If you were worried that Lincoln City might be coming to the Emirates to kick lumps out of the Gunners then your fears will not have been allayed by any of the news around today.

First we had one of their defenders telling us all about how he was going to ‘smash’ Alexis. Now we have the news that Sir Clive Woodward, rugby World Cup winning coach with England, has been giving the Imps advice.

“Sir Clive came round to Danny’s [Cowley, manager] house last Sunday morning – I couldn’t get round there quick enough,” said Imps assistant manager Nicky. “Danny rang me up and said, ‘He’s here’. I knew who he meant and I was there like a shot.

“You have to walk past his kitchen window to get to the front door, and when I peered in there was Sir Clive Woodward, England’s rugby World Cup- winning coach, having a cup of coffee with my brother. How cool is that?

“We’ve read his books and we are happy to ‘borrow’ a lot of ideas from what he did with England’s rugby team and the business side of sport. It was a real treat to meet him.

Arsene Wenger is expected to make a few changes ahead of this game with Gabriel rumoured to be in line for a start. He will certainly be hoping to do better than he has on his previous outings this season as he struggles with being just a bit-part player.

That being said, Arsenal will need to go full Arsenal for Lincoln to have a chance. Turn up, play like it matters, and hope the referee takes control. It’s Antony Taylor, so he won’t, but we at least have to do our part.