I was just wondering whether there was, at Emirates Stadium yesterday, a more unpopular man anywhere in the world than Cesc Fabregas? Arsenal fans hate him because he left them. Chelsea fans hate him because they think him at least partly responsible for the Morinho fiasco earlier in the term.

So I make that 60,072 people all hating Cesc. And one (the ref) being ‘neutral’. One hopes.

And yet within 25 minutes of the kick-off, Cesc had a challenger for the ‘most hated one’ slot. In Arsene Wenger.

As football matches go, it was pretty fucking dreary. Yet it had one moment of spectacular silliness. In which Per Mertersacker, the ‘last man’ before the goalie, hacked down the wonderfully acrobatic Diego Costa to earn himself the inevitable and unquestionable red card. The game’s 18 minutes old and the Arse are down to 10 men.

So Arsene is faced with a problem. If a midfielder gets sent off you can maybe leave the remainder of the team as they are. But if a central defender goes off he simply has to be replaced. So someone’s gotta go off. But who? Personally I’d have taken off Ozil. But that’s because I don’t like Arsenal and he’s their best player. Wenger took off Olivier Giroud. The striker. The only striker, other than captain-for-the-day Theo Walcott. Who looks like a winger; plays like a winger, but is apparently ‘a striker’.

Giroud is big. He’s an ‘aerial threat’, a bit like a drone near the airport. He’s quite strong. For a Frenchman. So he can hold up play when necessary. And muscle his way round the box when required. Though not necessarily against the likes of John Terry or any other properly qualified thug.

Whereas Theo is… well, he’s faster than the Roadrunner. And he’s taller than… the Roadrunner. Just. And stronger than… (I don’t know how strong the Roadrunner is, so…) stronger than someone much weaker. A child. Someone with a muscle-wasting illness, that kind of thing. And that’s who’s left to lead the line. Though Spain won a World Cup, often without playing a ‘proper’ striker, so there is precedent. It just didn’t work yesterday. Even though Chelsea still don’t really play like Chelsea. And long may that last.

So the Arsenal fans turned on Wenger for removing Giroud. On twitter. In his face. Everywhere.

Man City struggling. Arsenal dropping. It looks like its between Spurs and Leicester for the league. Its 1961 all over again. If only.

Happy monday

A xxxx