The only positive that exists about an away trip to Hull on a Monday night, is that it gives a Bank Holiday Monday the opportunity to have some excitement in its life, rather than be a day of catching up with chores and the like.

That is it, because for those that are going to the game it’s an absolute pigs ear to be spending most of your bank holiday travelling to. I haven’t been to Hull, but I don’t think I’d be spending my precious time off heading in its direction, let alone to do it at a time in which I’d probably not be getting home until well after midnight. I certainly feel for those of you who are heading that way. May the good Lord Bergkamp grant you swift return with happy memories of three points well won.

Team wise we had Arsène deliver an update via the official site and where as he could easily rattle off 500 words of copy about all of the injuries within the team earlier in the season, yesterday evening’s page was gloriously succinct. 

Essentially, what he said was:

“Everyone’s fit from last weekend. Except Debuchy”

But hey, that’s ok, because in Hector Bellerin we have a player who is even being considered for the bigger games when the Frenchman is fit, so as far as we’re all concerned, it’s all gravy. The fact that Bellerin kept Hazard quiet on that side, as well as mopping up a certain goal, shows how important he and the other rotational squad players have become. We’ve always wanted to be able to say “gosh darn it, another injury but oh well, we have more in stock of that type of player so yay!”, so whilst out more senior right back suffers another frustrating week or two on the sidelines, hopefully our overall performance is not too adversely affected.

There’s a bit of fluff one official site about Arsène mellowing in games in terms of the way he expresses himself, referencing his more vocal approach to games when he was a coach in the French principality. I do find it amusing when I see the old pictures of him smoking on the touch line, or the idea that he would be all Jurgen Klopp shouty and ranty. It’s just not been anything we’ve seen and perhaps we should be thankful that Monaco helped to smooth the edges of the rough diamond that was to become one of our most successful managers. He talks about being mellowed with age, but that’s not really the Arsène Wenger I see on the touch line, do you? If anything, when you compare his demeanour over the last couple of seasons to when he first arrived, he certainly seems like he has got more vocal on the sidelines. I rarely remember seeing him pushing somebody like he did with Mourinho at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season. It’s true that the Portuguese – being possibly the most irritating man that has ever set foot on these British Isles – probably deserved it, but I just don’t think an Arsène of 2002 would have bothered with such histrionics. Mind you, an Arsène of 2002 at this time 13 years ago was about to guide his team to a league and cup double, so I suppose didn’t have too much to worry about because he had by far the best team in the league. When you know you’re the best you can brush off the attempted mind games or stupidity of other managers.

I quite like that Arsène gets frustrated sometimes. He is representing our interests from a management of on-field activities perspective and so I want to see him articulating his displeasure against incorrect decisions or jumped up little Portuguese scumbags. Keep it up Arsène!

Anyway, my trains about to go underground so you have yourself a merry little Friday.