Arsenal’s youngest player was involved in a tiff with a West Brom player last night.
It was a minor incident in the Carling Cup but there’s already a huge fuss about it.
What happened was this : Jerome Thomas, the former Arsenal and Charlton winger, who was once on loan at QPR, went for a 50-50 ball with Jack Wilshere.
Wilshere,17, threw his left leg and body across Thomas, to protect the ball, as you do. So the two players collided and fell over. But Thomas had stuck out his right elbow, so the back of Wilshere’s head ran into Thomas’s elbow. Wilshere then rolled over holding his face. As Thomas got up, Wilshere sat up, stopped holding his face, and said something, so Thomas pushed him in the face/neck. Wilshere fell over holding his face again and rolled over, as if he was hurt.
So the ref sent off Jerome Thomas. You can’t use your hands in football, so the ref had to send Thomas off. It happened six minutes before half-time.
The score was 0-0 at the break and Arsenal won 2-0 against ten men with goals by Sanchez Watt and Carlos Vela.
Once again, a small incident has made big headlines. It’s a storm in a teacup, really. Neither player is wholly innocent and, of course, Wenger said he didn’t see it.
The Arsenal team contained eight teenagers, including keeper Szczesny
In other Carling Cup ties, Ngog scored the only goal for Liverpool at Elland Road, Bolton beat West Ham 3-1 after extra-time, Peterborough beat Newcastle 2-0, and Sunderland won at home against Birmingham by the same score.
SOL CAMBELL has walked out on Notts County after one game.
Sol, get your head together son. You are comprehensively wealthy and old enough to make sensible decisions. Sort your head out, man. You’re making yourself look stupid.
Last night I wondered whether I should bet on more than three goals in the Santander v Barcelona game. It was conceivable that Santander might score one goal. I thought of phoning Tony, my La Liga consultant and wondered where he might be. Ten minutes before kick-off I emailed Tony : Racing Santander v Barca- over 3 goals? His reply soon came back : under. Sent from my iPhone.
So I just backed Barcelona to win. After the electric Messi scored his second goal and Barcelona’s fourth, Guardiola took him off and put on Iniesta. Having been to the gym, I was tired and went to bed without knowing the final score. First time I’ve ever done that.