The story was basically this.

Arsenal played 4 halves of football against AC Milan, over two legs, over two weeks. They dominated each one of those, and in the 4th half, they scored 2 goals. Think of it as superiority paying off.

"We're on our way, we're on our way,
We're going to Moscow, we're on our way,
How we get there we don't know!
How we get there we don't care!
All we know is that we're on our way!"

It was a cold night at the San Siro, and with near 5,000 of us packed high up into the away end at the San Siro, we needed to be in good voice and good spirits to keep warm. The atmosphere of the San Siro was eventually slightly overrated, the Milan fans made a bit of noise pre-kickoff, unleashed a whole bunch of glitter and cheers as the game started, had a few bouts of whistling, and went absolutely crazy for about 3 or 4 seconds right at the start when Kaka did a trick. Otherwise, they were mostly a passive bunch, and got quieter and quieter as the saw Arsenal take control. The euphoria for us of Cesc's goal was met by a steady flow of Milan fans making way for the exits.

The Arsenal dominated Milan on the pitch, and the Arsenal fans dominated Milan fans in the stands, and you can't say that victory for either was undeserved.

There have been enough details about the game all across newspapers and the web for me to not bother too much with details, but the team was just outstanding. Manu Eboue was the only lacklustre performer, seeming more mentally uninvolved than anything else - wasting the ball, avoiding tackles, and running lazily. He dived, and was fortunate to not be severely punished when badly fouling Paolo Maldini. Even Abou Diaby, he of recently lazy form, stepped up his game to an acceptable level.

Milan were disappointing really - although Flamini had Kaka in his pocket (and Cesc made sure he put him back in there whenever he popped his head out), the Brazilian didn't really know what to do or where to go. As a result he tried to go it alone, and with young Pato confused, and Pippo Inzaghi having one of his more primadonna-esque games, he failed to have an impact.

They missed Seedorf, yes, but I'm not sure that Milan could have put out a better side with this squad that they have. It's far too aged and predictable, and they will really be doing some serious shopping this summer. They lack dynamism, and need a bit of freshness.

Pato will of course be a big plus for them, he was their best attacker on the night, and at 18 he already has the ability to compete, all he lacks is the experience.

For Arsenal, it will be a huge boost after a bad Novemeber. They are only a point clear at the top now, and will need to refocus now; the win in Milan will have given them the belief to do that.

Of course, the big challenge now is to go to Wigan and win on Sunday. On Tuesday, Arsenal outplayed and outfought a Milan side on a great pitch with great players who had to attack to win. On Sunday, Arsenal will have to play a Wigan side on a simply awful pitch, against some dodgy players who will be fighting to not lose. It will involve a fair amount of steel, patience, and tactical flexibility. Nicklas Bendtner might have a role to play, since Arsenal will need to seriously consider the direct route - through balls, and little one-two passes are going to be disrupted by the rough surface and the (possibly) rough tackling.

They can possibly lose just one more game this season, and draw two at the maximum, without losing the title - even those estimates are probably a bit generous.

The big news for the Arsenal ahead of this weekend's game against Wigan is the absence of six first teamers from the Arsenal squad - Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Abou Diaby and Robin Van Persie are injured, Gilberto is fatigued from his exertions in South America, and Cesc Fabregas is suspended. Those are all important players, and Hleb, Flamini and Cesc have been Arsenal's best players this season, so it will be quite a test. Luckily, it's against Wigan Athletic. No disrespect to them, but they have been pretty dire this season.

So this means that the central pairing will quite likely be Denilson and Lassane Diarra. The former has been outstanding in the Carling Cup and in substitute apperances, and will be looking to pull the strings in midfield. The latter, a late summer arrival from Chelsea, has looked very promising in his substitute apperances, sometimes playing at right-back, sometimes in his favoured holding position. If Wenger is true to his word regarding the absentees for the game, then this will be the likely pairing in the centre, with Diarra getting a chance to show what he can do. Although Arseblogger feels that we just might see Gilberto starting this game.

The back 4 and goalkeeper should remain intact, and Emmanuel Adebayor will continue as the lone striker, so that leaves 3 positions up for grabs. There aren't too many candidates because os injuries, so it's likely that 3 of Emmanuel Eboue, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo will line themselves up behind Adebayor in some permutation of 4-4-2, 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, or a Wengerish mixture of all of those. I think Eduardo might be ready for a start tomorrow, especially since Arsene reckons that his performance against England in midweek will have given him some confidence. There is an outside chance that Kieran Gibbs or Armand Traore might come into the reckoning, to provide some width on the left, but it's more likely that we'll see them on the bench.

The big news for the visitors is two-fold. Firstly, Emile Heskey is back in training and likely to be in-line to start now. That's not the greatest news, since he has the potential to be a serious thorn in our side when playing well, and let's not forget his power, pace, and ability to fall down like a newly-born calf in attempts to win penalties.

Secondly, and this is the sort of ridiculous news, new manager Steve Bruce will be travelling with the side, and starting with this game. Bruce, Heskey's former manager at Birmingham, recently agreed to make the switch after Wigan met Birmingham's contract demands, and should finally give the rudderless Latics some direction. This is not the ridiculous news, the ridiculous news is that the actual move of Bruce from the Brum to the Latics was delayed over an image rights bonus issue (which eventually cost Bruce about £100,000). Now anyone who has seen Steve Bruce, will be wondering excactly why he was receiving an image rights bonus, especially since those are generally kept for people like David Beckham and Fredrik Ljungberg. I'm sure you know what i'm getting at... if not, then see below (not intending to go after Bruce in any way, he seems like a nice chap, but it's all quite weird):