I don’t know who angered the gods yesterday, but Britain seems to have woken up to an angry Mother Nature, hell-bent on ruining haircuts and spraying plastic bags across roads today. It’s got more bluster than Jose himself. Scary indeed.

It was probably another Chelski fan sacrificing an innocent animals life, then eating the remains raw, to ensure they can continue to scrape over the line in the league having had a virtually injury-free season with their core squad of players.

As for the fraternity of Arsenal fans, we are in rememberance of an Arsenal legend, David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle. He was quite some player, I must say, one who should have been at Arsenal a little while longer and a player who I can legitimately say was my first ‘favourite’ player in the Arsenal team when I was growing up. 

I wish I still had my ’92 for 92, the story of Arsenal’s season’ DVD, in which Rocky was featured belting in that wonder strike against an out-gunned Schmeichel, flapping vainly towards the directly of the ball as it sailed over his head, off the bar and in off his back. 

Cancer is an evil thing and Rocky was a man taken too early in life. He is gone but will always be remembered by me.

I’ve said it before but will reiterate; I don’t have favourite players any more. A combination of the fabric of the game (i.e. It’s a business and players are commodities), plus the fact that squad rotation and injury means you just don’t see as much of players these days (or at least it feels it with Arsenal sometimes), just doesn’t allow me to have that choice. I suspect Thierry will have been my last ‘favourite’ player ever. I don’t know whether I’m sad or happy about that.

Anyway, our modern day players will soon all be returning and if the news I read from Twitter turns out to be true – because it’s a well documented fact that 98.7% of everything on Twitter is true – then Welbeck will be back for Saturday’s game against Liverpool. Which is just as well because he’s had some good performances of late. There are rumours of a Ramsey injury sustained on international duty, but I’ve been too lazy to look that up this morning, so you’ll have t do your own research there.

The important thing is that we have at least 11 players that are available for Saturday and I think we’ll be alright in that regard. As for the others, well for Gibbs and Walcott tonight is an opportunity for game time and Theo has another chance to show his value once again as he hunts for a shiny new deal to call his own. The only way he’s going to do that is by adding to his reportoire, so it will be interesting to see how much he will be the Theo that likes to drift on to the shoulders of the last man, or whether he’ll try for a more all-rounded game in an attempt to prove to all and sundry that he’s not just a rapid finisher. 

Can a leopard change its spots at 26 and with over a decade in the Arsenal team under his belt? Not sure. But at least he’ll get more minutes on the pitch which, for a change as an international friendly, will be no real problem from an Arsenal perspective.

One final bit of a rant from me today, before I clock off, such is to bemoan the ridiculous situation that the FA have put the club in with the ticket allocation for the semi final. Yesterday, the official Reading Twitter account was delighted to announce that Reading season ticket holders could now purchase an additional two tickets for the semi final. So for an important cup semi game in which there are Arsenal season ticket holders who go to every game at home all season and have been ruled out of attending through not getting a ticket in the ballot, there are Reading fans who can invite whoever they choose to watch. Perhaps a Manchester United supporting neighbour? Or a Tottenham supporting cousin? They are deemed more worthy than an actual Arsenal fan wanting to go and see an Arsenal game at Wembley. It is appalling and the FA should be ashamed of themselves for once again not providing a solution that shows real fans benefitting and able to watch their own team play. Wigan could not sell their allocation, so had to give the tickets back. Why are Reading allowed to do things differently. This is going to be a touts wet dream and it is a disgrace. 

I’ll also point out that this isn’t sour grapes because I don’t have a ticket- I have been to enough away games that I was able to secure my ticket without going in to the ballot.

I don’t really know what else is happening in the world of football, so I’ll be back this time tomorrow with something no doubt. Gawd I hate these international breaks.