American-born defender Eric Lichaj had a deal with his wife: Score a hat trick and she will finally let him get a dog. The Nottingham Forest defender came oh so close to scoring a hat trick against Arsenal during the FA Cup on Sunday. After Lichaj asked Twitter to bombard his wife with dog memes, she caved. Eric Lichaj finally has a dog.
After scoring 226 goals in a sensational eighty-year stint with Arsenal from 1999 to 2007, Thierry Henry’s sale to Barcelona was seemingly the end of the Frenchman’s legendary time with the Gunners. Five years later, after a period with Barcelona and currently on the books with Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls, Henry romantically returned to his beloved club on a two-month loan deal.
Arsene Wenger was probably going to be fired after failing to qualify for the Champions League with Arsenal last season. However, Arsenal won the FA Cup, and Wenger held on to his job.
He is still holding on to it, but his position has become a little more precarious after Arsenal was bounced, 4-2, from Wenger's favorite competition (he has won seven times with Arsenal) by Nottingham Forest and in particular American defender Eric Lichaj.
Lukas Podolski, a World Cup winner with Germany and a former striker for Arsenal and Bayern Munich, has always been a fan favorite, wherever he goes. The man with a hammer for a left leg is finishing out his career in Japan with Vissel Kobe right now, but while back in Cologne rehabbing an injury he opened up a doner kebab shop over the weekend to plenty of fanfare.
In the end, it’s all shock and horror for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal FC. Their 4-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday means it’s the first time since Wenger became Arsenal’s manager that they’ve failed to progress past the third round — a record of 21 straight seasons that’s now over. Forest are also the first team from a lower division to score four or more goals against Arsenal in the FA Cup since 1908.
The institution that is Arsene Wenger was handed a three-match touchline ban and a $54,250 fine for a confrontation with referee Mike Dean after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with West Brom on Sunday. The Wenger ban is nothing new for the Frenchman, who served a four-match touchline ban for a similar behavior last year. And Wenger didn’t even deny these accusations, fully admitting to what he said and standing by his criticism.
Where to begin with this game? We'll start with Alvaro Morata. If Chelsea had someone else playing striker, they probably would have won this game running away. But, they did have Alvaro Morata, and he missed three clear chances. So it goes.
You know who didn't miss, though? Jack Wilshere! Welcome back, Jack!
You know who else doesn't miss? Hector Bellerin, who nailed Eden Hazard squarely in the foot with his foot to set this up:
Arsenal and West Brom drew 1-1 on Sunday in a match that didn’t really get going until the final 10 minutes. But catching the eye more than the insipid performance from the Gunners was the odd choice of Arsenal kit, which was all red for the first time since 1978. Social media was not exactly impressed.
Much of the discourse currently surrounding Arsenal revolves around whether superstar Chilean attacker Alexis Sanchez will still be there at the end of January. We can say two things about Sanchez with a reasonable amount of certainty: he is Arsenal's best player by some distance, and he cares deeply about playing for his country.
That is why it's probably a bad idea to send tweets like this:
It wasn’t that long ago (three weeks really) that Jack Wilshere was seen as a Europa League and Carabao Cup specialist winding down the final days of his contract at Arsenal. Once hailed as the future of Arsenal’s English-infused era of dominance and the answer to decades of hurt in the Three Lions’ midfield, Jack the lad became a Mr.