Arsenal struggled, and probably came away with an undeserved 1-1 draw against Spurs in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final at Ashburton Grove. It was Tottenham who created the most chances and controlled most of the play, with Dimitar Berbatov especially impressive, but Theo Walcott shot deflected in off his own chest to steal a draw for the Gunners after Jermaine Jenas had given their local rivals the lead.

Let's keep this all in perspective however - Tottenham's first team put in one of their best performances of the season, and Arsenal's second team put in one of their worst performances of the season, and Spurs still couldn't beat us.

The goals are below:

Unfortunately Arsenal's thinning squad took further blows as Robin Van Persie, Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos were all injured. With Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song away in Ghana for the African Cup of Nations, and Lassana Diarra looking likely to leave, there suddenly looks to be a big shortage of defensive talent in the squad.

Gallas is the only recognised first-choice centreback, and although Justin Hoyte filled in well in the second-half for Djourou, he is not going to win many balls in the air. That might mean Gilberto dropping back alongside Gallas, but then with Diarra possibly leaving, it leaves Mathieu Flamini as the sole recognised defensive/holding midfielder.

Van Persie's unfortunate attempt at a comeback will be regarded less seriously at the moment due to the fine form of Eduardo, but things can change very easily. It's a big month or two for Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger just might look into bringing some players in, perhaps even on loan.

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):

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.

1 man went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for the last home game in the Grove's debut season, and the atmosphere was tremendous yesterday. Unfortunately a certain cowardly left-back failed to appear - not on the pitch, on the bench, and not even in the stadium. It was disappointing because fans had probably been preparing all season for this moment, and all the songs that had been prepared had scant opportunity to be sung, but i've decided to theme this post accordingly.

2 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Arsenal once again showed all their failings of the season, and Chelsea showed their strengths. Arsenal went under the cosh from the kick-off, but recovered well to have a strong spell of posession, and then one the stroke of half-time when Julio Baptista broke free of the last man and was brought down in the penalty box, Gilberto duly tucked away the penalty. As a bonus, Boulahrouz was also sent off for being the last man. Arsenal had the initiatve now, and for the first 10 minutes of the second-half they had bags of chances.

3 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

And that was symbolic of the season really; Adebayor, Hleb, and notably (and unsurprisingly) Baptista all squandered chances, and Arsenal conceded an equaliser from a cross - sloppy marking as usual, Michael Essien heading in at the near post. Chelsea had shown great resilience in coming back into the game, and as the fullbacks pushed up for Arsenal, they somehow managed to dominate possession with their 10 men.

4 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Some good singing on the day - "F*ck Off Mourinho", "Shit Club, No History", "Liverpool", and "Ashley Cole, is a f*cking arseh*le" amongst others. I did enjoy the "Sacked in the summer, you're getting sacked in the summer" whenever Jose Mourinho began his histrionics.

5 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Chelsea almost stole it later on in their period of dominance, when neat footwork from Joe Cole saw him place the ball high into the top left corner past Lehmann, when facing almost away from goal. But it was rightly disallowed for an offside in the buildup. Arsenal poured forward in the last 10 minutes, squandered several chances, and then with almost the last kick of the game Eboue was played in on the right, and he wound up and unleashed a high, hard shot that thumped off the crossbar. Chelsea played well, and deserved their draw, but a winner would have been nice, because Arsenal had been the brighter, more attacking force throughout.

6 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

I can't for the life of me understand why Khalid Boulahrouz even bothered to foul, or try and win the ball off Julio Baptista. Anybody who watches football knows that when the Beast is clear through on goal, he either softly caresses the ball into the keeper's midriff or sends it somewhere near the corner flag. Silly man, deserved his red card for being stupid.

7 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

As I said, the game was symbolic of Arsenal's failings - inability to finish chances, to cope with pressure, and to concentrate and defend properly. The other side of the coin was displayed by Fulham's other team who with 10 men fought their way back into the game, and almost won it. Incredibly irritating, incredibly resilient.

8 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Even my dad, who was watching his first ever football match in person, said quite confidently that the Arsenal looked pointless up front, and needed a winger, preferrably a left winger. This is the same thing that fans have been saying all season, and if my dad who knows very little about football found it obvious enough to give such confident punditry, then it definitely is obvious. This of course means that in the summer we will sell two wingers and sign a central midfielder. What do I know anyways?

9 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 9 men, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley

Watching the lap of honour after the game, there were some interesting things to be noted. For one, it was called a "lap of appreciation", which I guess is fair enough when you are not competing for any honours at all. Mathieu Flamini seemed alive and well, which was nice considering that many of us suspected that Arsene Wenger had drowned him in the hydrotherapy pool. I also noticed (albeit from a great distance) that Jeremie Aliadiere seemed to be wearing spectaces. Strikers with bad eyesight are about as valuable as goalkeepers with no hand (no disrespect meant to the fine participants of either the Blind or Disabled World Cups).

Anyways, the season's done. Tied for 3rd place on points, but in 4th on goal difference, I feel the team has moved up a level from last season. With the kids blossoming in the background, all that's needed is 1 or 2 good experienced players (left winger included), and things could be very, very interesting next year. Seriously. Last season Arsenal only got 4th spot on the last day of the season, and stuttered throughout. Of the 6 league games played with Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, they lost 4, drew 1 and won 1. Pathetic. I was worried at the end of last season.

This year, of the 6 league games played with those 3, we've won 3, drawn 2 and lost 1 (to Liverpool). Both draws were against Chelsea, and both involved them coming from behind to equalise for 1-1 (and one of those was in injury time). Add to that 3-1 and 6-3 away wins over Liverpool in the FA and Carling Cups and 2 wins and 2 draws over Tottenham in 4 games, and Arsenal have dealt comfortably with the big teams. It's the small teams that have posed the problem - losses to West Ham (x2), Man City, Sheff Utd and Fulham have been unacceptable, and you add those up and it's 15 points more to the total. This is not unrealistic because in each of those matches, Arsenal dominated (sometimes 20 shots to 1), but just allowed the points to slip away. Add to those results the pairs of draws against struggling Newcastle (1-1 and 0-0) and Middlesborough (1-1 and 1-1) and that would be another 8 points. It all adds up - that's roughly 20 points, with those added to our total, we'd be contenders. All we need is to gain experience and be clinical.

10 men went to bed, went to bed with Ashley, 10 men, 9 men, 8 men, 7 men, 6 men, 5 men, 4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his mobile phone, went to bed with Ashley