Surely our old mate Nicolas Anelka wouldn't be the man to come to Arsenal's rescue... would he? He's been called up for France's trip to Australia - you might have seen it mentioned in the papers - bringing Lemerre's travelling party to 22 (after Parma's Boghossian was called up on Monday as cover for Manu Petit).

The natural conclusion to draw is that the French FA doesn't fancy Thierry Henry's chances of making the trip.

'Anelka has been recalled but that doesn't mean he is going to replace Henry,' said a French FA spokesperson, quoted by Reuters. But the French edition of Football365 has little doubt.