With a new England manager in place and the captaincy once again up for grabs, Steven Gerrard has already said that he looks forward to working with Roy Hodgson again even though their last partnership didn't go so well. The following is a transcript of Gerrard's call to Hodgson just to remind the gaffer that he would very much like to be England captain.

The African Cup of Nations just wouldn't be the African Cup of Nations without some questionable goalkeeping, and Zambia keeper Kennedy Mweene was first of the mark with this effort against Senegal. Mweene raced off his line to claim a ball he didn't really need to get. Only after making the catch did he pause [.

It was all a bit of a rush. Fancy letting family stuff get in the way of football. What on earth is happening to me? Anyone would think it's Christmas or something.

So when I switched on the TV it took me a moment to get my bearings. First thing top left hand corner, read it three times just to make sure and remember to breathe.

That being the fact that you're allowed to handle the ball inside the penalty area. Rather than catch David Fuster's time effort for Olympiakos last night, Arsenal's sub keeper Mannone on in place of the injured Lukasz Fabianski decided to attempt some sort of martial arts volleyed clearance. That plan didn't really work.

Match report Video (via @arsenalist)

Sometimes, like against Manchester City in the Carling Cup, we see a performance from the second string that lifts the spirits and gives us hope and encouragement for the future. And sometimes we get performances like last night which reflect little more than why these players are part of the second string.