It’s The Management’s birthday today, which means much celebrations are in order and a decent slice of cake at some stage, I’m sure. It’s all pretty rosy in the Arsenal garden too, isn’t it? One thing that is positive about not having a midweek game is that the post victory warmth that washes over you for at least 24 hours, should remain in place for at least another day or two. I hope so, anyway, because the weekend’s game will just fill me with dread. But we won’t go there. Not just yet.

Instead, let’s give praise and appreciation that justice was done last night, with the awarding of the Ballon D’or. Nope, not that Cristiano won it, because that was obvious. Instead, that Thierry had his hands on the award. There was that time around the Invincibles era that he was the world’s best player and everyone knew it. He should have won every trophy and just for being Thierry Henry, they should have just given it to him anyway yesterday, not that I’m biased in any way, shape or form, you understand.

Stranger things have happened than that though; they happened yesterday with the announcement that David Luiz was in the FIFPro Team of the Year. Having had a quick scout around social media and media websites yesterday and today, you can tell that the world thinks it too. Luiz wasn’t even the best central defender at Chelski, so how on earth he was voted as one of the best defenders in the world is beyond me. So yeah, giving Thierry the trophy yesterday would not have been the biggest shock of the day.

Arsenal specific news is relatively thin on the ground today. But do you know what? I really don’t mind that. There’s plenty of player comments and superlatives thrown at Alexis, but I’ve already dished out my quota of Alexis love this week, so there’s no point regurgitating my waxy lyricalness on you on a Tuesday morning, is there?

It’s that time of the season where most news is replaced by transfer tittle-tattle and, if I’m completely honest, I can’t be arsed. I’ve done it a million times i.e. Checking NewsNow, making a comment on how good a player would be at Arsenal, suggesting how he’d fit in, then having the link dismissed by the manager come Friday’s presser. And I’m fine with that. I’ve learned that you need to sit quietly and wait for any announcement, like a school child waiting patiently for the 3.25pm bell at the end of the day. You can bemoan that the bell isn’t earlier, even cite the fact that other schools knock off for the day at 3.15pm, but it won’t do you any good, you can’t change things, so you need to just accept them. Besides, those kids in other schools are scummers anyway, so you’re far better off just sitting and waiting patiently like me. It’ll be worth it. Maybe.

One deal that looks to be all but done and dusted is Yaya Sanogo to Crystal Palace. It’ll be an interesting one for him, particularly if Pardieux plays a similar style to the one he played against the Spuds, with pacy wide men Puncheon and Gayle (or Zaha) flanking a centralised target man. It’s similar in a way to how we play with our 4-2-3-1 formation and I can understand why Arsène would want to push through that move, assuming it happens. He clearly rates Sanogo highly – despite the clear lack of goals to his game to date – and keeping him in London with a team that could potentially play a bit more football than other sides in the league, is a good move for all concerned. Whether Sanogo gets enough game time upon the return of the amazingly gifted Chamakh (can you smell the sarcasm?) remains to be seen!

Other than that it’s unsurprisingly quiet. After all, we’ve got two weeks before the last second scramble to loan a 30-year-old journeyman defender on loan from , so there’s probably no point looking at the January window. I used to check Sky Sports three times a day dontcha know? Now they’ll be lucky to get me once a week. Take that you click whoring bar stewards.

Anyway, nothing more for me to say other than: Didn’t Messi once say he’d probably only play for Arsenal if he played for anyone in England?

Cheerio.