Arsenal's Jack Wilshere: Fallout from Red Card Continues

The weekend is over, but unfortunately the Premier League action isn't, as we still have to wait for tonight's game between Blackburn and Sunderland before this week's fixtures will be complete. As a result of that I'll have to leave my review of my Fantasy League until tomorrow when I will also be previewing the game with Shakhtar Donetsk. So far my team is in big trouble this week, as my captain and reserve captain didn't play, and if I'm really lucky I'll reach 40 points for the week. It's the first week in a while that my team has gone backwards, but it's my own fault for making my changes on Thursday night and forgetting to check the team news on Saturday morning.

On to matters Arsenal—and the continued fallout from the challenge by Jack Wilshere that earned him a red card against Birmingham on Saturday. The comparisons between that challenge and the one that broke Eduardo's leg over two years ago are very wide of the mark. They miss the point that Nikola Zigic was able to walk away from that challenge on two legs, unlike Eduardo, who still is trying to put his career back together 32 months later.

We are again getting the statistics of how many red cards Arsenal have got under Arsene Wenger in the 800 matches he has been in charge. But what isn't mentioned is that Arsenal have not broken any opponents' legs in that time while three of our players have suffered that fate in just over four years after reckless challenges by opponents. Wilshere didn't break any legs, but he has apologised to Zigic and admitted that he deserved a red card. Now he should be allowed to move on and get on with being the best prospect that the England team has.

The boss spoke about having to see the difference between an accidental red card and a team who tries to kick you from the first minute to the last minute. Arsenal have come up against plenty of teams who have tried to do that in recent seasons, as there is a commonly held belief that they don't like the physical aspect of the game. It's a no-win situation for Arsenal, really, as they are seen as soft when kicked and called dirty if they kick back.

In recent games we have seen quite a few bad challenges on Arsenal players go unpunished, and when we complain about them we are seen as whingers. We were treated to Paul Robinson and Kevin Davies from Bolton both getting away with what I considered to be straight red cards at the Emirates a few weeks ago. Then we when the team visited Chelsea, Flourent Malouda deliberately stamped on Bacari Sagna. It wasn't spotted by any of the officials, and still no action was taken after the game. 

Both Wilshere and the boss said that Wilshere had a poor touch and chased after the ball but didn't see the man, and I have no reason to disbelieve them. I know Wilshere has come close to catching players with similar challenges already this season for Arsenal and England. I think that he will now realise that he cannot go blindly chasing the ball when his touch isn't up to standard. His punishment is a three game domestic ban. He will miss the league games away to Man City and at home to West Ham, as well as the Carling Cup trip to Newcastle.

He will be available for the game against Shakhtar Donetsk tomorrow night and the return trip to the Ukraine in two weeks. I expect him to play a very active part in both of those games. In between those games he will get a little bit of a rest, as he gets to look at the man that can teach him all he needs to know about how to play in his position for Arsenal.

Cesc Fabregas Returns:

I'm pretty sure that Cesc Fabregas will return for the trip to Man City next Sunday, and he may possibly even be on the bench for tomorrow night's game. I saw the highlights of City's away victory against Blackpool last night, and I thought they benefited from some very generous refereeing. Two of their goals should have been disallowed. Blackpool had a perfectly good goal disallowed as well. The 3-2 scoreline was very flattering to City. The defence that I thought looked very strong was easily opened up by Blackpool.

All of that gives me some hope for Arsenal's trip up to them next Sunday, and if we're really lucky Joleon Lescott will be playing for them. I'm sure they will pack their defence, as Chelsea did, and hope to hit us on the break. But with Cesc in our team that tactic might just backfire on them. I'll deal with that game a lot nearer the time, though, as I'm getting a bit ahead of myself now.

Non-footballing Matters:

The manager of Stoke RFC had a go at our manager yesterday when he questioned his genius by stating that he hadn't won a trophy in six years. It's not quite six years yet, but it will be next May, and he's quite right in saying we have won nothing in that time. I would like to know if Tony Pulis has managed to win three league titles and four FA Cups while keeping the club on a sound financial basis and building a fantastic new stadium that will be his legacy for a long time to come. I'd like to know if he has ever won a trophy of any significance in his managerial career, but I couldn't be bothered looking it up because I have no real interest in rugby.

He also said that he doesn't think England should have a foreign manager running the national side but that he has nothing against foreign managers. He went as far as to say that foreign managers are very nice people apart from Arsene Wenger. It's admirable that our manager's criticism of him and his tactics should affect him so much that he can't shut up about it, but maybe if he took some responsibility for the leg-breaking antics of his players he wouldn't be such an easy target. I really hope that Arsene offers him a handshake when they come to the Emirates in December and then pulls it away and waves it at him from his forehead. It would make my year, but I just can't see it happening.

Arsenal Youths:

Finally for today, our youth team lost 3-1 at home to Charlton on Saturday to end their recent good run in the league. The Arsenal goal came from Callum Webb but we were already 2-0 down at that stage. It drops us down to fourth place in what is a very tight league. Hopefully things will improve for our next game away to Southampton in a couple of weeks.

See You Tomorrow.