By Ian Grant
FA CUP
An FA inquiry has been launched into the incident that saw Thierry Henry struck by a coin at Highbury on Saturday.
Lauren has been accused of inciting Chelsea fans last Saturday, after Henry scored. Messages posted on Chelsea’s official website claim that Lauren provoked Blues supporters.
More than a third (36.2%) of the viewing public watched Arsenal’s FA Cup quarter-final match with Chelsea at Highbury. It was the largest audience for an FA Cup tie since the 1999 Man U v Newcastle final.
Sheffield United will take on Arsenal or Chelsea at Old Trafford in their FA Cup semi-final on Sunday, April 13. It will be screened on the BBC, live at 1 o clock.
Arsenal fan and Sheffield United forward, Steve Kabba wants to face Arsenal in the semi-finals – so he can get the shirt off Thierry Henry’s back. Meanwhile Neil Warnock wants a Zola shirt.
Sven Goran Erikkson has increased the pressure on the Football Association, and backed Arsene Wenger’s call to scrap FA Cup replays.
Ken Bates, however, says Wenger’s proposal to ditch FA Cup replays would hurt small clubs.
PLAYERS
Robert Pires has been named Barclaycard player of the month for February.
Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his ideal strike partner at Manchester United would be Arsenal’s Thierry Henry.
The Times called Francis Jeffers a “shark in the park” as opposed to a “fox in the box” after the controversial penalty on Saturday. Jeffers said sometimes you don’t have to be touched a lot to go down.
Sylvain Wiltord has signed a multi-million sponsorship deal with Puma. He could earn £4million in the next four years based on initial payments, plus extra cash dependant on his success for club and country.
Arsene Wenger revealed Freddie Ljungberg’s Arsenal career was almost ended after just three months – by homesickness.
Meanwhile, Dennis Bergkamp said of the Swede: “He made sure that he had a great influence on us. Freddie’s got this thing that he’s always there in the big games.
And added: “That’s good to know, because you know you’ve got a player who’s always got that extra in the big games. Therefore he had a great impact on winning the double.”
EX-PLAYERS
Ex-Arsenal favourite, Nigel Winterburn, 39, has indicated he wants to play another season with West Ham.
Meanwhile, Glenn Roeder has made an amazing offer to try and persuade Tony Adams out of retirement to shore up his defence.
GROUND
Arsenal and Tottenham might be tempted to share the new Wembley stadium, English sports supremo Patrick Carter said this week.
That’s theory. Meanwhile Estates Gazette reports Arsenal have chosen Wilson Connolly as its preferred development partner to build the residential element of its stadium scheme at Ashburton Grove.
TRANSFER TALK
According to the News of the World, Roberto Carlos suggested that he will join Arsenal when his contract with Real Madrid expires in under two years.
Meanwhile the Scotsman links Arsenal – along with Man U, Celtic and Everton with Falkirk’s Collin Samuel.
Corriere dello Sport claims Manchester United and Arsenal are waiting in the wings to snaffle Edgar Davids from Juventus.
Patrick Vieira meanwhile denied reports he was lining up a move to Juventus and insisted he wants to stay at Highbury “for many years to come”.
Meanwhile German paper Kicker links Arsenal with 1860 Munich goalkeeper Simon Jentzsch. While some UK Sundays say Brazilian keeper, Marcos is definitely Arsenal bound.