http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... gs-weekend
Koscielny out, Mertesacker in
"Laurent Koscielny's rather inept display against Chelsea last week did contain at least one positive note for Arsène Wenger, as it solved any selection headache he might have had over who to play alongside Thomas Vermaelen in Saturday's game at Upton Park. If Koscielny can be pushed around by Fernando Torres, hardly the most physical of strikers, then he has little chance against either Carlton Cole or, more likely, Andy Carroll. And so Per Mertesacker should regain his place. But Arsenal close the door on one selection problem only to open another. With Abou Diaby out injured, again, there is a space in the middle that could be filled either by Aaron Ramsey or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The latter is still learning, the former is still regressing. And then there is the question of Gervinho. The Ivory Coast international often looks like an embarrassed teenager on an early sexual encounter; he's scoring, yet most of his time is spent fumbling around without really knowing what to do. But who could come in ahead of him? Olivier Giroud, who has been poor so far? Or the ever inconsistent Theo Walcott? Either way, there is plenty for Wenger to ponder. "
Continued tension between Allardyce and Wenger
Just how does Sam Allardyce release all that anger at Real Madrid's continued, exasperating refusal to make him their manager? Well, he usually has a pop at Wenger. Here are a few choice samples:
August 2010: "I have to remind Arsène that his team, which used to win the league, was the dirtiest in the league. If you cast your mind back to when they were winning the league, they had more sendings-off and bookings than anyone else."
September 2010: "Arsène has most of the media in his pocket now and is almost – almost – affecting the officials so that you can't tackle an Arsenal player."
April 2011: "I don't know him well enough to like him or dislike him, but I think his own self-importance takes him into an area where he can become rude with what he does, in terms of ignoring you and ignoring what you do. For instance, he's not shaken my hand in the past and walked straight down the tunnel because he's frustrated with one thing or another."
For fans of petty squabbles everywhere, let's hope Wenger does something to annoy Allardyce – perhaps forget to offer him a Polo mint on the sidelines, for instance – when Arsenal play West Ham this weekend."
I know he would get banned for 3 months from the touchline etc...but I would LOVE Wenker to just kick that fat *word censored* sweaty *word censored* gimpo allardyce in the nuts...
