believe him. Why wouldn't I take the word of our captain ahead of a bitter, angry cunt like Phil Brown?

Let's be very clear about the alliance between Brown and Sam Allardyce. The pair worked together for years, are probably good friends, and appeared together this weekend on Sky's Goals on Sunday program. The program on which they laughed and joked, during which there was no mention of Diouf's appalling tackle on Almunia, no mention of Morten Gamst Pedersen's dive, no mention of the litany of foul play perpetrated by Blackburn during Arsenal's 4-0 win.

4-0, Sam. That's a paddlin'! 

No doubt, as they supped a pint after the show, Allardyce bitched and moaned about Arsenal and about Wenger with whom he has a serious amount of previous. Last night's outburst by Brown was born out of that, no doubt about it.  

I'm sure he was frustrated by a winning goal which appeared to be offside. I would be too. Everybody would, but these things happen. That's football. I'm not going to argue whether or not it was offside or not. If we'd conceded it I'd be upset because I'd want the linesman's flag to go up, but to be perfectly honest I prefer to think that Gallas was offside because it upsets Brown so much.

Brown also complained about the referee. I can understand that too. Mike Riley was rubbish but rubbish for both sides. And it's Mike Riley for fuck's sake, what do you expect? You can't order a shit sandwich and then complain about the taste of poo.

He complained that Arsene Wenger didn't shake his hand. Arsene should have but it's not the end of the world that he didn't. In a way it's kind of admirable. Why go through the motions of a handshake which is purely for show? In the end it's probably better to just uphold the convention because it spares you the tedious column inches things like that generate, but I can understand it all the same.

If Arsene complained about the Hull goalkeeper timewasting it was because the Hull goalkeeper was timewasting. He wasn't making it up. He didn't get him booked, that was entirely down to the player. At 1-0 up in a cup tie away from home I don't blame him, but to label our manager 'disgraceful' because of his player's actions is nonsense.

All in all Brown has stirred something which, I hope, has served an important purpose. For too long this season we've coasted along with nowhere to focus our ire and frustration but on the team. I'm not saying that it was unmerited but nights like last night remind who the real cunts are and as frustrating as some of our lot are, it's not them.

It's people like Allardyce who send their teams out to play anti-football, to deliberately injure players. It's people like Brown whose shrill bleating puts you in mind of a spoilt bully-boy who's just found out that not everything goes his way because he shouts, into his poxy looking headset, loudest.

Arsene didn't shake your hand? Fuck you. Cesc spat at your assistant? Fuck you. Offside winning goal? Fuck you.

Arsenal 2-1 Hull, FUCK. YOU.

I watched Arsene's post-match press conference on the official site last night - and it's well worth the few quid for things like that. Of course all the questions were about alleged spitting and lack of handshakes, but he handled it with typical Arsene calm. Another reminder that even though he has made mistakes and frustrated people this season he's a fantastic man to have at the helm.

So Gallas's winner, Robin van Persie's equaliser after excellent work from Nicklas Bendtner, and we're through to the semi-final at Wembley.

When the furore dies down that's what matters.

Good morning to you and happy St Patrick's Day to you all.

I was going to do something with the blog and make it all green but I've been up since 6am drinking and now I'm so drunk I can barely see. So you'll have to make do with this vaguely St Patrick's Day themed image instead.

Right, amidst all the revelry and what have you, we have a game of football tonight. Hull travel to the Grove for the FA Cup 6th round tie with team news still a bit up in the air. The boss has confirmed Gibbs will play, while Aaron Ramsey is not in the squad at all.

Andrei Arshavin is 'desperate' to play but after 8 stitches in his foot it seems unlikely. The player himself says:

I can't even step on my foot now. It's like a knife cut - not very deep but quite painful. I hope to recover in four or five days. I'll do everything possible to be fit by Saturday's match against Newcastle.

Cheers, Blackburn. There's still Theo Walcott (described by the boss as incomparable to the one from a year ago), Carlos Vela, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner to provide the attacking options. The latter can, apparently, use Emmanuel Eboue as an example, according to the boss.

I know what he means but I think it's a bit of an unfair comparison. The grief Eboue got came after a prolonged period of poor performances, poor behaviour and attitude. The Wigan game was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

Bendtner is a 20 year old striker in double figures for the season who is going through a poor spell in front of goal. I'm sure if he keeps the head down and works hard the goals will come. 

The comments the manager made about Eboue's contract, "We have already tied up Eboue’s contract - that has been done for a long time", has led to stories about him being offered a new deal. I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Firstly because a couple of goals in two games does not warrant a new contract after everything that's gone before, and secondly, and more importantly, Eboue signed a new contract less than two years ago and I'm positive that's what the boss is referring to.

Anyway, to the game. We know Hull are not a bad side. They beat us at home this season so there's a measure of revenge to be had tonight. They caused us problems up at their place in the corresponding fixture too and with their league season going down the swanny they'll be right up for this one, I reckon.

If we can match the verve and energy of recent performances though I think we'll have too much for them. Should we win it's Chelsea in the semi-final at Wembley.

There was bad news for Tomas Rosicky who has had another little setback in his recovery. The boss was expecting him back in full training but it's going to be another couple of weeks before that happens. It's no real surprise and no real problem beyond more frustration for the player himself. After so long out I always thought it was unrealistic that we'd see him this season and given the seriousness of his injury it might just be better to get him through a full pre-season before he starts playing first team football again. Good luck to him though.

And that's that. I'm off to have my breakfast of Guinness, with a Guinness topping, a side of Guinness, followed by Guinness Crumble and a pint of Jameson 12 as a little digestif.

Have a good one. Till tomorrow 

Arsene Wenger might say it wasn't about revenge but I enjoyed taking the three points at Hull last night. I should say I enjoyed it in the end because during the game it was easy to feel the same frustrations that have dogged this season.

I thought we pretty much bossed the first half without creating too much. Robin hit the bar with a cracking free kick and only a fantastic tackle prevented Johan Djourou from opening the scoring from the rebound. We went in at half-time 1-0 up, the goal coming when Adebayor headed home Robin van Persie's corner. The only other real chance of note in the first half fell to Eboue and he hacked wildly wide.

The second half was much more interesting though. Adebayor had a left footed shot straight at Myhill and then Hull will feel rather aggrieved they didn't get a penalty when Djourou clattered into Manucho in the area. If that had been at the other end and we didn't get the spot kick I would have been more than a bit unhappy. Phil Brown, the Hull manager was very displeased, but then to me he's just Son of Sam (Allardyce) and he looks like a twat with his stupid ear-piece so I'm not bothered.

Then Hull got their equaliser. A long ball came across to Bernard Mendy on our left hand side and inexplicably Gael Clichy simply stood off him, allowed him to take it down and gave him all the time in the world to make a cross. As it happened it deflected off Clichy, into the path of Cousin, who powered home his second header of the season against Arsenal.

I'm beginning to worry about Clichy though, I have to say. Now, let me stress I like him. He's an honest player who always gives you 100% and will never hide on the pitch but the frequency with which he's making very costly errors seems to be increasing. His defending, or lack of it, for the Hull goal yesterday was shockingly bad. There was no challenge when the ball came to Mendy and he actually backed away from him instead of closing him down to make a tackle, or at least make it difficult for him to put the cross in. I have no idea what he was thinking but somebody needs to sit him down and have serious words.

After that Hull got back into the game a bit more, we were on our heels a little bit, and Wenger responded by taking off the completely ineffective Eboue and putting on Nicklas Bendtner. It looked like it might be another frustrating result but on a day when late goals were the cheese, Arsenal grabbed two in the last few minutes to seal the deal.

Firstly van Persie played a nice ball through to Nasri who fired home with his left foot to make it 2-1, and a possibly offside van Persie completed his hat-trick of assists by setting up Bendtner to slide home his second in as many games. He was unlucky not to get another too when his header hit the post. Three points, three goals, and the first time we've won by more than one goal in the league since West Ham back in October.

Man of the match and a special word has to go to Robin van Persie - despite not scoring his influence on the game was obvious and it's fantastic to see him delivering on a consistent basis. In the absence of Cesc he's stepped up and become the creative hub of the team. The boss described his performance as 'outstanding' - long may it continue.

Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:

We had the mental resources to come back and win in a convincing way because we kept going, and kept going. I think we have scored 16 goals in the last 15 minutes of the last 33 games, and we did that again today.

It might be nice if we didn't have to leave it so late but then that seemed to be par for the course yesterday. Chelsea scored two late goals to beat Stoke while United needed a late one to beat Bolton, so our struggles against the so-called smaller sides aren't unique to us.

More worrying was the fact that Aston Villa seem to be leading a charmed life at the moment. They equalised against Sunderland with a James Milner handball then got the winning penalty for a foul that happened outside the box. At some point the devil is going to come looking for Martin O'Neill's soul.

Still, we have to be happy that our unbeaten run continues, that we showed the character to keep going and get the win despite our sloppiness in letting them back into the game, and that we managed to score some goals. Next up in the league is Everton in 10 days time, coming after the FA Cup game against Cardiff next weekend.

Right, a look around at the Sunday papers to see what's what.

The News of the World says Andrei Arshavin is 'on the brink' of a move to Arsenal. They quote his agent, Denis Lachter, whose name reminds me of Dennis Thatcher so you should read the following in his voice:

The deal should go through this week. Andrei wants to go, Arsenal want him and Zenit accept they have to sell. It’s just a matter of sorting out the sums but the indication is it’ll happen soon, perhaps within days.

So nothing we haven't really heard before then.

You might have read in the recent past about a young Brazilian called 'Wellington' being on trial with the club. Well, I can tell you he's signed from Fluminense and will join us in the summer. Cue all manner of boot related quips.

And that's about it. No other gossip, no transfer exclusives (not yet anyway), so I shall leave you to enjoy your Sunday.

Coming out of the ground on Saturday I heard one disgruntled Arsenal fan behind me say "You know, if it were up to me I'd drop the whole fucking lot of them and play the kids on Tuesday".

Knee-jerk reactions to defeats like Saturday's are normal but it was easy to see where he was coming from. By all accounts the Carling Cup team played with energy, enthusiasm and commitment, three things sadly lacking from the 'first' team's performance against Hull. Worryingly it's the second time that's happened this season and just as we thought the lessons of the Fulham game had been learned too.

I think Tom's blog yesterday summed it up perfectly so I don't want to go over old ground too much but it was painful viewing at times. The manager's post game interview with the BBC makes for interesting viewing, mostly because it's clear Arsene is quite bewildered. I don't think I've ever seen him look quite so down in the dumps after a defeat, and I include losses in finals and really important games in that (not that the Hull game wasn't important, but you know what I mean).

If we thought the performance of the kids would keep the more senior players on their toes we were wrong. Adebayor and van Persie responded to the threat of Bendtner and Vela by looking as if they couldn't really be bothered at times. It strikes me there's a bit of complacency among some of the players who feel their places in the team are assured no matter what. I think that's perfectly illustrated by William Gallas whose form this season has been very poor and whose leadership skills are non-existent. Yes, it was a great header by Cousin but Gallas was at fault against Fulham too and against Bolton.

When your team needs leadership and authority he goes missing and while I appreciate the fact he has a knack of getting late goals to salvage something from games I'd rather he was better at doing his job at the other end. It's time for the manager to make a point to some of the senior players, to show them that they're not undroppable. Gallas should be dropped. Get Djourou in to provide to height and physical presence to the back four. Adebayor and van Persie can count themselves lucky if they start against Porto. The manager is promising changes, you wonder how much of that is his 'knee-jerk' reaction to what happened against Hull.

There's a great quote from John Toshack from when he was manager of Real Madrid. After a defeat he said (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'On Monday you're going to drop all 11, then by Thursday it's 5 or 6, then on Saturday you play the same 11 cunts as last week'. I can understand the manager's desire to drop players but realistically he can't do too much. The game on Saturday was crying out for a midfielder to come on and change the game but we didn't have that player on the bench. Alex Song is not going to come on and do that job and the closest we have is 16 year old Jack Wilshere.

Had we the depth you'd be asking serious questions about Toure too who I believe struggles alongside Gallas yet thrives when playing with a more traditional stopper, someone like Sol Campbell or even Philippe Senderos. Cesc has not got going yet this season either, he looks leggy and not up to speed yet. Of course his pre-season was disrupted by Spain's Euro success and we have to keep playing him. We just don't have anyone else and hopefully with more games under his belt he can recapture some form.

I suppose the most worrying thing though was the way the team on Saturday was outfought by Hull. I know they're new to the league and full of vim and vigour but it was apparent in the first half we needed to step it up. That we didn't, or couldn't, in the second is concerning. Without wishing to harp on about it too much the team lacks leadership. During games like this you look to your captain for inspiration, you look to your 'star' players for a spark but nothing happened. In isolation you can write it off as a bad day but twice in the first six games of the season is not isolated.

Gallas says it's hard to accept losing to Hull and has warned against being complacent. I think Tom's suggestion of Clichy punching him in the snout was most sound indeed and I think the wake-up call he needs is to warm the bench for a few games. I truly, truly, truly, really and utterly think the manager needs to the rethink the captaincy too. It might be a hard thing to do but the longer it goes unaddressed then the more we're going to suffer for it. Three times this season the captain has either not tried or not tried hard enough and three times we've conceded.

I'm not saying all our defensive woes are down to him either but when it looks like the captain of your team can't be arsed then it must have an effect on the rest of the players, no matter how professional they are. When that same player is then lecturing you before a game it must be maddening. Perhaps individually Kolo and Gallas are the two best central-defenders at the club (and that's very debatable) but how much more time will Arsene give the partnership when it clearly does not work?

I suppose the main issue is one we've all spoken about at length over the last couple of seasons and that's consistency. We're capable of incredible performances and good results, but equally capable of serving up phlegm covered gruel like on Saturday. There was an air of expectation before the Hull game, fans were buzzing after the midweek 6-0 and the good response since the Fulham defeat, and some of the reaction since has been somewhat over the top. There's a tendency to get carried away when we win and when we lose.

You get scolded for not being positive enough when we win but I think defeats like Saturday's show that there are still some issues in the team. Yes, we should be positive when we win but the danger of getting too carried away is that when things go wrong then it becomes all too painful. The manager said that the test now is to see how we respond. We seemed to have learned from the Fulham game but the same kind of attitude against Hull cost us. How many times do we need to touch the electrified food before we stop going back for a nibble?

So Porto should be interesting on Tuesday. Not just because it's a European night and they're always good but to see how the manager reacts to what he saw on Saturday and how the players react to the way they played. Apparently Arsene kept them in the dressing room for an hour afterwards and I have no doubt some harsh words were spoken. Let's see what happens on Tuesday but let's remember that Tuesday will only be one small step, there's the whole rest of the season to get on with too.

Leaving football aside for a moment the rest of the weekend in London was great fun though. Thanks to Tom for keeping the blogging going and it was, as always, a pleasure to meet up with so many of you. I never fail to be touched by the generosity and decency of Arsebloggers and even though what happened for the 90 minutes was about as much fun as a swimming pool party with Michael Barrymore the rest of the weekend was brilliant, thank you all for that. My liver does not thank you but my liver can go kiss my hairy Mick arse.

Right, there was plenty to say yesterday. No doubt today will be the same. More tomorrow.

Well, that was a bit fucking shit, wasn't it? Not exactly the 83 nil we were hoping for, and perhaps it's reward for exactly that kind of attitude. Not that I'm saying it's my fault. Oh no, we all know who's fault it is.

First things first, all credit to Hull. They did completely the opposite of what many teams do when they play us at home; instead of smothering the midfield and putting 10 men behind the ball, they came to play football, and that they certainly did.

We huffed and puffed, and had a lot of possession (as did Hull; one of the stats during the first half gave them 85% possession in five minutes), but we couldn't break them down. The most frustrating aspect of it wasn't the same old story that we just couldn't unpick their defence. It was that we didn't look like we really cared about unpicking their defence. Like we couldn't really be arsed.

Arsene Wenger said it was a shocking result and he was disappointed by the commitment shown by the team. So was I. It was fucking shit. The whole attitude was shit. Having seen the Carling Cup performance in midweek, I think most people would've thought that we'd get all 3 points against a newly promoted team. It seemed that mentality leaked through to the players who seemed to think all they had to do was turn up.

Eventually we did take the lead through a scruffy goal - which was good, because if you can get scruffy goals when you're playing shit, it's good - that was either put in by Fabregas, or was an own goal by some ginger cunt. We had been turning the screw and on the balance of play up until that point, it was probably what we deserved. Just.

Then Hull scored their first, a wonderful 30 yarder that Almunia could do nothing about. Fair dues, it was a great goal and one worthy of winning any game. Instead of react by going and piling on the pressure though, we conceeded yet another goal from a set piece.

Hull got a corner, and our captain, our leader, our supposedly best central defender, watched Daniel Cousins as he jumped for the corner and headed it across goal where Fabregas' jump at the post couldn't stop it going in. 2-1 to Hull and we looked shell shocked.

A word here for Gallas. That word is cunt. I know he hit the bar late on (which might've salvaged a draw - woohoo), but his defending for their second was criminal. He just watched and made no attempt to attack the ball early. Remember his tantrum at Birmingham last season when Clichy gave away a penalty (which wasn't actually a penalty as it turned out)? When he sat on the ground having a tantrum? After seeing his defending for that goal, I think Clichy should've gone up and punched him, square in the snout.

It was fucking appalling - and not the first time this season. I think that's the third or fourth game now where he's just been a spectator at a set piece. It's not good enough for a central defender, never mind a central defender who came from Chelsea because he thought central defence was his best position and is the captain of the club. The attitude of the other players on the pitch can only be influenced by his, and when they see him not really bothering "because it's only Hull", that attitude infects the other players.

It's not acceptable for him (or any of the other players) to only turn up in "big games". All the games for Arsenal are important and someone needs to teach him that. Teach him it with a hammer. To the temples. Teach him well.

I don't think any of the players came out with much credit yesterday, perhaps Clichy, Sagna and Almunia apart. Theo showed just how quick he is again, and he looks so much better a player than he did, but his decision making still needs a bit to do. Kolo was okay - let down big time by Gallas. Gallas was a cunt. Midfield wasn't awful either. Cesc is still finding form, and Denilson has been worse than he was yesterday. Up front we just didn't look like finding a way through. Neither Robin or Adebayor looked particularly dangerous. But it was the collective attitude that was most disappointing.

So, we drop to fourth in the league, and it's hardly ideal preparation for Porto in the Champions' League. I'm sorry Arseblogger's first game of the season wasn't exactly ideal, but at least he did get to see a great goal. Unfortunately it was scored by some cunt from another team.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow, when I'm sure Arseblogger will have his own opinion on Gallas.

Until next time. 

Morning all,

a very quick one this morning as I have a load of stuff to do really early. Well, one thing to do really early but it might as well be loads of stuff. Which it isn't. But there you are.

Cesc has been praising the young guns, amazing to think that a 21 year old is considered one of the most experienced and senior players at the club, calling their display against Sheffield United 'sensational'. He also talks about Jack Wilshere and says the young man doesn't need his advice as his parents and family are keeping his feet firmly on the ground. I did like Arsene Wenger's quote about Wilshere though, he said:

He’s a natural. He’s focused and determined but he’s also still very young. I don’t think he even shaves yet!

Jack's bum-fluff will make itself known to us as time goes on, no doubt. But back to Cesc and while he's enjoying the stuff we're doing at the moment he knows there's still lots of football to be played yet, saying:

Last year everyone was talking about Arsenal and we were there for three quarters of the season, but we did not win it so we have to be cautious. We want to be there at the end of the season and the most important thing is to be there on the last game.

Bravo, Cesc. We need to turn potential into prizes and the line between failure and success is so fine sometimes. As an example, look at John Terry in the Champions League final. Might have been a hero, ended up a blubbering loser. Ahhh, nothing like good memories to get you in the mood on a Friday. But that's how close it is at times so let's hope this team can continuing progressing and improving and if that happens then silverware is a real possibility this season.

Ahead of the Hull game the injury news is that Gael Clichy is fit, hurrah! Also in the mix for the first time is Mikael Silvestre. No news yet of Nasri but hopefully he'll be back, the boss said last week he thought he'd be ready for this weekend.

The manager has also come to the defence of the defence, so to speak. He's right that our defensive record is good, on paper, but anyone who has seen the games can't help but be a little nervous about how frail we seem at times. Perhaps this vote of confidence will inspire them to up their game but, without trying to be too negative, they scare me like a vampire anteater and I'm terrified of vampire anteaters. Had a bad experience with one in Borneo many years ago. I like the t-shirts in Borneo.

Michel Platini has said he was 'too harsh' on Arsene Wenger. I say I wasn't harsh enough on Michel Platini so I am preparing a press release in which I accuse the head of UEFA of animal rape, genocide, the continued existence of Sp*rs and the death of 43 Ivorian refugees found in the back of a lorry having each paid £3,000 for a trial at Chelsea who paid Platini a £12,000,000 to keep his mouth shut.

Speaking of Platini on today's Arsecast I've got a two part interview with Philippe Auclair of France Football who, in the first part, speaks about Platini's comments this week and the reasons behind them. In part two we talk about the Carling Cup win against Sheffield United and the emergence of these young players.

Also on today's Arsecast Eboue and some Talkshite radio. To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (15mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

And that's really about that. I'm over with Mrs Blogs and the Mugsmasher for the Hull game. I won't have access to email from about 2pm so don't send me any! See some of you later tonight and more of you pre and post game tomorrow.

Tom will be here with the blog on Saturday and Sunday. No, really. He will be here. I've reminded him and everything. So he'll be earlier than last time. I estimate Saturday's blog will be somewhere around 2pm and Sunday's blog will appear at 1am Monday morning. Hah, I joke. Thanks to Tom, as always.

Talk to you on Monday and come on you reeeeeeeeeeeeds!