Politics

Ashley Barnes should have been sent off at least twice against Arsenal on Saturday but when confronted about his actions on the pitch he called it all ‘handbags’.

The man who attacked Borussia Dortmund’s bus ahead of thier Champions League tie last season has been sentenced to 14 years in jail in Germany.

With Brexit coming at the end of March 2019 and a large number of injured players at Arsenal, the January transfer window might be crucial for in the quest for trophies.

It’s been quiet out there in Arsenal land all week, so here is a quick round-up of some wider football stories you might have missed but which caught my eye.

Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail football section complains the Women’s Super League just isn’t super enough to warrant coverage in a national newspaper.

Arsenal and West Ham have become the first Premier League clubs to sign-up for an initiative launched by David Dein to offer coaching and refereeing courses to prison inmates.

Government minister Ben Wallace said that at least one club is under investigation for money laundering.

Danielle Carter has been sidelined for the past four months following ACL surgery for the injury she picked up in May and she spoke to the Sunday Telegraph this weekend about her recovery and the 'difficulty' of the FA's racial make-up.

Iran’s prosecutor has said there will be no repeat of women watching football matches in the country after around 100 women were allowed the rare privilege of doing just that this week.

Former Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell, will stand trial in February for money laundering according to an AFP report that cites Spanish judicial sources.

Borussia Monchengladbach's Ibrahima Traore says he does not believe that Mesut Ozil’s summer meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan was politically motivated.

It takes a special type of arrogance to repeatedly dismiss the same charge levelled at you from a load of different people without ever once asking if they might be right.

Amazon could introduce all-female commentary teams for their Premier League coverage after the same proved popular for NFL shows.

It’s hard to talk about the Ronaldo rape allegations without feeling my blood boil

The Times recently published a small news piece that claims the FA will instigate a ‘no bag’ policy starting with their next match against the USA in November but this reporting is not entirely accurate.

DfB president, Max Grindel, has criticised Mesut Ozil for not meeting with Joachim Low even though the midfielder was not at London Colney when the German manager turned up.

The draw for the next round of the Carabao Cup will feature two women and no men when it airs live on Quest tonight (Saturday) at 9pm.

Mesut Ozil has thanked Jerome Boateng after the player backed him following this summer’s events.

German doctors believe the Pussy Riot band member who fell ill after being released from prison was almost certainly poisoned, adding that he may be the victim of an unknown “anticholinergic agent.”

Tony Blair has been mentioned as a possible chairman for the Premier League for when Richard Scudamore steps down before the end of 2018.

Tottenham have reportedly banned the media from asking Lucas Moura any questions about his support for the right-wing politician, Jair Bolsonaro.

Rwandan police say they have arrested two football officials in the country and are investigating allegations that they tried to bribe a referee before an AFCON qualifying match against the Ivory Coast last week.

Pytor Verzilov, a member of the prominent anti-Kremlin activist band, Pussy Riot, that stormed the World Cup final is seriously ill with members of the groups suggesting he might have been poisoned.

Kevin Prince-Boateng has called on Germany to act to quell the rising racial tensions in the country after Mesut Ozil felt forced to retire from international football in response to persistent abuse.

Rwanda will continue to be ruled by Paul Kagame’s Patriotic Front after they netted 74 per cent of the vote, along with seven of their allied parties, in elections this week.

Just in case we weren’t clear the first time he said it, Toni Kroos wants us all to know that he saw no signs of racism within the DfB so we shouldn’t believe anyone who claimed they did.

Per Mertesacker has doubled-down on his claims there is no form of racism within the German set-up and even claimed he has been called names too but it was ‘just a bit of fun’.

Granit Xhaka apologised to the people of Switzerland for his double-headed eagle celebration against Serbia in the World Cup but when Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri tried to do the same he ended up insulting them.

Granit Xhaka has vowed to ‘never again’ celebrate for Switzerland using the Albanian eagle.

The president of Germany’s FA, Reinhard Grindel, doesn’t believe the Mesut Ozil ‘affair’ will cost the country when it comes to bidding for the 2024 European championships.

In a move that makes you question what century we’re living in, the Italian FA has upheld a one-match ban for Udinese’s Rolando Mandragora after the player was caught on camera blaspheming.

Brighton and Hove Albion will offer free sanitary products to female fans after a fan-led initiative, that began in Scotland, started to make in-roads in the Premier League.

Germany manager Joachim Low has expressed his disappointment that Mesut Ozil didn’t bother to contact him before retiring from international football but seems not to care that the player felt discriminated against because of his race.

Lukas Podolski has become the latest German player to deny Mesut Ozil’s claim of racism within the German national camp, falling foul of the ‘if I didn’t experience it, it doesn’t exist’ line of thinking.

The CEO of Rwanda's national development board claims Arsenal approached Rwanda about a shirt sponsorship deal, not the other way around

Per Mertesacker has become the latest white, single-nationality German player to deny there is any racism in the German camp in comments that are very disappointing.

Jurgen Klopp has come to the defence of Mesut Ozil again as Uli Hoeness continues his one-man personal crusade against the midfielder.

Rwanda's Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has told broadcaster CNN to ‘be quiet’ after they criticised his country’s deal with Arsenal, prompting a backlash in the nation.

Reinhard Grindel has admitted he should have done more to protect Mesut Ozil from racist attacks that many Bayern Munich people don’t think are a problem.

Spike Lee was spotted at the game against Chelsea wearing an old Arsenal shirt prompting many to speculate that he must be a ‘legit Gooner’.