Because Vermaelen was brought in to replace him upfront while Wenger wanted Adebayor to play in defence to improve his workrate and standing with the fans.

What a cracking goal by Vermaelen - at this rate he might even outscore Adebayor this season! Now what a story that would be.

A bit of old news now with Adebayor being handed a three match ban by the FA but the bigwigs should have dealt him a bigger one considering how he has shown little to no remorse. First of all it was obvious during the whole game he thought it was a kickabout for kids in the schoolyard where you could always get back at the guys you hated by kicking them instead of the ball. The Adebayor statement afterwards that apologised for his disfigurement of Van Persie was also calculated and he knew what he was doing, what trouble he was going to be in, and issued an apology to get off lightly. The statement was clearly worded to show that he was not sorry for what he had done.

After the charges were issued there was Adebayor going that he 'reluctantly' accepts the charges as he felt he had done nothing wrong and it was all in the heat of the moment. Emotions. I guess if people wanted to get away with violence they could all do it on the football pitch and attribute it to emotions. Obviously the plan was not to appeal since based on evidence he could not get away with it and would have been slapped with an additional ban if the appeal failed.

A couple of games banned does nothing to Adebayor. He still gets paid. And that's all he wants - lots of money without having to work. Look at him making light of everything in training just 2 days after being charged by the FA. Man City had better get all they can out of him for the first season because that's all he'll be good for before hankering for a move to Barcelona next.

And finally these interviews show why everyone hates Adebayor:

Nice work with the videos :)

After last season's exit from the Carling Cup at the hands of Spurs, where the scoreline was more painful than the actual result, expect a fierce response from the players when they welcome the same team to the Emirates Stadium. With Berbatov and Keane no longer at the White Hart Lane club, the Gunners should really just thump Spurs and make them eat humble pie. Even the appointment of the maverick Harry Redknapp should not be enough to prevent another loss on the cards for the clown act of the English football season.

Perhaps Adebayor and Bendtner can continue to put aside their reported differences and put on another double act on the pitch. The big guy came on on Sunday and changed the course of the game at Upton Park, a nice win for a change and credit must go to him. He took some stick for not scoring earlier this season but things are starting to look up for Ade again. If he can contain his growing ego and work even harder for the team, playing with either Bendtner or Van Persie will provide different but just as deadly options for us.

And either combination should also be enough to rip Spurs apart at the Emirates today. Wenger bless the guy will not probably bring up last season's humiliation, but he should. Gee up the boys and let them loose on the sorry troops from White Hart Lane. Smother the threat of Modric in the 'hole' and show Bentley that he was wrong to defect, even though he left us a long time ago. Champions League football with Spurs? Could have been better sitting on the bench with us. But credit to him for doing what he wanted to further his career.

The fans will be out in full force for the game. Hopefully some of the guys working late tonight can catch some live football online with Arsenal meeting Spurs. Staying in touch with Liverpool and Chelsea will be important, but with the former you know it will not be too tough as the season wears on. They seldom last more than half the season with a run before crumbling again under the weight of expectations. Arsenal might not have done much better but at least we might be much closer again this season.

Another week, more of the same. This time, it was "10 men behind the ball" Sunderland that frustrated us and left Arsene Wenger feeling more than a little hard done by. There were the usual "goal that should have been" complaints, and our old failings have been exposed again. It was obvious that they never really did go away, despite claims by Wenger that the kids were now physically tougher to balance their footballing talent.

Many of the players are simply not good enough to win anything, other than a trophy for eye catching football. Wenger must do more than getting his players to stick to a beautiful game philosophy, that having the mentality to kill off games would also be required if they wanted to end years of frustration and trophy-less woe.

We also cannot expect teams like Sunderland to allow us to play our football, or even try matching us on the field by passing it around instead of putting 10 men across their goalmouth to protect it. Some of the complaints and frustrations voiced by Wenger have bordered on the immature and naive, and he must be really losing it if he were to believe teams with limited resources and playing ability would try to beat us at our own game. Their priority is to survive and hang on in the English Premiership, not to please students of the game.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the result though, disappointing to say the least. At least the lads did not give up and managed to secure a point. But honestly, there isn't anyone, apart from Wenger, who seriously believes that we can still win the league this season. He could adopt a softer approach and just praise the players for their efforts after a good game, and not blow it out of proportion each time when that situation comes along, by telling every reporter in the room that we can still win the league. Or is Wenger trying to do a Mourinho now and deflect attention off his underperforming players?

Just when you thought that the team had indeed matured, especially with Arsene Wenger throwing plaudits to his young proteges every few seconds, Arsenal conspired to turn in another toothless display at the Emirates Stadium. While their efforts could not be faulted, they really tried to throw everything including the kitchen sink at Hull City, but it was clear during the game that some of the Gunners fans could not stomach any more live English Premiership football until a real cutting edge could be found. Or in more accurate terms, a permanent cutting edge.

So often players like Adebayor have flattered to deceive, and the striker that Wenger tried so hard to keep during the summer hardly made his presence felt. Being marked out of the game by a team of supposed no hopers should lower his market value further, and keeping him might be a mistake in the end. But Van Persie was one bright spark in the game, as was Fabregas who worked tirelessly as usual. The only letdown, again, were their lack of finishing. This is now a problem that should rank as the most important for Wenger to solve, if he is really serious about adding further titles to his resume.

It was a typical letdown by the Gunners though, especially after their reserves hammered Sheffield United in the Carling Cup. The seniors failed to live up to their place in the squad. It might be time to take a look again at replacing Gallas, for he was at fault with the winning goal and is clearly a player in decline. The call to spend again in January will gather pace if such weaknesses continue to be exist. There is no doubt that Arsenal have a great chance to win the English Premiership this season, but players with killing instincts must be employed, instead of just focusing on playing attractive football. Perhaps when Eduardo is back, we might see more improvement in that area, but the Croatian will need a few months to get his sharpness back as well.

Well, at least now it's on to the Champions League, where we usually do well in the group stages.