Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table to 5 points today, which a 2-0 win over Blackburn in London. Senderos set them on their way quite early, heading home an Eduardo corner in the 7th minute, after some awful marking from Blackburn. Arsenal then dominated the next 20 minutes or so, without scoring, and that allowed Blackburn to come back into it. Rovers couldn't really fashion any chances though, and the Arsenal defence was excellent. Then late on, Alexander Hleb (who had been very good) found space on the right and squared the ball to Adebayor (who had been very shit), and the Togo-stick took either a really brilliant or awful first touch with his left, and thumped the ball home with his right. Game set and match.

Hleb excepted, the best players on show were the defensive ones. Adebayor can't be expected to be amazing in every match, but he was really crap today, although much improved in the second half. Flamini had a very strong game and was really influential. Cesc was craft, if subdued, and Gilberto and Eduardo were erratic but OK. Gilberto doesn't seem like he will be here next season.

The defence though was excellent. Lehmann was calm and solid, Sagna was his usual supercharged, all-action self, and Clichy was solid and alert. Senderos continues to grow in confidence with every game, and his goal was the icing on the cake in this performance. Gallas however was exquisite. Every tackle and interception was excellent, he read the play flawlessly, and made a few drives upfield trying to spur on and support the attack. He was especially important when the team kept conceding possession and gave Blackburn the advantage - he popped up time and time again to win back the ball, and allowed the team to keep its head.

For the first time in a long while, the main Arsenal centreback has the ability to play on either side of central defence. Gallas normally plays on the left when Kolo Toure is in the side, but has been equally adept and impressive on the right side, something which has allowed the defence to stay sharp and settled.

There were previously always problems on this front. Tony Adams preferred the left side of central defence as well, and this worked fine with Steve Bould or Martin Keown complementing him. Adams was accomplished enough to not let playing on the other side be an issue, but his preference was well known. Sol Campbell then arrived, and he too preferred Adams' part of the defence. However, they overlapped for only 1 season, most of which Adams was injured for. Campbell was truly god awful when played on the right-side of central defence, but luckily this was not a problem, as Kolo complemented him perfectly. Senderos too, like Campbell and Adams before him, prefers the left-side, and as a result the Campbell-Senderos partnership was one of the worst seen in recent years.

So after the hiccups and injury problems of 2006/07, the Arsenal central defence finally looks like a top notch unit. Toure and Gallas were hailed as a potential "dream patnership" when the latter signed, and although it took a season to realise that dream, it has happened. Gallas is imperious at the back, and the club finally have a range of good options in central defence. Because of his versatility, Kolo-Senderos, Kolo-Gallas, and Gallas-Senderos are all viable options.

And don't forget about Johan Djourou. He played on the left-side in Arsenal's win at Old Trafford last season, but plays on the right for club and country when paired with Swiss teammate Senderos. His return from injury will be much appreciated methinks.

Well Arsenal ended their unbeaten run of 28 games in all competition in Spain tonight, losing 3-1 to Sevilla. The referee was not great, and gave a free-kick to them that was never a free-kick, and which also resulted in the second goal. Even worse than the referee though, was Philippe Senderos, who single-handedly tried to hand Sevilla the match with clearances and decision of such severe incompetence that he almost made one long for Alex Song. Almost as bad, was Fredi Kanoute, whose finishing was just god-awful. He should have at least scored a brace, if not a hat-trick, and the scoreline really should have been 4-1 or 5-1 to Sevilla.

I suppose there are some "positives" to take from the game, for both sets of fans.

For Sevilla - well they will have restored some pride, and can look forward to being the group winners. They avenged their 3-0 loss in London, and looked once again like the team that was so sensational last season, and are continuing to come out of the shadows of the sad death of Antonio Puerta, and the sudden departure of coach Juande Ramos to Tottenham. Luis Fabiano continued his good form, and Jesus Navas was especially mesmerising towards the latter stages of the game.

And for the Arsenal? Well this was as good a game to lose as any. They've lost in a somewhat meaningless game to one of Europe's best teams. They've lost badly, and it's broken their unbeaten run, but it's without detriment to their progress into the next phase in the Champions League, and it would have had far worse effects in the league. Let's face it - they would have lost sooner or later, and it's better that it happened now so that they can address their shortcomings, rather than later, because there won't be a game this unimportant for a while.

Also, let's also take into account the fact that they played with three second choice defenders - Hoyte was average, Senderos awful, and Traore lost (but promising), and three second choice midfielders - Denilson was OK but ineffective, Gilberto was OK but made scary errors, and Eboue was exciting but wildly wasteful. And upfront, they were missing first choices Adebayor and Van Persie, with Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo making their first starts in this competition. Eduardo was somewhat wasted out on the left, but did well for his goal, which was set up by the young Dane Bendtner.

So a side shorn of their top scoring strikers (Ade and RvP), captain (Gallas), most influential ball winner (Flamini) and most influential attacking midfielder (Hleb) lost to a full-strength Sevilla side.

It's not the end of the world.