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Following the sending off of Sol Campbell against Southampton
yesterday, there has been much speculation that Arsenal will recall
Matthew Upson from his loan spell at Reading.
Wenger has confirmed that the club will not be appealing against
the red card. Makes sense. While replays show he was unlucky not
to make the tackle, and it clearly was an attempted tackle rather than a cynical foul, Sol didn't make contact with the ball. And while the rule might suck, it is the rule that the defender gets sent off in this situation.
It means that Arsenal will be without Campbell for the Man Utd game, so there's been talk of Upson coming back rather than risking the Cygan-Stepanovs combination. But has anyone actually heard this from Arsene or Arsenal?
Upson's spell at Reading has been pretty successful so far,
so the speculation is not unreasonable.
But all the reports so far seem to be of the "Arsene Wenger might consider recalling...." variety rather than "Arsene Wenger says that...."
Another possibility is that Martin Keown will be back in time.
Le Boss said last week that he was back in full training, and
he could get an outing in the reserve match against Watford on
Monday night.
Rupe adds...
A few people have asked if Sol really is suspended for the
Man Utd game. Because that match kicks off at 2pm, one could argue that 2 weeks will not have passed since the Southampton
match. But if you look at the FA disciplinary rules, they talk about "the 14th day following the match in which..." rather than
"14 days after..." or even "336 hours..." (=14 x 24).
But it looks like we may well have been wrong about Paddy.
It's not clear that the Community Shield booking counts (certainly it's not listed on Arsenal.com), so perhaps he's
still one booking away his 5th, and the suspension that'll come with it.
But back to bad news.... Ashley Cole could be facing a ban for "foul and abusive language", having been reported by ref Paul Durkin for giving him a bit of a telling-off after the match.
Rupe adds...
Ok, final word on Paddy's suspension is now here The FA have confirmed that they got it wrong first time. The Community Shield does count and Vieira will miss the Man Utd game.
Rupe adds...
Another final word (!). The FA say they got it right the first time. See same piece.
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