So with Matchday 4 of the Champions League in the books, let me just throw some thoughts:

- Great game by Cesc.  Once again he shows why he's one of the 5 best midfielders in the world.  Today he harried and took a good shot that the Alkmaar keeper let get past him and then he took a thunderous shot that Stretch Armstrong couldn't have stopped.  Great game and my man of the match.

- Equally brilliant game by Andrei Arshavin.  He may be getting a bit preoccupied with his lack of goals, but he was stunning setting up the first three goals.  All came from a deft move and solid passing on his part.  His goals will come but I'm glad he's able to be part of the fluid six-man attack.

- I wanted us to keep the clean sheet but everyone got caught napping and AZ put one past Almunia.  Since September we've only had one clean sheet.  So far that hasn't been an issue since we're scoring for fun BUT, at some point during the season, the goals will be tougher to come by and the defense and goalkeeping will be paramount.  With Gallas, Vermaelen, Sagna and Clichy/Gibbs doing so well, there's no reason not to.

- With this win, Arsenal are up to the magic 10 points that usually signal being through to the knockout stages.  Mathematically that can't be said right now, given Olympiakos and Standard have enough points to still push ahead.  Unless we cave in though, that's unlikely.  A draw in the next game (against Standard) will put us officially through.  That's a far better position to be than Liverpool's.

- We now have two away Premier League games against Wolves and Sunderland before a big, key three-match stretch that involves a Champions League game against Standard, a Premier League clash against Chelsea and the Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City.  

So no rest for the weary and no time to rest on our laurels.  Come on you Gunners!

So after all their chatter and all their talk, Tottenham Hotspur's brilliant plan to end their decade-long winless streak against Arsenal was to adopt a five-man midfield and hoof it long to Peter Crouch.  Or basically, the kind of "attack" that Harry Redknapp might have used at Pompey.

Yeah, that was going to work....

On a day where Arsenal were missing Tomas Rosicky, Denilson, Theo Walcott, Carlos Vela and Johan Djourou, a day where Samir Nasri and Eduardo were on the bench after returning from injury and a day that saw Nicklas Bendtner leave early with a knock, Arsenal didn't change their style or their expectations.   That's depth.  That's strength.  That's what separates a title challenger like Arsenal from a pretender like Tottenham.

Now, for much of the first half, the Spurs' gameplan worked well for them.  They harried and hurried the Arsenal attack.  They denied the last pass or move that'd result in a goal.  You can tell that Arshavin, Van Persie and Bendtner were getting frustrated with their lack of opportunities.  Outside of Cesc's one great chance twenty minutes in that Gomes got to, there was nothing in the way of scoring chances.

But the team kept trying and trying and the goal eventually happened.  From a throw in, Bakary Sagna crossed the ball into the box to a streaking RVP, who beat both Ledley King to the ball and Gomes to the back of the net.  And while we were all celebrating and the TV stations were still replaying it, Spurs decided to restart the game -- only they gave the ball to Cesc, who slalomed through their defense before putting a great shot past Gomes.  2-0 and folks were going crazy.  

Let's be honest, this game that ended 3-0 (after another Sagna cross found RVP thanks to more Spurs' defensive miscues) should have ended 4-0 or even 5 or 6 to 0.  Between poor finishing on our part and Gomes saving some one-on-ones, the score ended as it did.  But without a doubt, it was total control on Arsenal's part.

So Spurs get to go home and lick their wounds.  Arsenal, meanwhile, are now clearly one of the three Premier League title contenders -- with Chelsea and Manchester United.  So far, no team has kept Arsenal from scoring.  Robin Van Persie appears finally comfortable in his central striker role.  There's true depth all around us.  

And Manuel Almunia came back to the GK role (contrary to what I expected) and played a solid game where he denied Spurs, even when they had some good chances.   I hope he finds his groove back and proves himself a true #1 GK.  We need him to.

I've been away due to, well, life issues.  Let's just say they go around the current economic situation AND how it's affected the job market. 

A few thoughts ahead of the big North London derby:

1. I'm expecting Vito Mannone to start ahead of Manuel Almunia.  And if he does, this'd be the end of the road for Manuel with Arsenal.  It's a sign that the manager has lost confidence in his abilities -- and confidence is paramount for a keeper.  I'd hope this would mean Arsene will go into the transfer market and target a #1 GK because, between Mannone's youth and Fabianski's injury woes, we cannot expect to contend for silverware with this present situation.

2.  Given their goal and form from midweek, I'd hope to see Fran Merida (piss off Atletico) and Aaron Ramsey in the bench and ready to contribute if called upon.

3. 'Arry Redknapp says Arsenal can't win the title. Someone tell him to worry about his side first please.

4. Andrey Arshavin faces Tottenham for the first time.  To think he could be playing for Spurs and not Arsenal scares me.  I hope he has a hell of a game.

5. Robbie Keane says their bench is on par with ours.  Too bad key cogs of their Starting XI is injured or suspended and they'll be using their bench to patch up the holes. No Defoe, no Lennon and no Modric mean David Bentley may start for them.

6. Adebayor said something to someone about something or other.  No one at Emirates gave a crap.  No one at Eastlands paid it mind.  Go away.

7. Hope to have Samir Nasri and Eduardo back on the bench and I'd hope that Nicklas Bendtner gets a place up front ahead of Eboue out wide right.

More on the game afterwards.  COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!

It's easy to forget. After all, he's performing the way far more experienced keepers have not. It's easy to ignore what we all know when what our eyes tell us is different. Yes, Vito Mannone has only started four games in his young career; three of them coming in the last two weeks. And outside the first four minutes against Standard Liege -- and the blame for those two goals should be shared by the team as well -- we've seen the kind of goalkeeping work that makes strikers mad and supporters joyous. Obviously, I'll be glad when Manuel Almunia is back. He's got the experience of big games and has the most practice time with the first team defense. But Vito is making a major push to be Almunia's understudy -- Lukasz Fabianski's current position. I want good competition for spots and this should be a good one to look forward to. His performances against Wigan and specially his performance against Fulham are the kind of quality work that point to a bright future.

Was anyone else ready to jump off a building after the first five minutes of yesterday’s match?  Honestly, we couldn’t have had a worse start to a game – well, that’s not true.  We could have had a player sent off or come off with major injury.   But barring that, this was as bad a start to a game as could be imagined.

We entered this game with major health issues at key positions; none more than goalkeeper where a virus kept Manuel Almunia on English soil.  It has been speculated that Almunia’s virus was one of those unofficial reprimands for poor performances.  Uh-huh.  Anyone want to keep believing that bit of nonsense?  Arsene Wenger is many things, but a fool he is not.  Only a fool would keep his first-choice goalkeeper thousands of miles away while starting an untested, 21-year old in a Champions League match.

All things considered, Vito Mannone handled himself quite well.  And when I say all things considered, I mean that the rest of the team let him down at game’s start.  That first goal was a result of an idiotic mistake from Eduardo and the absence of Gael Clichy which freed up Mangala to strike and get one past Mannone.  Why Eduardo backheeled the ball I don’t think even he knows.  As for Clichy, I raised my concerns before, but it’s now to the point of being obvious to others.  I don’t know what’s in his head, but his game has fallen off.  Is he being tasked with doing too much?  Is it just a poor run of form like all footballers have?  I don’t know.  I wish he snapped out of it though.

The second goal, meanwhile, came from a tough penalty call when Gallas tackled Liege’s Jovanovic just two minutes after the opening goal.  Was there contact? Yes.  Was there the kind of contact that the fall implied?  No.  Was it in the box?  I’m doubtful about that.  And that should be an example of why UEFA came to its senses and rescinded Eduardo’s ban.  Because to one set of eyes (the referee’s), the correct call was a penalty.  To another’s (mine’s), at best, the call was for a free kick outside of the box.  And others are no doubt screaming that Jovanovic exaggerated the contact to deceive the referee and get a call.  Who is wrong?

So, down 2-0 in the first four minutes, away from home, in a place that was rocking with the excitement.  Sounds like curtains right?

We should be grateful then that we had 86 more minutes with which to claw back with and we should be specially thankful that, after those first 4 minutes, Standard Liege stopped attacking our end.  I don’t know what possesses a manager, up 2-0 against a bigger team at home, to call off the troops, but that he did.  Liege seemed quite content with letting Arsenal have the ball and most of the pitch with which to work.  And for most of the first half, Liege’s tactics seemed to be working.  We passed and passed and looked for a way to break them, but found none. 

We did help them with a godawful performance, it has to be said.  You can excuse Mannone, who was making only his second senior team start and his first one on European competition.  And Tomas Rosicky was starting his first game since Brutus stabbed Caesar.  But what of the other lads?  This isn’t their first rodeo.  They are, by now, old hands at traveling to hostile continental grounds and getting good results.  Were they still worn out from the interlull or just carrying the bad stigma of the last two games with them?  Whatever it is, they better break out of this funk they’re in.  Or they’ll dig themselves a big enough hole to swallow all this season’s aspirations.

Luckily, we caught a break when Abou Diaby sublimely passed the ball to Nicklas Bendtner, who beat Liege’s Bolat between his bolats right before the halftime whistle.  One can’t underestimate the value of that goal.  Down 2-0 and with nothing to show for all the effort might have sapped the desire out of the team.  Down 2-1?  Heh, we’ve been here before!  We got this!

And outside of an early second half start, Leige continued to batten down the hatches and pray for a break from the deluge.  Again, we passed and passed and looked for a way to break them open.  Perhaps in a day when we were off our game, it was two broken plays that gave us the win.

The first one was offside and caused by a handball.  And yet the ref and his assistant saw nothing except Tomas Vermaelen putting the ball behind the keeper.  That’s two for our newest CB.  And a fine addition he has been to this side.  The second one was the kind of lucky bounce that only a poacher like Eduardo can get.  Off the corner kick and headed backwards by a leaping Liege defender, anyone else would have been struck in the chest or the arm or anywhere that’d had resulted with the play blown dead or the keeper safely collecting it.  Not Eduardo.  It hits him right on the kneecap and it shoots comfortably past Bolat for the winner.  Unfair?  Hey, this is football.  When has it ever been fair!

Three points we perhaps shouldn’t have and top of our CL group.  Given the awfulness of our performance out there, I’ll take it. 

But between now and this weekend’s outing against Wigan Athletic, I gotta pray that the coaching staff find out just what the hell is this hoodoo beguiling the team and wake them from it.  They are not now in a position to fall further off the pace.  Because we have seen teams heat up after the new year and come close to winning it all (Liverpool for example last year) that don’t because of poor starts or poor runs before winter set in.

Time to get it together boys! You will rue the missed opportunities…just like Standard Liege is today!

Holy hell.  2 games, 2 losses, 2 awful days for the lads in the Northwest.

The games against the two sides from Manchester could not be any more different.  Where United was awful, City were flying.  Where United hung on like a boxer waiting for the final bell to ring, City fought like a rising young boxer that's pushing and trying to prove their mettle against a former champ. United's pedigree demanded a better performance.  City's spending spree set to prove that pedigree is overrated.

And yet, the result is the same for Arsenal: 0 points.

I guess we should have gotten the sign of how the game would go when Almunia headed a goal that'd be shot by Micah Richards into the back of his own net.  To wit, that's two own goals scored consecutively by Arsenal players.  Are the coaches not stressing mental strength when the ball's played inside our own box?  Or are the players just suffering from collective brain farts when an attacker approaches with intent in his mind?  The odd mistake is forgivable -- Jens Lehmann made a career of them.  But when they are continuous...well, that is what ended Jens' run with Arsenal, lest we forget.  Problem is that Manuel has no understudy ready to step in if his form does not improve.

It has to be said that the lads picked themselves up afterwards and attacked City's end with aplomb.  Only Shay Given and Joleon Lescott kept Arsenal from doing more damage than the 1 goal Robin Van Persie put past them.  A goal was coming, but as we all known, whenever we attack in such force, we have to be mindful of our defense.  It's why Alex Song is so important.   It's why Tomas Vermaelen and William Gallas have to be tough.  It's why we expect a lot out of Bakary Sagna and Gael Clichy.

And in this case, it was Clichy, who had the ball taken away from him by Lescott, that was found lacking.  I've been meaning to say that his form of late has left me worried.  I don't know if the manager or the coaches have forced him forwards too much, but he gives the ball away constantly and his crossing has gone to crap.  It could be the same thing as with Almunia -- no competition pushing him -- but he really needs to step up.  Sure enough Lescott found Micah Richards who passed a beautiful ball that a poacher like Craig Bellamy is going to put past a keeper.  So said, so done.  2-1.

And in the space of 10 minutes, from minute 74 to minute 84, the 1-1 game turned on its ears thanks to our inability to take possession of the ball and hang onto it.  City came back in droves and Adebayor got the goal he desperately had searched for all day long.  Naturally, being the sensitive, positive and cheerful fellow that he is, he raced across the pitch to taunt the Arsenal supporters, who he had spent all week badmouthing to the media.  That Mark Clattenburg took forever to card that c--t is incredible.  That he didn't card him after he deliberately stomped down on Van Persie's head is inexcusable.  And he did that intentionally.  He saw RVP slide past him and put his foot down.  Did he mean to kick him in the head?  That I can't say.  But he had enough time to recognize it was an Arsenal player who'd dispossessed him and followed it up with the actions of a classless c--t. 

The Arsenal boys tried to find a way back, but all that did was open up the space for Shaun Wright-Phillips to redeem himself from a poor performance with a goal. 4-1 by minute 84 and it felt as if that was all she wrote.  Tomas Rosicky pulled one back and then Van Persie rattled the woodwork almost at the end to almost give us hope.  RVP, I think, has honestly hit the woodwork this season more than he's put them in the back of the net -- which has to be almost impossible to try and do.

These two games against the Manchester sides bring up plenty of questions that our high-flying start may have masked.  Are we dependent entirely on Andrei Arshavin to provide a spark of unpredictability to our game?  Is Robin Van Persie lost in this new formation?  What happens when Alex Song is off his game and who takes that spot? 

My fear is that the team falls back on their bad old habits of trying to walk the ball into the net and of conceding late goals -- both of which happened today.  If this is the year we finally answer all critics, these last 2 games are not the way to prove that mentally, physically and emotionally Arsenal has matured into a title-winning contender. 

At least, the season is a marathon and barring a rematch against Man United in the quarters/semis of the Champions League, we don't have to go back up to Manchester this season.  Thank heaven for small favors, huh?

I'm not even going to try.  I'll just cut-and-paste some thoughts I left over at the World Soccer Daily boards and let that be my thoughts on this game:

On Man Utd: they were shite. Utter shite. I can't be nice about it because to do so would excuse our failings. Manchester United were Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic + 8 muppets. My God, Nani couldn't score in a Leeds barn. Antonio Valencia is trying to win "Worst Transfer Buy of the Year". Berbatov is only good for scaring the children with his looks and his shots at the crowd. And Giggs should be put out pasture -- he is done. How many passes went nowhere? How much of the ball did that midfield turn over? Vidic saved their asses in the back and Rooney was the only creative force available to them. Again, complete and total shite.

On the refs: what the f--k is it about Anfield and Old Trafford that referees/officials just lose their f--k-ng minds? Chelsea doesn't get this kind of advantage at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal never got it at Highbury or gets it at Emirates. Spurs, Villa, Everton; no other club gets it. Hell, Juventus at the height of calciopolli would have envied the kind of support the home teams get there. Mike Dean lost his mind and then control of the game. And the 4th official should never officiate another Premier League game. Let him take his sensitive attitudes somewhere else -- maybe a kids' game where no one is allowed to cheer or boo.

On Arsenal: bossed the game, controlled the tempo, had beautiful passing and a cracking shot from Arshavin to put us in front. When those two shots at the start of the 2nd half didn't go in, that was a red flag. RVP could not buy a goal and I'm wondering if he's adapting well to the new position. Almunia should have done what Boruc did and pulled up -- let Rooney dive. Poor Diaby lost his place and put United ahead. And once that happened, the lads just showed they still haven't put it all together mentally. They fought and fought but lost composure and their passing lost its crispness. They didn't give up and that gives me hope that they'll take this experience and begin putting feet to asses in the Prem from here on out.

If I feel interested....maybe I'll write something better later.  

I doubt it.

Since I've been away, I haven't had the chance to comment on "The Dive". I want to talk about the game against the Mancs later on, so better to get these thoughts out first.  Here goes:

1. It was a deplorable dive. What's worse, is that it was unnecessary. But that's not the point. He should have been booked for simulation. And regardless of what happens, I hope he takes this event and learns the lesson that it's not worth it to dive -- once the stink of being a diver is on you, it never comes off.

 2. Over 2 legs, the differences in quality between Arsenal and Celtic were revealed. The dive, as big as it was, did not affect the overall result. It's amazing to see that Tony Mowbray and Celtic have accepted that but the Scottish FA have not.

3. Just 2 weeks ago we saw that Crystal Palace were robbed a point because the English FA acted on the belief that the referee's decision had to be final (since that's the way it is decreed from FIFA through UEFA on down). But now, the ref's decision isn't final? OK, I know one is the FA and the other one is UEFA. But what the hell is the point of the rules if you'll just abide by them at will? Either start reviewing the ref's decisions and come down with a better system OR let the ref's decisions stand as gospel. One or the other -- can't be both.

 4. Again, he dove. He was wrong. If he gets a ban, take it. If he gets fined, pay it. that's going to go a long way towards helping diminish the tag of being a diver (which he isn't).

5. It's funny that all the other supporters are harping on about Eduardo and diving when their managers utter not a peep of it. Probably because they know they have/have had divers in their ranks and don't want to get caught in double speak if they condemn Ed but rush to defend their players.

6. And of course, gotta love the English media coming down like a hammer on Eduardo but blindly avoiding Ashley Young's dive. At least they are kind enough to give us big tits to go along with their BS.

7. One last time: he dove. He should not have. He is wrong. And if he's punished for it (however justly or unjustly it seems) he should accept it and not let it define the rest of his career.

Now COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!!!

After the Everton drubbing, the question surrouding Arsenal was "were the lads that good or was Everton was that poor?"  Maybe on that day both things were in effect, but after Everton took Sigma Olomouc behind the woodshed for a 4-0 beating, I think we can state that Everton simply had a poor day at the office last Saturday and it may not have been indicative of their overall quality.

But what of the Arsenal boys?  Did they just take advantage of the locker room turmoil at Goodison Park?  Could they repeat their feat at Celtic Park and could they do it at home?

Everyone will be quick to say that Arsenal should have won against Celtic 2-0.  And on a neutral ground, that'd probably be a fair assessment.  But at Parkhead, where clubs like Manchester United and AC Milan have gone and gotten beat, a 2-0 win is a tremendous result.  More importantly, with back-to-back wins at difficult grounds, the lads proved their mettle and the new 4-3-3 formation as effective.  With 2 away goals, progressing into the Champions League group stage is nearly assured -- but only nearly.  A good outing at Emirates is mandatory to see us through.

So with back-to-back multiple-goal victories, we opened the season at Emirates today against Pompey.  A good start gave way to Abou Diaby opening up his Premier League account with 2 solid goals.  The minds of the lads did seem to wander and that gave an opening to Younes Kaboul to get Portsmouth one back before half time.  

Any chance that the lads would fall asleep again disappeared with that goal though.  The second half saw us start off strong and before long, William Gallas netted his third goal in as many games from a set piece.  Billy has always been a surprising scorer of goals -- coming through with key ones at various points during his Arsenal career.  This start to a season is not surprising, even if it is unexpected.  I just hope he sees this as repaying the patience and understanding of his manager.

Aaron Ramsey completed the scoreline after he replaced Cesc Fabregas, who left with what appeared to be a knock.  Let's hope that this is just something minor as we really need the captain to continue on this good start. 

So 3 games played, 3 comfortable wins.  We are top of the table and have one foot on the next stage of the Champions League.  And this is with Samir Nasri injured, with Tomas Rosicky injured, with Johan Djourou injured, with Theo Walcott still not ready (Arsene came out and blasted both Fabio Capello and Stuart Pearce for their poor handling of Theo) and with a new formation that everyone's adapting to.  Kudos to the lads and the coaching staff!

As importantly, we've shown tenacity, a willingness to not fall asleep and a desire to put games out of reach.  That's all important.  Whenever you make a list of all the traits that every championship team in every sport display, you can put "Takes out weaker opposition quickly" and "Does not use more energy than needed on weaker opposition."  Whatever you think of Pompey, the fact is that they are not up to Arsenal's talent level nor do they have the level of harmony right now that we possess.  We should beat Portsmouth. Compare our result to Man City struggling to beat Wolves 1-0 or Man United losing to Burnley or struggling against Wigan (before finally flooding them with goals).  

I'm not saying every game will be a breeze.  Nor that we will win every game we start.  Far from it.  However, any team that fancies itself a championship contender has to enter a game and say "This team is our better/our equal/our lesser" and play accordingly.  You can't enter a game against Pompey with the same intensity as you would a game at Anfield or Old Trafford.  If you do, you'll burn yourself out in a hurry.

So far, so good.  Keep it up lads!

Ah, the first day of a brand new season.  Ain't it lovelier than a toddler pushing a stroller with a kitten in it?

Of course, when you start it off watching Hull giving Chelsea all they can handle and follow it up with Wigan playing Aston Villa off the park, you got to think that everything that's been said and written and prognosticated by the punditry, the experts and the bloggers is about as useful as thongs at the Vatican.  Or to put it in simpler terms, nothing said or written before yesterday is worth a thing.

A great example is the lads' performance at Goodison Park, a place that's tough to go to and get a result in.  Everton, consistently the best non-"Big 4" team in the Premier League know how to play with the big boys and have talent like Tim Cahill, Mikel Arteta, Tim Howard, Steven Pienaar and Marouane Fellani; all of whom would be right at home in Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge.   Well they sure didn't look like they belonged anywhere like that yesterday.

It was a cagey opening though.  Everton was willing to take the fight to us and they tested our defense.  That remains the one cloud in all the blue skies-- our defense left a number of openings that an opponent with better finishing would have taken advantage of completely.  I'm willing to chalk it up to it being the first time this back 4 had played together as a unit and that Gallas was coming back from a major injury while Vermaelen was making his debut.  As the game went along, they seemed to be coming together.  Here's hoping they gel and fast.  We're not going to get opponents that capitulate every time.

By minute 22, the flowing passing from our new formation led to a great shot by Denilson, who calmly put it past a stretched Tim Howard.  It bears saying that Denilson looks bigger and more assured of his place now.  He's a far cry from the lean Brazilian kid who showed up years ago.  I still see him as a more "all rounder"-type of midfielder than a true attacking or a true defeding midfielder, but that's part of his quality.  He can take whatever role on the pitch the team needs him to take.  If he doesn't get run to nothing by March, this could be a big year for Neves.

Denilson's goal was shortly followed by back-to-back aerial goals from our CBs.  First, Tomas Vermalen got away from everyone and punctuated his Gunners debut with a sweet header.  Then William Gallas, who has never been a slouch in front of goal, copied Vermaelen with a header of his own.  And after I had calmed down from the excitement, all I could think was "Now why do folks think we have set piece issues with defenders who can fly like that?"

The second half continued the onslaught as Cesc Fabregas (you, know that Barca lad who's all about Barca and who can't wait to leave Arsenal's Starting XI and go sit on Barca's bench for 800 kajillion euros) scored a brace -- one the result of some nifty passing and the other a shot similar to Denilson's.  Even though MOTM went to Nicklas Bendtner (who had a good game), every Arsenal fan has to be looking at Cesc and going "this is why we want you around, mate."  This new 4-3-3 works great for him.  He can attack and be involved in dictating the game better as there's attackers all around him.  In this 4-3-3, he too is an attacker and not just a feeder of the ball.

By minute 70, Everton's supporters had had enough and ran for the exits.  Their team continued to slog it out though.  Even a late consolation goal by Louis Saha (who's likely going to be out for 4 weeks after scoring now) couldn't warm their heart.

I submit though that nothing was more heartwarming than seeing Eduardo back on a Premier League pitch and doing what he does best -- poaching goals.  He is one of the best at being right where the rebounds are and, sure enough, he found himself with the ball coming back at him and an open goal, which he struck with his usual coolness.  Welcome back to the Prem, Ed!  It has missed you!

Whew!

OK, now for a bit of cold water all over this: last year Chelsea began their campaign and the Scolari Era with a 4-0 thrashing of Portsmouth.  Yes, this was Everton and not Pompey.  And no, David Moyes is not the muppet that Filipao proved himself to be.  The point though is that this was one game, the first one, of a long campaign.  The moment the whistle blew, everyone had better shelved this great game and began to focus on Tuesday's fight with Celtic in the Champions League.  One good outing can be undone quickly.  One great result counts for naught if it is not followed by more of them.

But what a way to start the year.  After hearing every expert tout Manchester City and tell us that Arsenal were finally going to fall, this was a great statement of purpose for this season.  Everybody stand up and beware!