According to the Telegraph he was caught on camera ‘slapping’ Reading’s Graeme Murty in the second half. It seems to be bery little in it, but he could get a 3 match ban. The FA are going to review the video evidence.

If he is banned he will miss the last 3 games, and we will lose a key player who could help us get to second place.

After the ‘ice-cream’ story it turns out he can leave the club under the ‘webster clause’ this summer. When a player is under 28 it allows him to buy out his contract after 3 years, and this applies to Hleb, whose contact was for 5 years, signed in 2005. It is very possible that he could go to Milan!

Wenger is pretty worried about it, and certainly needs to try and keep this squad together if he wants to push for honours. He has warned Alex that moving clubs doesn’t always bring success!

“I believe Alex will stay but you cannot stop the rumours when players are in this type of situation,”

“But I want Hleb to stay like everybody else.”You can go to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but you have no more guarantees to win trophies. And from this season we should get the belief we can win trophies and come back to win the title.”

Ade is linked with AC, and of course Flamini still hasn’t signed. I don’t expect many key players to leave. Realistically I hope only Lehmann and maybe Gilberto will go. Gilberto says he needs to talk to the Boss about his future. Click here.

Gilberto has been a true professional this season, even thoiugh he lost his place he has kept going with little fuss, and the veteran scored on Saturday, a reward for his hard work in the last 2 games. I don’t think he will stay, but he is good cover if he does.

SkySports have picked up on the Theo interview in the Reading Programme. Theo has said that he will miss his target for this season in terms of games and goals:

“At the start of this season I wanted to make 20 to 25 starts and score five goals,”

“At the moment I’m on 17 starts and five goals, so it looks like I will fall short of that.”

On the subject of Theo, the Boss says here that the Reading match was his ‘most complete game’ yet, and his physical side of the game has improved:

“Theo is not a monster, but he has great body power. When he starts on the first five yards, it is like you throw him away. You do not see him, he is gone. That is more important than just more power. But the way we play, we can take advantage of his qualities.

“Before he was always a bit out of the physical contact side of the game, now he looks for it. I told him he had to be more aggressive and determined. He is that now.
“I feel next season began on Saturday for him. I don’t know yet if I will start with him for the rest of the season, but there is a good chance yes.

“It is down to him now, how much he wants it. But I hope he continues to produce this type of performance and on his account are 10 or 15 goals, because that is what you should aim for.”

Gallas has also urged all our players to stay at the club, to challenge for honours next season:

“For next season we want all the players to stay here,”

“It would be good if we can keep this group together because we know each other very well and we know what we can do.

“We came very close to winning something this year, but you get nothing for being close.

“We want to get second place and to finish the season strongly, by winning every game.”

Gallas is spot on here. If players like Flamini and Hleb leave we will struggle to replace their quality. It is so vital that the squad sticks together, because we really are good enough to be a very successful team.

We should try to finish second this year, and aim to start srtongly next season, with more maturity and experience from this campaign!