Sky might have awarded Man of the Match to Emmanuel Adebayor, but Mathieu Flamini was the really outstanding player in this game.

That's not to say that Ade was bad - he gave their defence a torrid time as usual, and of late he always looks like he's going to score. His header, the opening goal, was perfect, and set the wheels in motion.

However it was Flamini who provided the cross for that goal, making a wonderful run from midfield down the right, before taking his time to choose his options, and delivering an arcing, dipping cross that was perfectly weighted for Adebayor to run onto.

Flamini has been in good form for a while now, tackling, passing, and occasionally running with the ball. He's also happy to drop the "Arsenal approach" once in a while and have a shot from distance when he sees the opportunity, and adds an element of directness when the play is too intricate.

It was these qualities that saw him add the coupe de grace with a magnificent long range goal. Cesc passed the ball square to him near the left-centre, and what happened next seemed almost scripted. Mathieu took a single touch to set himself up, and fired a thumping, bending shot with his right foot high into the far, opposite corner. There was absolutely no hesitation on his part, and it was the sign of a player in form.

The crowning goal came from Cesc, and was his first league goal since November. Nicklas Bendtner brought down a high ball and cushioned it perfectly for Cesc to stab home with his left foot. Cue overexuberant celebrations where the rest of the team, especially Adebayor, did their best to congratulate Bendtner in some sort of show of solidarity.

It was a great performance, and Newcastle were helpless. I think they managed just one shot on goal, and Keegan will once again be wondering what he needs to do to make Michael Owen once again look like a top striker again.

As for Flamini, he can't sign a new deal fast enough. It's not just his tackling, intercepting and attacking play that his made him outstanding this season, it's his leadership and enthusiasm. The 4 starting midfielders - Cesc, Flamini, Hleb and Rosicky have a great friendship amongst them, Senderos and Clichy have been there a long time as well, and Flamini has started to boss them all. They're all familiar with each other, and the Flamster keeps them alert - telling them to mark people, making sure they're aware on free-kicks and corners, and keeping a watchful eye on any gaps that open up. He's also got a real fighting spirit, and has gotten involved in all the scraps this season - his feistiness is a tremendous asset! 

A lot of Arsenal fans are quite happy with the Milan draw. I am too, but because it's going to be a good contest, with brilliant football and matchups, NOT because I think it will be a walkover like others fans seem too. It's a great chance for Arsenal to progress, because playing against a defensive team would be harder, but a lot of people have this perception of AC Milan as being full of "ageing old man" and a one-man-team based on Kaka.

People seem to easily overlook Andrea Pirlo in any mentions, but he's the most important player for them. Kaka is replaceable, and they can win without him, but not without Pirlo. The key is the Kaka-Pirlo-Seedorf trio, because they are constantly operating together all over the pitch. They are not as much of a one-man team as everyone is making them out to be. Kaka and Seedorf drag defenders all over the place, and rarely lose the ball even when under pressure, and Inzaghi is always there waiting to move into the space they create. Gilardino is finally playing well consistently too.

As for Kaka, even though I don't think Milan are a one man team, he's still their best shot at winning matches, and can do so on his own. Arsenal don't have anyone like that in the squad, who can just turn it on and take on the opposition like Thierry Henry used to, so everybody has to be playing well. Let's hope they are.

Milan aren't playing that well, and they generally don't create that many chances, but they have players like Inzaghi, Ronaldo, Kaka and Seedorf on the end of them, and those guys don't miss. Arsenal create loads of chances, but have Adebayor, Hleb, and Rosicky frustratingly missing most of them. Cesc is more clinical this season, but Robin Van Persie will be crucial.

Also, Ronaldo will be fit and ready by then - you can never rule him out, and don't forget about Pato... he is eligible from Jan 3rd onwards, and even though he's still quite raw, he's got amazing natural ability. I saw him play in only his 7th or 8th start for Internacional, and he completely tore Carles Puyol to pieces.

As for Gattuso, he's got a reptuation for being a nutter and a hardman ni midfield, but he's really not that physical. The Premiership offers much tougher tests, and he gets more of a reputation for that than he should, probably because he's such an oddity for an Italian/Serie A player. I was never a big fan of his, but he's worked hard on his game, and his ability to foul tactically is tremendous. Physically, his main asset is the non-stop running, which I guess is Flamini's as well, but Gattuso is much quicker than Flam, and so can press harder and faster. They also play with two defensive midfielders, and Ambrosini is definitely the stronger of the two. If Emerson plays I think Arsenal will take over the midfield, because he's completely past it.

Milan's main weakness is that fact that they don't have any fullbacks. Jankulovski and Oddo are clueless, but love going forward. Maldini and Bonera are basically centrebacks, and are on the slower side. Ancelotti has this really bizarrely weird habit of only playing them in pairs, so it will either be Maldini and Bonera, or Oddo and Jankulovski. They are still class in the centre of defence, but Kaladze has his dodgy moments. Adebayor will be key against them.

Ultimately Arsenal's main strength will be pace, especially with the fullbacks. Even with Jankulovski and Oddo bombing forward, those guys aren't super quick, and Milan don't attack with as much pace (Kaka excepted). I think that's always been Wenger's strength against the Italian teams, especially when he lets them attack with their slow buildup and then massacres them on the counters.

I think Arsene's record against Italian teams so far (post Wembley) is: P 10, W 5, D 3, L 2

That's home wins against Juventus (x2) and Lazio, and wins away to Inter and Roma. The draws were away to Lazio, where we were unlucky to conede an own goal, away to Juve when we had already won 2-0 at Highbury in the first leg, and a really poor 1-1 home draw to Roma after Totti had been sent off. The losses were of course the 3-0 at home to Inter, and the 1-0 away to Juve where we were virtually out of the group stage already, and Thierry Henry missed a penalty.

That's only 3 bad showings in 10 games, and all of those were in the group stages. Arsenal have won all their knockout stage ties against Italian sides, so the signs are good.

There have been persistent rumours about Miguel Veloso coming to Arsenal for the last 6 months. It all started with stories towards the end of last season about us trailing him, and Joao Moutinho. Then late this summer, there were quotes from his agent about how English clubs were interested. Over the past few days, there have been stories circulating everywhere about how we have come close to matching his £20 million release clause. There are also stories that he had signed a pre-contract agreement to arrive in January 2008, which appeared on his Wikipedia profile (it now says that he is on the verge of signing for a club record fee of £17 million.

I spoke to LaViz, our excellent Portuguese blogger, and she tells me that Veloso currently plays in a style quite reminescent of Fernando Redondo, the Argentine ex-Real and AC Milan holding midfielder who was a brilliant reader of the game, and had incredible technique and vision.

She also describes Veloso as being a bit like Nicolas Burdisso - in that he is very versatile, and can function anywhere across the back line or midfield, or in between. And not only can he play in these positions, he can do so effectively.

Because of the fact that he is athletic, and technically blessed, she feels that the coaches are trying to get him to play a bit like Esteban Cambiasso (she's an Inter fan, so does best with these comparisons); i.e. getting him to contribute more when going forward, and be more dynamic with his movement.

And how would he fit in at the Arsenal? The answer is... well... I have no idea. We signed Lassane Diarra this summer, and his best position is the holding midfield role, as is Gilberto's. However, neither of them have seen much playing time because of Mathieu Flamini's all-conquering, Gattuso-esque displays. Don't forget about Abou Diaby either. However, it's worth noting that Flamini is yet to sign a new deal, and that Gilberto might well be off in January (the Valencia rumours keep persisting, and Juventus haven't gone away either). Even so, with Diarra, Cesc, Diaby and Denilson around, that's quite a congested midfield.

Then again, Arsene Wenger has a habit of signing players and then doing other things with them. He spent £10m on the winger Thierry Henry (remember him?), and made him into a terrific striker. He spent £12m on left-winger Reyes, and made him into a striker (which never really worked out). He spent £11m on Wiltord, and played him at right-wing a lot of the time. Those are the big buys, there's also Van Persie, Ljungberg, Toure, Djourou and Eboue who have all learned new positions.

So where would Veloso fit in? He's played left-back, centre-back, central midfield and left-midfield, so we know he could cover all of those. He's got an excellent left-foot, and we all know that Arsene likes his gifted left-footed midfielders (Petit, Edu, van Bronckhorst, Reyes). The team has no left-footed midfielders at the moment, and is missing a bit of width, so it's quite possible that he might be sizing up Veloso as an option.

There's also the theory that he signed as the ultimate utility player - capable of playing anywhere in defence or midfield, he might hasten the departures of Hoyte, Senderos, Song, Gilberto, and maybe even Gallas, trimming the squad, and reducing the wage bill. However £17 million is quite exorbitant for a utility player, even if the club has cash to spend, and Gilberto's (possible) departure might bring in about £7 million or so.