Diarra must be leaving / FA Cup Draw 7 January, 2008

Lassana Diarra was pretty much certain to start in yesterday’s FA Cup tie at Burnley. Wenger even said before the game he would be involved. But when the team sheet was announced about an hour before kick off I was searching for Diarra’s name; he wasn’t even on the bench. Immediately I thought he must be leaving then.

Diarra must either, 1. Be sorting out a move as we speak, or 2. He had an argument with Wenger and was dropped because of it; I can imagine him getting cocky about expecting to play and Arsene is not one to tolerate nuisance players. Or of course it could be a mixture of both 1 and 2. If Lassana is sorting out a move then him playing for us yesterday would’ve made him cup tied for his next team.

I’ve said before that I want Lassana to stay, especially with Mathieu Flamini still not signing a new contract. If (God forbid) Matty was to go then Diarra could be first choice along side Cesc, then he’d be happy, right? He’s a good player, Wenger knows it. But I’m sure both me and Arsene would agree that if he’s gonna be an idiot he can fuck off, we’ll cope without him fine. In fact, we’d make a nice tidy profit out of him.

Jens Lehmann is in a similar boat as Diarra…sailing out of Arsenal, into fresh waters…however the German’s his attitude has improved recently hence his start yesterday, unlike Lassie. Wenger says he wants Lehmann to stay (so do I) but Jens will decide his future this week.

Finally the FA Cup draw was earlier today and we got drawn with Stoke (or Newcastle). Their 3rd round tie ended 0-0 and there will be a match at St. James’ Park to decide who gets to play us at the end of this month. You can see the rest of the draw here but Chelsea go to Wigan and Man United host Reading (or Tottenham). Thanks for reading people, Spurs preview tomorrow.