The most uncontroversial of controversies provides some betting fun at least…
If you had told Arsenal fans back in August that the big issue facing the club in November would be the length of their sleeves, they would have either laughed, cried or hit you. Possibly all three.
But after a sensational start to the season, the Gunners sit atop the Premier League, are in the driving seat in a brutal Champions League group and virtually all their players are in the form of their lives.
So what is the major beef that is upsetting their very steady apple cart? The length of Mathieu Flamini’s sleeves, that’s what.
The ‘controversy’ started after the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Flamini played the game with the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirt cut off to short sleeves.
That upset Arsenal’s kit man Vic Akers as the club’s players all must wear the same length sleeve, chosen by the captain no less. Yep, as club traditions go, it’s a weird one.
Anyway, Flamini pulled the same stunt on Tuesday against Marseille, with the player insisting he preferred the short sleeves, and Arsene Wenger insisting ‘he will not do that again’.
So, all of that leads to the most unlikely betting market we think we’ve ever seen. You can back the Frenchman to be short sleeved aganst Cardiff this weekend at 5/1, with long sleeves a much shorter option, if you follow, at 1/10.
And if Flamini scores at Cardiff City Stadium (unlikely for a guy with 15 goals in his 10-year career) and incorporates his sleeves somehow in the celebration (which would be pretty funny) you can get odds of 25/1 for that sequence of events.
So that's the long and short of it (sorry)...
