They point out that the BBC have a contract which entitles them to pick a game and show it at 7pm on the Sunday, and that by moving the game to Saturday evening they have (as we pointed out earlier) already done Arsenal a favour.

Le Boss's preference for a Friday night kick-off was never a viable solution because Newcastle have a game on the preceding Wednesday evening. And the FA are probably right in saying that the early eeving kick-off is better than Saturday lunchtime as far as the travelling Arsenal fans are concerned.

To be honest, everything the FA's Paul Newman says (see OneFootball) sounds reasonable, given that they've got themselves into the situation where Telly bosses have paid for the right to decide such things.

Reasonable and believable, that is, up to the point where he says "we are as sympathetic to Arsenal as anyone else". OK, so Liverpool had the same fixture congestion problems last year. Their appeals to the FA went similarly unheard, but they still came out with 3 trophies (not without a lot of similar whinging from their French boss, mind). So in this particular case we're not convinced that there is any victimisation going on. But as a general statement the idea that the FA don't have a less-than-soft spot for the Arsenal is quite amusing.

But Arseweb's not whinging. These obstacles only make the triumphs sweeter. And M Wenger should be used to it by now. He should be concentrating his energies on doing what he can to make sure they don't ban all our players. If we don't have a team then kick-off times are academic!