Villa cock-up ensures another good night's sleep for Wenger

A week is a long time in football and Arsenal's destiny is not only shaped by their own performances. Arsenal play Aston Villa twice before Christmas - a Villa team that is currently making a right royal mess of breaking into the top four, and therefore Arsene Wenger's life a lot easier.

Miserable defeats to Newcastle and Middlesbrough, yesterday, keep them 3pts behind the Gunners; so two Arsenal victories against Villa throughout the remainder of 2008 could be enough to secure the North London club's fourth place position for another season. No other team has the potential to break into the top four.

More outlandish remarks by Wenger this morning. Apparently the rest of the league has improved, and therefore the top 4 will lose more games - like Arsenal have - and it will be a much closer division this season.

Twaddle. A quarter of the way through the season, and Liverpool and Chelsea are riding high with only 1 defeat each - and 2 draws each. Man Utd have dropped the majority of their points away from home to Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

From the top tier, it's only Arsenal who are struggling against teams between 5th and 20th; Arsenal have lowered themselves to the rest of the league's standard, not the other way around.

Arsenal Truth took a battering on Sunday, from Arsenal supporters infuriated by my Gael Clichy player rating. I like to think I'm big enough to admit when I've got something wrong, so I will. I should have given Clichy 5 out of 10, not 3 - that was silly.

I still think Clichy was awful on Saturday; it doesn' t matter  if he's up against Ronaldo or Andy Reid, the same lapses in concentration are hurting the team.

A lot of people point to Clichy's attacking attributes, as if they somehow make up for his defensive inadequacies. But I don't see enough end product from Clichy coming forward to justify that; a few good crosses every now and then, but he is no Roberto Carlos - 69 domestic goals, and counting. If Clichy was THAT good I might forgive him.

Clichy was not punished for his mistakes against Manchester United, so my criticisms are made to look redundant. Had his daft handball been a penalty, had his clumsy header not missed the far post by an inch, had Ronaldo ghosted in unchallenge and put away the easiest of chances, and had Ronaldo's two completely unchallenged crosses for Rooney been converted, things would have been very different. It could have been 2-6 United. Instead, Clichy had God on his side and it was 2-1 Arsenal.

Believe it or not, I am on Clichy's side. Love his enthusiasm, his heart - and I know he has all the attributes to be a world class left back, but defence is Arsenal's major weakness right now, so it seems sensible to me that Arsenal should shore it up where possible. I want what all Arsenal fans want, results, not to beat up on players who are underperforming. But thanks for your comments, apart from those accusing me of incest etc.

Tomorrow evening, Arsenal's young guns play Wigan in the Carling Cup. Arsenal will be up for the game, but I'm not sure Wigan will be. In the past, the smaller Premiership teams have seen the competition as a road to glory - but not so much now. If Wigan won the Carling Cup and played in Europe next season, the price to pay could be domestic relegation.

The UEFA Cup is a competition that Wigan are ill-equipped to take part in it, so Wigan boss Steve Bruce might semi-drop the competition and drop some players too. Domestcially, he has to weigh up the psychological effect of his first team losing to Arsenal's babies - and that will dictate who he puts out. We already know that Emile Heskey is missing. 

As for Arsenal, it should be another fun night. I can't wait to see Vela up against Titus Bramble. When Bramble is bad, he's very very bad.