Elsewhere this week
Defender Moritz Volz moved to Fulham on a permanent deal. The German right-back made just two League Cup appearances for us but would establish himself at Craven Cottage. Meanwhile, Jermaine Pennant extended his temporary stay at Leeds United, while Rami Shaaban joined West Ham United on loan for a month.
We suffered a 1-0 defeat at Highbury against Middlesbrough in the first leg of our League Cup semi-final, with Juninho’s goal beating a side featuring five youngsters. It was our first domestic loss of the campaign.
Our under-18s were knocked out of the FA Youth Cup at the fourth round stage after losing 2-0 at home to Southampton.
Image of the week
Not many managers would hand an academy prospect their first start in a semi-final, but that’s exactly what Wenger entrusted Quincy Owusu-Abeyie with against Middlesbrough. He had come on as a sub twice during our run to the latter stages, and here he is pictured tussling with the late Ugo Ehiogu in the first leg.
Owusu-Abeyie would play 23 times for us in all competitions before joining Spartak Moscow in 2005. A nomadic career would follow where he played in seven different countries and represented Ghana at international level, and he is now an accomplished rapper.
UK number ones
Official Top 40: Mad World – Michael Andrews feat. Gary Jules (third week at no. 1)Album chart: Friday’s Child – Will YoungBox office: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (fourth week at no. 1)
In the news this week
London officially launched its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Their other rivals at this point were Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Madrid, New York City, Moscow, Leipzig, Istanbul and Havana.
NASA’s Spirit rover rolled onto Mars for the first time since the robot bounced down on the Red Planet nearly two weeks earlier.
The Nintendo DS was unveiled. It would go on to become the second-highest-selling video game console of all time, behind the PlayStation 2.
