We've been very generous all season, giving points away almost on a weekly basis and now we've just handed away fourth place.  To be fair, we've been trying to get rid of it all season, it's just that today we finally succeeded.

So what's the excuse after this 0-0?  Fulham didn't play football and just stuck 10 men behind the ball?  Ah, well, no actually.  Fulham played football for 90 minutes and if it wasn't for the fact that their finishing was as bad as ours they could have won this game quite easily.  We had Diaby in midfield, Arshavin playing, and Eboue and Bendtner dropped.  Vela got his first premier league start.  We got what we wanted, given what we have available, and we still could find no way through. 

Theo, Cesc, Adebayor, Rosicky, and Eduardo will all be back too late for the league, so it's got to be all about the cups.  It's a sad state of affairs that to qualify for the Champions League we have to win it...but at least it isn't dull.  We can only hope that this pressure doesn't get to the players in the cups as well or we're f**ked.

Defensively, Gallas and Toure looked like they had only just met, Clichy got skinned all day long on the inside, something that has been happening a lot recently (I mentioned it at the Roma match and two fellas laughed at me) and something which other managers are obviously picking up on.

Johnson and Zamora got past us at will. 

Up front we missed a few chances that we really should have taken.  The lack of league confidence in front of goal is painful. Strangely, all our best chances were headers and you wonder if Lazybayor would have been in those positions to make a difference.  It's all if's, but's, and maybes...

When Eboue came on for Sagna, my first impression (as you can verify on twitter) was WTF, but he actually made a difference.  He got forward more, cut out passes, and went past defenders.  He played well.  Yes, you heard me right, I said Eboue played well. 

Bendtner came on for Vela, who had been ineffectual (perhaps he's not quite ready for the Premiership and Wenger has been right to ignore the constant calls to play him - I'm a huge, huge fan, but if he's not ready he's not ready.  He was 20 yesterday, the same age as Bendtner and that's making me feel bad about how harshly I treat Bendtner, expecting so much more from him). 

Arshavin looked bright, his passing at times Cesc-esque in it's incisiveness and cleverness.  I bet he's wondering what the hell he left Russia for.  Maybe a season out of the Champions League is what this team needs.  A reality check to let them know that you have to work for success.  All the talk of players leaving should we fail to qualify should be redundant.  The players got us into this, they should be made to stick around and get us the hell out of it.

That having been said, all credit has to go to Fulham.  They played really, really well, and not in a last-gasp-defending kind of way.  I haven't watched any post-match interviews with Wenger because I have a feeling it would be full of the usual cover-up crap he's got into the habit of spewing recently.  I wish, just once, that he would come out and say 'we just aren't good enough'.  Or 'yes I did see it and it was a red card'.  Or even 'we got a few things wrong today'.  I know he has to keep morale up, but the fans aren't stupid.  I wish he'd stop talking to us like we were. (I still think he's the right man for the job BTW, he's just getting a few things wrong at the minute, which you're allowed to do as long as it's only once every 13 years). 

I hope he gave Fulham the respect and plaudits they deserved.

Villa fans must be sitting at home rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of a Delapless Stoke this afternoon.  A win and they are eight points clear of us with only 11 to play.  Unless they suffer some sort of spontaneous combustion, they aren't going to blow that, no matter how hard we wish.

It's strange.  All season, after this sort of result, I have been furious, but not today.  I think I've found acceptance that we just aren't good enough and this really is the level we are capable of playing at for the moment.  The table never lies at this stage in the season, and to be honest, we are lucky to still be fifth.  Everton are breathing right down our necks and I think it's time to turn our heads and start looking at them rather than Villa.

Is this knee-jerk?  Perhaps.  But that's what supporters do, we rant first, think later.

I'm going to extract a positive and say we are a point nearer Liverpool and if they keep sliding there might be a glimmer of hope.  With 11 matches left, that's 11 points we'll probably get, and we're nine behind them.  I'm really grasping at something I don't even think would qualify as a straw at the minute, but that's something else I think us fans do a lot.

Theo will be returning to full training on Monday. The Burnley match might be slightly optimistic for his return, but maybe Blackburn the following week which is now an important match in our bid to secure UEFA Cup (Europa League) football next year.  It'll be tough as Big Sam knows just how to frustrate the hell out of Arsenal, but we can leave that til closer to the time.

So Man U will be champions which is just tedious.  I do, however, hope they win the Carling Cup this afternoon.  To them it means nothing, but to the Spuds it means everything, so we should all be hoping for a Man U win to brighten up our weekend.  Can you believe I'm saying this? The only time I ever want Man U to win is in a cup against Sp*rs.  If we can't win, it's always good to see the Spuds lose.

Til tomorrow, when my opinion on everything above might have done a complete about face, who knows.  It's a woman's perogative.