Dave

John O’Farrell on the dearth of English players in the Premiership, following Arsenal’s all-foreign efforts this week:

This week, another football landmark was reached when a Premiership team fielded an entire squad of foreign players. “What is Arsene Wenger doing?” said the pundits. “I mean, OK, so Arsenal are 4-1 up, but they completely lack the homegrown talent of their opponents … Oh, hang on, now they’re 5-1 up.” In fact, it should have been six but we’re stuck with these useless English referees. “Where oh where are the top British players?” asked a fan at half time, sensing that he vaguely recognised the bloke serving him a reheated hotdog.

From The Guardian:

The last time Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur met in the FA Cup, it was the 1991 final. Wembley was filled with Puffa jackets, videos were set for Saturday-night favourite Noel’s House Party, and Cher’s Shoop Shoop Song poured out of the stadium speakers. If that doesn’t date the scene, maybe this will: it was expected to be a close game – and it was. With Spurs losing Paul Gascoigne after 14 minutes, Forest were only undone by a fatal error from Des Walker, who headed beyond his own keeper in the 94th minute.

On Sunday they meet again, this time in the fifth round. And this time, it’s a different kind of fatality paling Forest cheeks. Even the most optimistic daren’t entertain the notion of a win at White Hart Lane. In fact, when Spurs met West Brom in the fourth-round replay to decide who would face Forest, John Motson said it all: “Whoever wins here will host Nottingham Forest in the next round, so there’s the prospect of a good cup run here.”