With the exception of Belarus, South Korea and now, Germany, global football is currently suspended. The Premier League has been given the all clear by the government to restart after June 1, behind closed doors, and with that in mind, teams are hoping to resume training, if given the all clear, this upcoming week.
However, there are still plenty of questions to be answered when it comes to Project Restart, and we’ll learn more on Monday Until football returns, we still have plenty of news items to cover. So let’s take a spin through the Arsenal FC community in cyberspace.
We begin where else but with the news that forward Alexandre Lacazette could face discipline from the club after he was reportedly taking hits from nitrous oxide balloons while home during quarantine. The Daily Star has uploaded footage that appears to show the Frenchman with a balloon upon his lips.
And as The Sun points out, this comes only 18 months after he was warned by his club after footage of him inhaling “hippy crack” surfaced. The substance is not illegal in the United Kingdom, but recreational drug usage isn’t exactly what employers want their employees to be into.
A club spokesman said to The Guardian: “This is a private matter which we are taking seriously. It will be handled internally.” The article says Lacazette is quoted as sending text messages to friends saying he is “at home, chilling and doing balloons”.
Elsewhere central defender Calum Chambers has given an update on his injury rehabilitation. Having suffered an ACL tear in late December, it is thought that he won’t be ready to go again until this December.
“I am lucky enough to have some gym equipment here so I’ve been working on my strength in my leg, my knee and my quad. It’s all about building up strength in the quad to then hopefully progress onto more stuff,” he told the club website.
“It has just been about adapting to the situation we’re in and finding things I can do at home to keep myself going.”
Pain in the Arsenal have more, in a great podcast that conveys to us what we should reasonably expect of him once he returns.
Finally, former manager Unai Emery has lifted the lid on his time with the club, giving a candid, detailed interview with The Guardian.
Emery claims that he felt alone, and that the club could not protect him from criticism.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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