I don't know it's so difficult for some people to accept that Arsenal and Arsène Wenger have a right to be upset about Aaron Ramsey's leg break. You have Paul Parker saying that the Arsenal boss should apologise to Shawcross and then you have arch Arsenal hater Derek McGovern saying in the Mirror that it wasn't even a foul... well, if that's not a foul then I don't know what is. And why Mr Wenger should apologise for stating the obvious is beyond me. As I have said already, it seems obvious to me that there is an endemic problem with the nature of football in this country and until that culture is changed these things will keep happening.

What also seems clear is that people with brain cells accept that this tackle is symptomatic of this culture and that things like this would not happen elsewhere, step forward Patrick Barclay and the German, Rafael Honigstein in the Guardian. Those without brain cells choose to say that this is merely an unavoidable consequence of the game and go on to criticise a manager who has seen three of his players in the last 4 years felled by (let's be kind here) reckless tackles and a 22 year old club captain for reacting like a little kid. As if anyone could turn a blind eye to this sort of thing, much less a youngster who is routinely kicked around football pitches and seen three of his mates' careers... let's, euphemistically, say put on hiatus. You know who you lot are.

In amongst all this and the outpouring of sympathy for someone who is "not that kind of player", a contradiction neatly nailed by the Guardian's podcast last night, it is perhaps easy to forget that Aarron Ramsey has lost months of his career in horrific circumstances. Reading the Evening Standard last night, Glenn Whelan's description of the scene he arrived at made me feel ill and I think anyone taking shots at Arsenal for the reaction they showed, should think about how they would react in similar circumstances before going there.

Thomas Vermaelen, one of those most visibly affected by the injury to Ramsey, has promised that Arsenal will now go on to win each remaining game, doing so for Aaron. For whom, if you don't know, RedAction are in the process of ordering a massive Aaron Ramsey banner to show some support for the kid and are asking for donations to fund it. This is the banner below.

Elsewhere on the stadium decoration and Arsenalisation front, Ivan Gazidis has said that not only will the iconic clock be returning to a position inside the stadium for all to see and not just those coming to the ground from the southern approaches. We all also be ditching the horrible quad names- who came up with those?- and returning to the North Bank, Clock End, East and West Stand names that once graced Highbury.  

On a personal note, I'd like to end this blog by telling you that my presence here is about to get more sporadic in these here parts. A few months ago, I was made an offer by the owner of Arsenal Mania- the site I began writing for around 5 and a half years ago, which I agreed to in principle. Within that agreement, I have promised Arsenal Mania exclusive content to the tune of twenty articles a month. Now, much as I enjoy writing about the Arsenal, I'm not sure I fancy writing 50+ articles a month on the subject, so whilst I am not prepared to give the blog up just yet, I will not be updating here as frequently, which I hope you can understand. For the support I have been given from the likes of LadyArse, ReZnuK, UptheArseBlog and, of course, JamrockRover, I will be forever grateful as without you, I may not be in the position that I am now. If you still want to follow my work on a more regular basis than my agreement with Arsenal Mania allows for here, you can do so here instead. For those of you for whom the words Arsenal Mania induce a shiver, thanks for reading as far as you have and we will have to be content with meeting sporadically from now on.

Cheers all. 

Another day has passed and with it, the usual kind of reactions to it, Stoke fans and Shawcross sympathisers berating the Arsenal manager for things he didn't say and Arsenal fans getting angrier. We also have the media conveneniently able to forget about the potential destruction of one of British football's brightest talents. What was a backpage story, albeit one shared with the handshake that wasn't on Sunday now relegated to the the page after the middle section in The Times because of the Carling Cup Final- fair enough and a non handshake! What hasn't been forgotten are the words used by Arsène Wenger in the immediate aftermath of the match.

Matt Lawrence even uses them in the Mirror;

“I am not happy with the tackle. It is not acceptable. We have now lost three players to horrendous tackles. I refuse to believe these are always coincidences. I don’t believe in coincidence when you are hit as many times as we are.”

"As a fellow human being, I struggled to get my head around Arsène Wenger's attack on Shawcross," says Lawrence.

As a fellow human being, I wonder if Matt Lawrence can even read (or hear), because- as I said yesterday when mentioning Tony Pullis' response to the comments above, Mr Wenger made no reference to the kind of lad that Ryan Shawcross is- even though he would no doubt not have forgotten that this is the same player that put Shabbybayor out of action last season- he talked about the tackle. Pure and simple. And if anyone thinks that Mr Wenger is wrong to describe a tackle that shatters someone's leg as "unacceptable" or that it constitutes a personal attack, then you have to question whether that person is worth listening to, or reading even. The same goes for Stan"bad luck" Collymore, yes these injuries "can happen to anyone" but there's a bigger chance of it happening when a 14 stone professional footballer lands on your leg. I didn't hear the Arsenal boss saying that football should be non contact either. The "what about Patrick Vieira?" question is irrelevant too, because hard as he was and as dirty as he could be, he knew how to tackle. I don't remember him breaking anyone's leg. Ever. Shawcross has two victims already at the age of 22. Bad luck or has he not been taught to tackle properly?

I mentioned Patrick Barclay's appearance on the Sunday Supplement yesterday and his view that "There's a wildness and a physicality about the English game which I don't think is healthy." On the same programme, to my surprise, he had support from The Sun's Neil Custis, who said,  "I have a lot of sympathy for Wenger and I think he is absolutely spot on," he said. "I think teams do go to be over-physical against Arsenal, outside of the laws."

Anything else I say from here on in, with Randall the Spurs insisting that the tackle was fair, would be irritable and, to all intents and purposes, repeating myself so I'll stop it here.

Arsenal have set up a book where you can send message of support to the young Welshman,  it's something we're, unfortunately, getting all too used to. I suggest you get over there and add your message, if you haven't done so already. With the boss talking about using Ramsey's injury as inspiration, it is to be hoped we will have something a slightly bigger and shinier to present Aaron with in a couple of week months time.

As a result of Chelsea's home capitulation against Manchester City and a magnificent turnaround  affected by the Arsenal at the Britannia Stadium last night, we are now just three points behind the league leaders with what was, on paper, our hardest fixture left now behind us. Actually, loathe as I am to admit it, I think that team three miles up the road from us might have something to say about that, but we'll see. I should be feeling brilliant, I should be feeling optmistic. Instead all I'm feeling today is a slightly dizzying sensation that however our season ends, it won't have been worth it.

To see Aaron Ramsey's foot hanging from his leg like a broken branch on a tree is something that will not be easily forgotten. That the players of Arsenal Football Club, two years after witnessing Eduardo destroyed in a similar fashion, managed to pick themselves up and go on to win the match says everything about the strength of character that exists within the ranks. It is a point that, perhaps the media are belatedly waking up to, Patrick Barclay alluded to this on this morning's Sunday Supplement.

And it is the media I would like to talk about now. Arsène said in his interview that he didn't believe in coincidences, a visibly upset Cesc Fábregas said that three times in five years is "too much". I personally don't think Shawcross meant to injure Ramsey the way he did, but his tackle was very much the product of the "Arsenal don't like it up 'em" approach that clubs, lacking in our collective technical ability, employ and the media by and large encourage. It is, as Patrick Barclay observed, a product of a game where professional footballers get away with making wild and dangerous tackles as routine, because, well, that's the speed of the game, isn't it? It is this very same culture that has seen a midfielder plying his trade at the most famous club in the country for the last fifteen years, making dangerous tackle after dangerous tackle and the most that ever happens is that Andy Gray, sitting in Sky's commentary box, will chuckle indulgently and say something like "Oh well, that's Scholesy for you!"

It is the kind of culture where Patrick Vieira will spit at someone who has racially abused him and because of the way the news agenda is set in this country, he will get a six game ban- I'm not condoning spitting, by the way. Eduardo will make the most of minimal contact and the footage will be replayed, over and over and over until he has been hung, drawn and quartered and the football world at large has decided he is a cheat. But Sky Sports will not replay a tackle that could have disastrous ramifactions for a 19 year old footballer's career, at the risk of upsetting people. Upsetting who? The advertisers? The people who like to see our game as blood and thunder but always, always, fair? It amazed me this morning to see that the various backpages of the press were pretty much split 50/50 between a potentially career ending moment and the fact that one man refused to shake hands with another man who slept with his partner.

But that is the gossipy, celebrity obsessed aspect of our culture bleeding into the sports sections. I can only imagine what the coverage would have been like had it been Wayne Rooney lying there on the grass with his leg in little bits.

I've seen the point made this morning that the injuries sustained by Diaby, Eduardo and now Aaron Ramsey were all at the hands, or the feet, of English footballers. I find it interesting that if you look at the football clubs they play (or played) for; Sunderland, Birmingham and Stoke City, these are clearly the kind of clubs that can't possibly hope to compete with Arsenal technically- so they go out to get in our faces. They are told by the media that we don't like it like that and this is the result. Furthermore, these injuries have all happened away from home, where subliminally or not, the away team is almost always afforded less protection than the home side. Look at the ridiculous booking that Alex Song picked up last night, to trigger a two game suspension by the way. Look at how Porto last week took turns to kick our captain to pieces. But we can't say anything by way of complaint because that marks us out as a soft touch, rather than merely human.

We are told that a player like Ryan Shawcross just isn't like that, well is this not the same Ryan Shawcross who completely unneccessarily smashed Shabbybayor into an advertising hoarding in our last league match at Stoke? Is this the same Shawcross that, according to Gabs the two time dad, put glass ankles Franny Jeffers out for four months? Maybe, and if I'm stretching here I apologise, but maybe Ryan Shawcross actually is like that. I don't know, as I said I don't honestly believe it was a challenge made in malice, but he clearly needs to work on his tackling at the very least. Tony Pulis responded to Mr Wenger's comments about an "unacceptable tackle" by saying that he has no idea what Ryan Shawcross is like, so he didn't care what was said. I don't think Arsène was questioning what kind of lad Mr Shawcross is, just the quality of his tackling. Way to miss the point- on purpose, no doubt- Mr Pulis.

Talking about the game seems kind of redundant now. But the deja vu that heralded the climax of the game was threatening to be a very different kind early on. Two Delap missiles were all it took for the Arsenal defence to be breached, Danny Pugh stabbing in from a yard out. So it turns out that the plan Arsenal had worked on all week, as discussed by Gael Clichy wasn't to stop these throws, it was just to not let it affect the result. One nil down early on and it wasn't looking good at all. We couldn't get going, but a long range Cesc effort after about half an hour seemed to wake us up. It was his pin point delivery from the right that Nick Bendtner soared like an eagle to meet and dispatch a wonderful header into the corner of the goal- that's why he's worth his place in the team y'all. Stoke didn't offer much in the way of retaliation, in fact I can't remember Manuel Almunia making a save- plus ça change. In the second half Eboue went close, with a venomous drive and it seemed inevitable that a goal would come. Until the injury anyway. There didn't seem time enough thereafter for the boys to pick themselves up and find a way through, even with the numerical advantage. But some good substitutions by the boss turned the heat up and we might have won it with three minutes left as Eduardo was played in by Song, rushing his shot with a challenge coming in from the side, he fired wide. But the pressure eventually told as Bendtner, Bergkamp stylee, induced a penalty area handball from Danny Pugh in the last minute.

Shades of Birmingham two years ago, an Arsenal team coming from behind, a horrific injury and now a last minute penalty with the potential to have a huge impact on the title race. Up stepped the captain, having missed a penalty at home to Stoke earlier in the season. Under intolerable pressure, Cesc kept his nerve and found the bottom right corner, before running to the Arsenal fans and tapping his ankle three times in apparent tribute to Aaron Ramsey, but perhaps also to remind us of Diaby and Eduardo too.

Could we hang on? Well, actually, we managed to go a stage further than that. A Tomas Rosicky shot from distance  in the 4th of 7 injury time minutes was parried by Thomas Sorenson, Cesc was alive to the possibilites and reacted first to square the ball across goal where it rather seemed to bounce off Thomas Vermaelen- the top scoring centre back in the League this season, by the way- and into the net. Game, set and match. The celebrations, led by Sol Campbell going ballistic reflected that. They also reflected the fact that Arsenal came through a real trial by fire last night, physically, mentally and emotionally and it was a nice touch to see the huddle instigated once more at the final whistle. Let's see that togetherness right to the end now.

We'll hope for another ten of those huddles, because if we get them, then surely the title is there to be taken. A final word for Aaron, who according to Arse.com's official statement, has "sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg". The road is clearly going to be a long one back for him, even when he comes back he will suffer the niggly little injuries that seem to affect Diaby and Eduardo on a regular basis. But he is in good hands and the returns to the first team of both Diaby and Eduardo show that if the young Welshman is prepared to work at it- I have no doubt that he will be- then it is possible to come back and come back strongly. Abou Diaby spoke openly this season of how he had considered giving football up as he struggled following his injury nearly four years ago, but we've also seen this season how good Diaby can be and whilst I'm sure he still bears some of the scars of that day in Sunderland now, he doesn't seem like a player limited by injury anymore- mentally, at least. It is the same road that Eduardo is currently having to travel, but I have little doubt that Aaron will make it back to us. He is made of the same strong stuff that this Arsenal side last night showed they have in spades.

As was eminently predictable, Arsène Wenger has doused the van Persie shaped flames of desire that Bert van Maarwijk ignited yesterday, saying that Robin might be back in early April.

Arsène said that although he hadn't seen Robin, who is currently recovering in Holland, he believes the Dutch FA are being a "bit optmistic" in their expectations of Robin's return. If I made the observation that Robin will probably return in time for the Wold Cup and then get injured just as the Netherlands' participation ends (in the quarter finals most probably), I'd merely be the thousandth Arsenal blogger to do so, so I won't. Except that I just have. Hmmm, it can a tricky business, this blogging lark.

Also on the agenda, in terms of the World Cup, is a certain Keiran Gibbs. Now, bearing in mind the lad's been in plaster for the last three months; and only made his Arsenal breakthrough last Spring, someone whose glass is half empty would say that it is a sign of the Ashley Cole ankle shaped times that there is media attention on someone who has barely played 10 Premier League matches for Arsenal. Someone whose glass is half full would say that it is a sign of the tantalising (I don't use that word enough, I think) potential Gibbs displayed last year. You know which camp I belong to, or you should do by now, but I think it's fair to say that there is an element of truth in both perspectives. Wayne Bridge's self imposed international exile has really put the cat amongst the pigeons in an area that England would thought themselves to be quite strong in just six months ago.

The boss, nevertheless, has responded to this speculation by saying that Gibbs has a  "little chance" to play in the World Cup. I think that he was essentially saying no chance, but doing it in that classic Arsène Wenger way. Keiran, of course, would only go to the World Cup if he had proved; a) his fitness and, b) that he is good enough to go. I think Keiran has massive potential but I struggle to see that he is going to get enough minutes on the pitch between now and May to prove that fitness and that he can cut it at the World Cup finals. Especially with the boss giving his backing to Gael Clichy.

Clichy's performance against Liverpool, I can't speak for the one against Sunderland, merits his manager's defence of him but the problem Gael has is that he is universally, and not totally incorrectly, perceived to have been on a downward spiral since the events that took place in Birmingham two years ago. By way of an aside, I wonder if that game proves to be as pivotal to our history as the 50th game of our unbeaten run did. Anyway, I do think it's a bit much to expect Clichy to come back and be on his A game straight away, but he needs a good end to the season to restore a bit of faith.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the hugely encouraging half yearly financial report, released by Arsenal today. The highlights of which are, and here I will 'fess up to a total copy and paste job courtesy of Arse.com;

• Profit before tax of £35.2m (2008 - £24.5m) with increased contributions from both the Group’s football and property businesses.
• Sale of 261 apartments at Highbury Square generated revenue of £96.6m (2008 - £58.4m) with all proceeds used in repayment of the project’s bank debt. The Group’s property business recorded a pre-tax profit of £9.3m (2008 - £4.9m).
• Pre-tax profit from the Group’s core business of football increased to £25.8m (2008 - £19.7m).
• Completed first stages of a programme of capital investment in the appearance and “Arsenalisation” of Emirates Stadium.
• Further significant investment in determined policy of re-signing first team players to new long-term contracts.
• By 30 November 2009, the Group’s total net debt had been reduced to £203.6m (31 May 2009 - £332.8m). 
• Since 30 November, there have been a number of further positive developments in relation to the Group’s property projects:
• Of the 655 private apartments in the Highbury Square development, sales have now completed on 524 units with a cumulative sales revenue value of £217.0m.
• The balance on the Highbury Square bank loan has been further reduced, from £35.7m at 30 November, to £12.9m (31 May 2009 – £123.6m).
• Sale of part of the Queensland Road development site means that the Group’s other property activities are now debt free.

Te one thing that stands out for me is that in the space of year, Arsenal have cut their total debt by over a third. That's pretty impressive in these heightened times, don't you think?

Ah, but we're a football club, aren't we? You say. Yes, we are, and we're a football club with a decent chance, with United otherwise engaged, of being second come Sunday morning. I wouldn't write Stoke off as bully boys who are just going to muscle us out of the game tomorrow night. They showed in the FA Cup, albeit against a weakened Arsenal side, that they can play too. Unbeaten in 2010, it's clear that they are adept at playing to the kind of strengths that once characterised Arsène's early teams. Oh, we've played some great football over the last 13+ years, but we used to be a nasty team too- as Jamie Redknapp said of the Invincibles, if we wanted a war, we'd have one- if this team are going to go onto Premier League glory, then it is fixtures like tomorrow that have to be won. It doesn't matter how and it doesn't matter whether we're missing Diaby, Arshavin and- indefinitely- William Gallas. Alan Davies observed earlier in the week that if we can get the three points tomorrow, then we're all going to be dreaming of title celebrations come May. Let's hope the boys can deliver those dreams this weekend.

That was my match preview by the way, such as it was, I've got a day of drinking in London Bridge to look forward to tomorrow. Computers are not on the agenda, I hope when we reconvene next that Rory Delap's long throw won't be either.

The news this evening, the big news, the really big massive, should be emblazoned in 15 foot letters on billboards around the capital, is that Holland coach Bert van Marwood, at least I think that's his name- am I getting him mixed up with a left winger that played for us 20 years ago?- reckons Robin van Persie will be playing by the beginning of April. But then Bert also said he had the numbers for the next Euro Millions draw and would be selling them to the highest bidder, so I'm not sure we can read too much into Bert's fervent prayer hopes for our leading man. If Arsenal says its the end of April 2010, then it's probably end of April 2011 and that's what we have to go with.

It did get me thinking though. According to stats, our goal per game output has halved in the Dutchman's absence, I know "if only" are the biggest two words in football and yet mean so little, but if only he hadn't have missed the last four months, it doesn't seem unreasonable to conclude, well, that we would surely have won the title by now. Or at least come very close to it.

Slightly ahead of Robin in the returning to the first team stakes, although, not by much, is another of our left footed predators, Eduardo. According to the gaffer, he will return to training tomorrow ahead of his latest comeback to the team. Anyone with a heart (and Martin Taylor) would have to feel for the Croatian because although he officially came back just over a year ago now, I don't think he's had more than six games without picking up a niggly injury. To his credit though, he's not getting down about it, accepting it as part of his rebuilding process. I would guess that he's just happy to be in a position where he still playing football. Hopefully he can keep himself fit for the rest of the season, or at least until Robin has got himself going again because there is a heavy load being placed on Nick Bendtner's shoulder at present, especially in the continued absence of Andrei Arshavin.

Arshavin won't be the only one missing on Saturday evening as Gallas and Diaby continue on the treatment table, which is an obvious blow. That being said, I am strangely confident that we will go to Stoke on Saturday and get a result. They won't have been helped by their 120 minutes against Manchester City last night, that aside I really do feel that there's only so many times that you can keep falling foul of Rory Delap and his long throw. Of course, this is Arsenal and our patience is liable to be tested regardless. Listening to the Up For Grabs Now podcast this week, they opined that Pat Rice should spend the week firing a canon at Manuel Almunia. Much as I like the idea, I don't think he'd be able to take a minute, nevermind a week of it. Or get Tinkerbell to hide the ball boys' towels. If the simple act of standing a player in front of Delap is not going to be considered then, loathe as Wenger would be to, you know, erm, prepare his team for the expected onslaught, then we have to hope that the defence are being drilled to within an inch of their lives.

And speaking of the boss, he opined in Arsenal's official magazine this month that to finish third in the current crazy financial climate that football clubs live in is no disgrace. Which is true, but he wasn't talking about finishing third when a trophy was promised to us all at the beginning of the season so I wonder if the phrase "hoisted by your own petard" may yet slide into view. Naturally, I have to remind you that I am not that childish and still believe in the boss, so it won't be me calling him out, but the knives are being sharpened elsewhere. True; he could not have foreseen that RvP would suffer such a serious injury, or that Nick Bendtner would miss a significant chunk of the season in parallel, but he could have foreseen the goalkeeping fiasco that we are stuck with till the summer. He could have foreseen the circumstances that have led to us choosing between someone who was playing in League Two (no disrespect, Sol) just a matter of months ago and a Manchester United never was as back up to William Gallas. It wouldn't have taken a massive chunk out of the £40m banked from the sales of Shabbybayor and Kolo Toure to have provided slightly better options.

I don't want to finish on a whinge, so I'll just say that if Arsenal do- against all the odds- finish the season on top of the pile, than Arsène Wenger will have undoubtedly qualified for genius status. It doesn't seem likely now, but you never know..

Anyone reading this blog since its inception on one sprained ankle afternoon in September, or indeed any of my articles that preceeded the blog on Arsenal-Mania, would have to be pretty stupid not to have realised that Emmanuel Eboue has been far from my favourite footballer over the years. I struggled with his lack of defensive nous, his lack of end product going forward and, naturally, his propensity to hit the green stuff without so much as an invitation. For me, though the calendar year just past has been as much about the renaissance of Eboue as it has the development of Alex Song into a holding player of genuine quality at the hub of our midfield.

In fact, I'm full of admiration for the way that Eboue used the booing that took place in a home game against Wigan and turned it to his advantage. It would be nice to think that the booing that day, as unpleasant as it was, gave Eboue cause for pause and made him realise that what he was producing was good enough for this football club and that he had to improve, but however it happened, the Eboue that I see before me in 2010 doesn't not produce the same instinctive disdainful reaction it once did. In fact, I see Eboue now and he makes me smile. So I clicked on the "Eboue meets the schoolkids" video, or whatever it was, on Arse.com and listened to him talking about how he likes to make the kids happy. He didn't say how he did this, but I like to think his tiger suit was involved. There was also a clip of him dancing with a young boy, who was leading who was not clear, but it looks like the youngster will have learnt a goal celebration or two from the Ivorian who is apparently very good with his free time. One of what seems like an increasingly rare breed who realises he is lucky enough to be paid for doing what so many of us would probably do for free.

What was the point in those two paragraphs? Well, it is this... I like Eboue!

Without a game in midweek, it is inevitable that not only is there not much news about but that thoughts may turn towards Saturday evening's trip to the Britannia Stadium sooner than normal. Not that there's much team news about at this stage, but Sol Campbell spoke to the official programme ahead of Saturday's game against Sunderland about the "chilling simplicity", to borrow a phrase from over 20 years ago, of the task ahead of us;

"It's simple, we have to win as many games as possible. Other teams at the top will be playing each other, so we just have to look after ourselves and make sure we're firing on all cylinders."

And that includes this weekend's match at the stadium where Sol's Arsenal career began its second coming in the FA Cup. It's a strange quirk of fate, at least I think it is- we can't be sure if this is by the design of Mr Wenger- that none of Sol's first team appearances for us have come at home and that trend is surely set to continue this weekend. Gallas is still a week away (at least) and whilst Silvester was part of a defence that kept a clean sheet at the weekend, his struggles in that FA Cup match can't have gone unnoticed by the manager. Sol was an ocean of serenity in comparison. And perhaps provides a totemic presence at the back- though one draw and two defeats in his three appearances possibly suggests otherwise.

You may have detected yesterday, in my writing, someone who was a bit fed up with life. Call it a blue Monday, today things feel much better. We were talking about Theo yesterday, weren't we? I wonder, at the risk of repeating myself, if the manager is deploying him in a position where he isn't going to improve much more, in some sort of isolation on the right flank. I also wonder if the team really play to his strengths. I'm not saying they should, but Theo doesn't really fit into the possession, possession, possession style of the team, he needs to be released early and be put in behind the opposition defence. From time to time, at least. Of course, Theo is soley responsible for what happens once he gets behind the defence and it is there that he simply must improve. But as we covered yesterday, he knows this.

The dozy idiot has Keeganed himself today though, with a return to the stadium where his season was cut in half last time around on the horizon, he has told Arse.com that he feels as "as anything" he's felt. Good one Shaggy! It feels as though it is now written in stone that this time next week, we will be talking about Theo's latest injury woes, let's hope not. For all his deficiencies as a footballer, and boy does he have some, his pure pace is something that defenders find quite frightening and so he offers something different to the more lateral contributions of Nasri and, to a lesser extent, Rosicky.

But that's enough about Theo Walcott this afternoon. Onto a couple of old boys.

One of whom, much as we now hate to remember that he ever played for the club, is the Judas who decided to leave his boyhood club over five grand and has now been revealed to be a serial cheater and sext pest- when your wife is Cheryl Tweedy, that has to mark you out as a bit lacking in the brains department doesn't it?- I refer of course to Cashley Ole. He is apparently livid at being dragged in by Chelsea to explain his conduct- which Chelsea are laughably said to believe has dragged their name through the mud. Chelsea and mud? There's more mud on that football club than at a Land Rover off-road rallying day. Anyway, Chelsea want to know, at the same time as patting John Terry on the back and giving him a cup of tea and some biscuits after his marital indiscretion(s), what Cashley's been playing at.

Subtext: Cheating on your missus is okay, even if it is with a team mate's wife- just as long as you don't involve the club's media officer.

I must admit I can see why Cashley's feeling a bit victimised and may now be wanting to leave SW6.

I feel a bit dirty now at devoting so many sentences to him, so let's talk about Gilberto Silva who will be returning to the Grove with Brazil in a week's time. As an aside, Randall asked me if I was gonna go to this and I said that £37 seemed a lot of money to spend just to go and yell abuse at that pikey, Robbie "our bench is stronger than Arsenal's" Keane. That's a no, by the way. Anyway Gilberto says that Arsenal  "need to acheive" their first trophy to increase their confidence. I guess this could be construed, and possibly might be, as an indirect criticism of the boss' prioritisation of the Champions and Premier League (though, not neccessarily in that order) above the two domestic cup competitions. I prefer to think of it along the lines of Gilberto saying what everyone else has been saying, which is that Arsenal need to win something, no matter what and then more glory will follow. So, I suppose it is an implicit criticism of the boss taking two competitions out of the quation before we've even begun. Ho hum. 

Gilberto, a guy who I think was underappreciated when he was good (2003-05) and then overestimated when he wasn't, for example the gnashing of teeth and wailing when he was snubbed for the captaincy at the beginning of a season where he was clearly going to be first choice no longer, is clearly another of those guys who let Arsenal Football Club into his heart. He says that he is still in touch with the players and then, this line which is just a heartbreaker,

"It’s impossible to point to just one thing I miss because I had a great time at Arsenal. I fitted in well with the culture at Arsenal."

I read that and I think "legend". I also wonder why, at a time when we'd already lost Flamini and Diarra, we felt we could let Gilberto go and then have half a season suffering as Alex Song and Denilson initially struggled to come to terms with the massive void left at the heart of our midfield. Okay, so one of those guys is still struggling to a certain extent... 

On the latest of a seemingly endless collection of wet, grey and absolutely freezing afternoons in the capital city a thought has struck me. You know there's been much debate on various forums about the suitability of the Wonder of You as the Arsenal anthem, right? Is it suitable? Not really in my opinion. Maybe it's a subliminal hymn to our majority shareholder, but beyond that it has no place at Arsenal Football Club. Anyway, I was watching old episodes of Red Dwarf on Friday night and I have belatedly realised that it is the perfect accompaniment to a winter's afternoon at the Grove.

Exhibit A for the prosecution; The opening line is "It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere". Perfect! It could almost have been written for the Grove, couldn't it? And I'm sure, as Theo Walcott is observed letting the ball bounce off him into touch, or Gael Clichy gets turned inside out for the millionth time, that at least half the crowd could be caught wanting "to lie, shipwrecked and comatose, drinking fresh mango juice". No?

I haven't got much else, to be honest. But the clincher is surely the fact that the theme tune for a series called Red Dwarf is surely a perfect match for a team full of red (and white) dwarves. At least, I think so. What's that? I've gone mad? Yeah, I'll get me coat.

My mood this afternoon, as I alluded to earlier, is less about the fortunes of the Arse than this miserable London afternoon following a miserable London morning and the miserable London night that will follow, well, as surely as night follows day. Because in Goonerland, six points off the top, things are going pretty, pretty good right now.

We start with the sound of a penny dropping and Theo Walcott's acknowledgement that he must get "that final ball sorted". Equally refreshing is his admission that he needs to concentrate on Arsenal before beginning to worry about England and the World Cup. I think there's been a few people who were wondering where Theo's head was at, particularly in the summer when he chose to make himself available for whatever that international under 21 tournament was- against the boss' wishes. Of course, time was that such disobedience would have signalled a freeze out beyond anything London has experienced this winter, but times they are a changing. If not changed already. Anyway, we know Theo needs to improve and, more importantly, so does he so let's see if he can stay fit and make the neccessary improvements. I would say, in his defence, that playing as a wide man, the onus is on him to provide service for others. That's all well and good if the rest of the team can keep up with him. Perhaps he would be better served by a run through the middle just to see if we can get him on the end of things in the right area of the pitch- ie in front of goal. Wherever he is deployed for the rest of the season, and I think it's safe to assume he will continue playing wide, Arsène has backed Walcott to make the plane to South Africa.

The boss also had words of praise for Saturday's deadlock breaker. Nicklas Bendtner has had a mixed comeback to the first team, but got his first goal of the year with the kind of far post tap in that was a common feature of the Arsenal team that began the last decade, we will of course be hoping that a floodgate is now opened for the young Dane, with Arsène praising his attitude, he said;

"He has common sense, accepts observations and tries to use them in a positive way. He has a good team attitude. He is quite confident, I must say. But that’s not a bad thing for a striker. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you're able to prove your confidence on the pitch.

And just because you're confident doesn't mean you don't need encouragement from others on the pitch. He's very strong, is 1.94m tall and very intelligent. He can improve a lot but how much he can improve is down to how hard he will work."

All of which points to a manager impressed by his young centre forward, but a manager who realises that the hard yards are still to be put in if Bendtner is to fulfill his undoubted potential. I was saying to Rachid earlier that I feel a little sorry for Bendtner. He is an inelegant player playing in an elegant team and I feel he suffers for that (his critics missing the point that his more physical approach brings balance to a team full of tarts), I think he also suffers by comparison to his predecessors in the Arsenal team. But tell me, what was Dennis Bergkamp doing as a 21 year old? Where was Thierry Henry? Or Ian Wright, for that matter? They may have been doing a little better than Nick was at this stage in his career, but I think that's up for debate. Except in Wrighty's case where he wasn't even a pro footballer at the age of 21. I also think there's clearly a massive area of middle ground between being an era defining legend ala Thierry, Wrighty and Dennis and being shit. Nick Bendtner is not shit.

Got it? Good.

Had I been blogging all week, in the aftermath of the ridiculousness of Portugal and everyone with an opinion (including our old friend Mark Lawrenson, of whom more later) seeming to completely miss the point so concisely put by Paul Wilson in the Observer today, I would now be talking about it being nice to get back to business at home to Sunderland yesterday. As it is, it's like I've been out of the loop for a few days, Arsenal have won and now all is right with the world once more. In case you can't be bothered to click on that link, for the record Wilson says;

"There is nothing wrong with an attacking side taking a free-kick quickly to take advantage of position and defensive disarray, but it is not the referee's job to obtain the ball for them to do so. Once the referee asks for the ball he needs to ensure both sides are ready before releasing it. If the ball is already on the floor or in the possession of the attacking side it is a different matter, but Wenger's complaint was fair. The referee takes the ball in order to take control, not to facilitate a quick free-kick that is impossible to defend."

On this press related note, it's interesting to see how their world works. Signed up, as I am, to John Cross' Twitter feed, I got the following, abbreviated, Tweet on Friday "Wenger was good today." Come Saturday's Mirror, according to Cross, Wenger was "not making much sense"! How does that work?

I did notice, though, that Arsenal have now signed James Shea, the reserve team goalkeeper to the ubiquitious long term contract. Arsenal being Arsenal, they announced this the day after the Fabianski horror show. It makes you wonder doesn't it? We have a barely competent, actually I would argue incompetent, number one; Fabianski is probably having therapy at the moment as he struggles to come to terms with his latest debacle, Mannone is clearly not ready and the big white hope is 19 years old, currently plying his trade at Brentford- where, Gabs the Two Time Dad tells me- he has dropped his first major clanger. Shea has joined the ranks of the lengthily contracted keepers, but I wonder what the point is. I would be very surprised if he became the Arsenal number one. Ever.

I didn't see the game yesterday, as I was on my way home from my mum's house whilst it was going on. Having got a text from Luke glorying in the latest favour Everton have done Arsenal's title challenge via their excellent 3-1 win over Manchester United, a further text from him told me that Bendtner had put us one up. I got home in time to watch Sky Soccer Saturday from 4.30, with no further score, I had a nagging feeling we would see a late goal, so I stuck with it and sure enough come ten to five, news of a penalty at the Grove. Heavens above if it wasn't given in our favour! Steve Bruce's implication on Match of the Day later on that it was only given because we were the home team ignored the fact that not only have we had a myriad of excellent penalty claims turned down this season, but we also had what was apparently a blatant penalty on Carlos Vela turned down late on at the Stadium of Light earlier this season. What goes around comes around Stevie. Anyway I don't think there was any serious debate about it's legitimacy, even arch Arsenal hater Hansen thought it was a good decision.

So Cesc stuck it away perfectly and two goals meant three points. Watching the highlights though, it became clear that despite the runaround Theo Walcott (how I would like to see him play on the left) gave George McCartney and another impressive shift from Emmanuel Eboue at right back (was that a cross or a pulled shot for Bendtner's far post tap in?), Sunderland had had a couple of chances at 1-0 that might have changed the game. Kenwyn Jones will wonder how he didn't hit the target when one on one with a diving the other way Manuel Almunia, for instance. Not that it matters in terms of yesterday's game and a rare clean sheet for Arsenal and a revamped defence that also included Silvestre will hopefully have instilled some confidence in the team. Though I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not going too in depth on this one as it would be silly to do so based on ten minutes of highlights, but when you consider the names we had out yesterday- I don't think I need to list them- this can only be classed a decent win. Further, the "sneaky chance" that Mark Lawrenson reckons we have in this title race (that's us finished then!) may become a decent chance as the weeks progress and the likes of Arshavin- who probably needed a break anyway, Gallas, Diaby and Eduardo return to the fold. There was was talk of Robin returning to us mid April, but bearing in mind the length of time he's been out, is the best we can hope for him not an incredible return to the first team at the Bernabeu stadium on the 22nd May?

Yeah, yeah. I can dream, okay? Though not if we run into either Chelsea or United before then. I was thinking about this the other day and it seems to me that the prevalent view that Arsenal have a better chance of Champions League glory than in the Premier League does not take into account the fact that Arsenal will probably have to play either United or Chelsea, or both, if they want to win the Champions League. The toughest fixture awaiting us in the league is... probably this week's at Stoke, or Tottenham away in April. Bearing in mind the places Chelsea have to go to and their away form, they are nailed on- in my view- to drop points and quite a few of them between now and May. And we are only two points behind a Manchester United seemingly so reliant on Rooney. Two points, that's all.

I think that's enough for today.

What a game to come back on. There is, of course, only one place to start this afternoon and that is Estadio Do Dragao where the Swedish referee, Martin Hansson (he of not seeing Thierry Henry's handball fame), scored the winning goal for Porto in the 1st leg of the Champions League second round match last night.

I've been ill by the way, still am, so if this comes across as a bit delirious, well I'm sorry, you'll just have to bear with me.

The Incredible Hulk may be a Marvel comic book hero, but last night was a real horror show for Lukasz Fabianski, to the extent that certain journalists (and no doubt bloggers) think he should never play for Arsenal again. As horrendous, and repeated, as his mistakes are, I still contend that he has room for improvement that the other inept goalkeeper simply does not. I commented to Jo that the pair of them both look like dead men walking, physically as well as mentally, they are our very own Dead of Night. There is one man to blame for this predicament and one man only. Step forward Mr Arsène Wenger. The own goal that Fabianski opened the scoring with was bad enough, but why pick up the back pass? Why?

But to go back to my original starting point, one which I left hanging out there for a paragraph or so and Martin Hansson's goal for Porto. Of course, he didn't score the goal for them, but he might as well have done. What galls the most is that he could see a backpass from 30 yards away, but literally seconds earlier failed to spot a clear and obvious foul on Tomas Rosicky that would have led to a penalty. I guess we're still suffering the fall out from Eduardogate and will still be suffering this come the season's end. To my annoyed and upset mind, Andy Townsend stating that it was an obvious penalty was savagely ironic- not that it would have ocurred to him at the time- as it was Townsend's constant carping in the aftermath of the Arsenal Celtic game that has led to any foul on an Arsenal player in the penalty area being deemed to be, well, okay really, it's only an Arsenal player.

I still haven't made it back, have I? Okay, so to get to the meat of it. Campbell's backpass, accidental or not, it was a backpass and by the letter of the law, the indirect free kick was a fair decision. Silly to concede as either Campbell or Fabianski had time to clear the ball. Where I think the unfairness comes in is when Fabianski tried to protect the ball and therefore the goal, the referee clearly demands the ball back from him before dropping it to the feet of the Porto player- nowhere near where the original infraction ocurred, by the way. He then turns his back on the play as the kick is taken quickly, blocking off Sol Campbell from reacting in the process and only then raising his arm to signal for the free kick. By then it is too late because the ball is on its way into the net. Yes, Arsenal might have been more alert to it, yes Fabianski could have held onto the ball longer, yes Campbell should have got in the way rather than doing his head in his hands Kolo Toure impersonation, but let me ask you this- how many teams in the history of football have ever been allowed to take a quick free kick 8 yards from goal? Further, what then stops a penalty being taken in the same fashion? And I answer common sense refereeing.

The referee must have known that his actions were going to result in a goal, there was no other possible outcome to that situation and it was as ridiculous as if Hansson had scored the goal himself. You may say I'm biased and, as Cesc admitted, we would have done the same thing (and indeed have in the past- albeit not 8 yards out), that isn't the point. The referee's intervention was as good as scoring the goal himself and clearly- as this unbiased piece by Rob McNichol at Football365 makes clear, against the spirit of the game. Can you imagine the outcry if we'd done the same? Everywhere we went from now on, we'd hear the "Same old Arsenal, always cheating" chant ad infinitum.

Anyway, that's my view on it. It's a real shame that this incident has soured what what looked like being a largely positive return for Sol Campbell to Arsenal's European stage. As early as the first minute, after a wayward Denilson pass, he had to make an expertly timed penalty area challenge and played well thereafter. The best thing you can say about him is that Gallas was not unduly missed and as for his 18th minute equaliser, a crashing header from Rosicky's nod back across goal, well it was the stuff of dreams, wasn't it?

The shame of the game was that Arsenal could not summon the same, positive reaction to the second goal that they had the first. Once we'd ridden out Porto's predictable opening salvo, I say ridden out, you know what I mean, and then got ourselves back on level terms, we were clearly the better side. The second goal was, like the tackles that rained in unanswered on Cesc all night, a crushing hammer blow. Rosicky left the field to be replaced by an ineffectual Theo Walcott, Vela replaced Bendtner and Eboue arrived for Denilson. I think it was Denilson. It all seemed like going through the motions changes, out of hope rather than expectation, though Eboue produced a last gasp piece of brilliant trickery to buy some space and slide the ball to Fabregas with the goal beckoning, at least, until a defender appeared to clear the ball at the very last second. 

It wasn't enough. But the tie, especially with an away goal in the bag, is very much alive. Porto may plan to defend deep and hit on the break, but we have seen first hand how they do not travel well, blown away 4-0 by us last season. The thing that gives me hope is that they are clearly not that great a side and only beat us through the sheer generosity of a goalkeeper who, having spent the majority of the season on the bench, was out of his depth last night. The cause for concern is that no matter the personnel, we seem unable to to prevent the gifts from being handed out. It's like Christmas never ended and as limited as Porto seem, it's difficult to envisage the shut out that would surely result in our progression.

A word too, about Cesc. Kicked throughout the game last night, a tactic that seemed designed to interrupt his, and therefore our, flow and worked only too well as he misplaced pass after pass, when interviewed after the game last night, he seemed a man at the end of his tether. Blasting the mistakes that led to the goals as "schoolboy", thoughts of going and playing for a proper team, ie that one in Catalonia, can't have been far from his mind. On the evidence of last night, would any of you blame him?