Just when you think you're starting to get a bit disillusioned and, despite the fact that Arsenal are now third in the league table, that's exactly how I was feeling yesterday- hence, no blog, something happens that makes you think things really aren't all that bad.

As I logged on to bring you another thrill packed installment of this blog, Robbie Keane's assertion that the Tottenham bench is now stronger than Arsenal's caught my eye. Why, oh why oh why- is the structure of Robbie's chromosomes (that works better as a verbal gag, but I'm sticking with it). Seriously though, you'd think they knew better by now. Okay, we're above them only on goal difference, albeit having played a game less. But every year we get this, every year the same assertion that Spurs are ready to dethrone the Arsenal as the kings of north London and every year what happens? Tottenham get so left in our jetstream that St Totteringham's day gets earlier and earlier. Robbie's quite right to point out that anything can happen in the north London derby, witness last year's freakathon at the Grove and Eboue's brainless dismissal after half an hour at the Lane- so the true test of strength is the league standing at the end of the season. That one that has been in our favour for the last 14 seasons. Come back when you've sorted that one out, eh Robbie?

After last season's debacle and the small fact that we haven't beaten the cave dwellers since December 2007, I'm sure Saturday's game will see the first team fired up and ready to dish out a hiding. But that is game 751 of the manager's reign- don't the milestones seem to be flying by at the minute? Before that, we have game 750 and Liverpool's visit in the Carling Cup tonight. For which, with a date at Revolution beforehand, I really should be getting ready to leave now.

The squad list is up and makes for interesting reading. The boss had already confirmed that Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski will play tonight, but on the senior pro side of things, Nick Bendtner and Eduardo will be included along with Silvester and Senderos. Of course, it's a convenient way of getting Eduardo battle hardened and returning Bendtner to the fold, but I wonder if things would have been different were it not Liverpool in town? Of course, the manager can point to the fact that two of the habitual Carling Cup stars, in Vela and Wilshere, will not be playing tonight which is a real pity. But it's also an opportunity for someone, who was on the verge of going to Spain for a year, to shine.

Fran Merida could very easily be plying his trade in the Spanish segunda for Levante but the boss decided to try and bring his talents through here. He is a good little player, though I think the early comparisons with Cesc were clearly a touch flattering, and hopefully he will be able to show this tonight.

When you think of the players involved in the last round, the list is intriguing. Will Eduardo and Bendtner start up front, joined by Sanchez Watt? Sunu looked a touch of his depth against the Baggies, so it wouldn't surprise me- though Merida might form part of the attacking three. Ramsey is certain, you would think, to start also, will it be Coquelin or Randall anchoring midfield? Does Nasri slot into the midfield three? We have good options here and I think- when you consider that is just the Carling Cup and that there's a whole first XI sitting this one out- that it shows that Robbie Keane should really keep his mouth shut. But I'm sure that he'll have realised that come 3pm on Saturday.

Enjoy the game, wherever you are.

My aunt Susan works for the BBC and when we were arranging, in the week, to get together for a meal on Saturday evening she mentioned the possibility of getting press tickets for a film called Noone Knows About Persian Cats at the National Film Theatre on Sunday afternoon. Now, I was dubious. I didn't know anything about this film, which was about the difficulties faced by young Iranians in making music in their home country, but I did know that it was going to make my chances of getting home to watch the Gunners in action very slim, despite Susan and her husband, Jo, telling me that I'd get home no trouble. Anyway, reasoning that I probably wouldn't bother with it otherwise, I acquiesced in the end and, as a result, spent an hour and half absolutely captivated by this, in the words of the afternoon's "host" Colin Firth, "extraordinary" film.

Which is more than I can say for the football that I managed to watch when I got in.

Faced with a West Ham side on their knees, Arsenal didn't have to work too hard to get their noses in front, Robert Green managing to spill Bac Sagna's cross to the ever improving RVP's feet who duly tapped in his fifth league goal of the season, and fourth in a row. The lead was extended further by another goal from a centre back- William Gallas heading home RvP's laser guided free kick as the first half drew to a close. 

In the second half, Cesc went close with a long range effort, Arshavin went close but the third goal wouldn't come. It's funny, it's widely regarded in football that 2-0 is the worst kind of lead to have because it gives you a comfort zone that a 1-0 lead doesn't, but it can still be wiped out in an instant, as we saw at home to Tottenham last year, okay that was 4-2 but you know what I mean, and at Aston Villa- as I mentioned earlier in the week.

And as Zola made substitutions, West Ham began to raise the temperature and you could see control visibly slip from Arsenal's grasp to no response from the manager, a West Ham goal didn't so much become an inevitability, but a distinct possibility. It came from a familiar failing, the albatross around Arsenal's neck and their inability to deal with a set piece. In this case, the young Italian Vito Mannone's misjudgement of substitute Diamanti's inswinging free kick that saw him deflect the ball back into the danger zone, rather than away from goal, for Carlton Cole to head home. As Arsenal's players struggled to clear their heads, a Scott Parker run through the Arsenal defence might have brought a penalty- a decision that would have been harsh on William Gallas in my view, but perhaps that decision played a part in the penalty that was awarded just moments later.

Alex Song, harshly perhaps, was adjudged to have committed one of those silly little fouls he gives away in every match. This one was in the penalty area. And Diamanti duly dispatched the resulting spot kick to level a game that looked well beyond the Hammers. In response, Bendtner arrived for the extraordinarily ineffective Eboue- about twenty minutes too late in my opinion. I've been needing to say this for a while, but my problem with Eboue is simply what I saw in him last night. He can run at and beat players with ease, but that seems to be all he can do. He gets put into great positions and then plays an aimless, no look cross, he beats a player, gets into the danger zone and then slashes wastefully wide from ridiculous angles. I could forgive this if it was an exception to the rule, but he seems incapable of producing any quality on a consistent basis. And when you have players of the quality of Eduardo, Nasri and Bendtner sitting on the bench, it's painful to watch.

Scott Parker was, somewhat harshly, sent off which triggered the arrival of Eduardo with just minutes left. The one great chance we had left in us fell not to him though, RvP's close range header looked a certain goal as Rob Green was going the other way. But, shades of Ben Foster a few weeks back, he managed to get a leg to it and deflect the ball away.

And that was that. Thomas Vermaelen said in the week that the last minute draw in Alkmaar felt like a defeat to the players, so I can only imagine what this one's done to us. I could understand it if West Ham had, pardon the expression, hammered us, but they didn't. Okay, the manager can talk about the decisions on the freekick and the penalty, but they were just the by products of an Arsenal team who looked, to this observer's eye, like they thought they could coast through the second half of this game. Just five days later, compelling evidence that perhaps lessons have not been learnt. I said on Friday that a failure to take three points would be disappointing, in the context of the match it's gutting. Maybe I'm being harsh and maybe it is just the fact that it was the same eleven who played in a tough Champions League game and so tiredness was a factor. But then, it was five days ago and surely we had the options on the bench to change it up a bit. Even if Nasri, Eduardo and Bendtner were not fit enough to start the game, would Ramsey for Diaby have affected us unduly? Vela for Eboue?

What's really irritating is the fact that, with United losing to Liverpool, a win yesterday and then a win next week would have put us top of the league- at least until Chelsea played, that chance has gone now. With the juniors certain to be in action in midweek, the first team squad have got a week to get their acts together before the cave dwellers make the short trip down the Seven Sisters Road, if we play like this next Saturday, I fear for us. Hopefully, Eduardo and Nasri will be able to make a difference.

So, twenty five minutes into Dizzee Rascal's set yesterday, surrounded by the biggest bunch of dickheads you'd find outside of White Hart Lane (sorry Randall), I think it's safe to say I was not having a good time. To the point that Jo leant over and, amidst the thumping beats of DJ Semtex, asked me if I wanted to go home. We very nearly did.

Glad we stayed though, as from the last half hour or forty minutes, whatever it was, resembled Dizzee's very own hit parade. Climaxing with an euphoric rendition of Bonkers, I think Dizzee can consider Brixton to be the latest town to fall for his Rascally charms.

Why am I talking about Dizzee? Maybe it's his Holiday song, which is what I'll be on in, oooh about 3 and a half hours time and maybe it's because, despite more news emerging from the AGM yesterday afternoon, I don't think  any of it adds substantially to what I mentioned here yesterday.

I notice, though, that Mark Hughes reckons referees are influenced by the power of the top four, saying that Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal are treated with "reverence". And he's quite right, isn't he? I mean we all saw how harshly Mr Adebayor was treated when Robin van Persie tried to headbutt Adebayor's studs, Cesc tried to shin them and then Alex Song apparently headbutted Ade's palm didn't we? Er, no, that isn't quite what happened is it? I'm sure that Gareth Barry got away with a handball that should have resulted in a penalty in that game too. It's not as if Arsenal get a ridiculously high number of yellow cards compared to the number of fouls we make either, is it? 

What a dick.

Anyway, speaking of White Hart Lane, Andrey Arshavin has said that he would have been happy to sign for Spurs last summer. Well, I think we can consider that both Arsenal and Arshavin have had very lucky escapes in that regard. Hopefully, Andrey will be able to show the Tottenham board who, no doubt, didn't have the energy to deal with Zenit's negotiators just what they've missed out on in 8 days time. But that is far ahead of us, and you can be sure that there will be more to say about our Halloween encounter with Tottenham in the days ahead.

For now, it is the short trip to east London and a struggling West Ham side on Sunday afternoon that concerns me. I listened to a bit of the West Ham game against Stoke last week and it sounded like they paid the price for a very slack opening ten minutes. On top of that they suffered some ref justice, Arsenal style, when Robert Huth decked Matt Upson but managed to escape being red carded by an oblivious official. It does seem to me, though, that they might not be far away from turning the corner. I'm reasonably hopeful that they still won't be far away from turning the corner come 6.15, Sunday evening. Upton Park has been a relatively happy hunting ground for us recently, Marlon Harewood's 90th minute winner a couple of season back notwithstanding, and with the way Arsenal have been putting away the sides at the wrong end of the table so far this season, I'd be very disappointed were Arsenal to come away with anything less than three points. But I don't expect it to be an easy game.

We wait to see whether Tomas Rosicky and Nick Bendtner will provide some alternatives in the midfield and attacking areas, but it seems as though Eduardo will be back in action at some stage on Sunday and looking to improve Arsenal's chance to conversion rate which hasn't been great recently. I'd be surprised to see him start though, which means the same side beginning the match as in Holland in midweek. Two tough away games in 5 days, yes, but the kind of challenge that must be met if this Arsenal side are to fulfill the manager's conviction that silverware is imminent.

Once West Ham are done with, one way or another, the senior players can look forward to a week off before the chance to avenge last season's Tottenham debacle (ideal preparation to get the game going 100%, I think) whilst the youngsters can look forward to the visit of Liverpool and, if their season so far is anything to go by, their first team on Wednesday night.

Enjoy the game, wherever you are.

Today is a momentous day, yes, it is.

For I'm going to see Dizzee Rascal at Brixton Academy. It's gonna be Bonkers, oh yes.

And in Arsenal land, the manager, the man who has given Gooners everywhere so much happiness over the last 13 years, okay- less so in the last five- reaches his 60th birthday. Rather than celebrating with a 60 candle cake though, Arsène has been in front of the firing squad- aka, the 8th Arsenal Holdings AGM. As yet, the smoke signals from the meeting have yet to emerge, so unfortunately, we don't have a detailed account of what has been said. However, with the team having currently unbeaten in eight matches, sitting in a very respectable 4th place in the league, just 4 points off the pace with a game in hand, and top of their Champions League group with two home games to come, we can be reasonably sure that the event will have been a less fractious affair than the one that preceded it in the springtime. Especially as Mikael Silvestre has not been seen outside of the Carling Cup team.

Whilst the boss said that he was "convinced" that the trophy drought would be ended this season, one man who didn't say anything- thereby living up to his "silent" reputation- was Stan Kroenke. Which led, when faced with questions about Kroenke's involvement, to the slightly odd situation of PH-W saying,

"I believe he [Stan] is happy to be a long-term shareholder in our club.

"Really its not for me to say what his intentions are."

Glad you cleared that one up for us then, Pete.

Back to Arsène, and in the absence of any self congratulation from the man and, let's face it, that just wouldn't be his style now, would it, Football 365 have come up with a list of 60 classic Wenger quotes. My personal favourite; a) because I hadn't heard, or read, it before, b) because, to me, it speaks to Wenger's total dedication to the Arsenal training complex and our stadium and three, because it's really funny, is number 16- the one about swimming pools. Check them out if you haven't already.

They're not the only ones giving it up to le boss though; one to be enjoyed on the BBC I-Player at a later date, due to my presence at the Brixton Academy tonight, is 5 Live's Arsène at 60, 8pm tonight. Emmanuel Petit says that he must win something this season, expressing surprise that Wenger has stayed with the club after 4 years without a trophy- though mostly Petit just sounds confused to me. David Dein, predictably but correctly, flies the flag for his long time friend, expressing the belief that the boss should be "harnessed" to the club for life. I'm not sure about that, but I don't think the boss is planning on going anywhere just yet.

Happy birthday boss, thanks for the last thirteen years. I don't think any of us would have missed a second. Well, maybe that Cup Final in 2001 and the Spurs home game last season. The highs though, in my opinion at least, have been more than worth it. 

On the playing side of things, Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski both made their reserve team comebacks this week. With the rate at which the first team squad members appear to be dropping like flies (was it only three weeks ago, the boss basically had a full complement to choose from, Nasri excepted?), Samir's return in particular, is timely indeed.

Fabianski will come back to an intruiging situation. In his absence, the third choice Mannone has come into the side and done so well that the manager has seen no reason to restore the Spanish waiter to the side. Can Mannone now be considered the man to displace? I'm not sure I would see it like that, but I have never been convinced by Almunia and I don't think that- should he play till his late 30's- I ever will be. Mannone and Fabianski should be given the chance to battle it out for the number one spot, I think both of them have attributes that Almunia lacks and whilst they will continue to make mistakes, as Almunia does himself, they have much greater to potential to improve than "El Camarero". 

Tomorrow's blog will be the last one till Monday, so we'll have a look at the West Ham game then.

Ooh, how I wish I was a betting man.

Sitting around, chatting with Rachid AKA The Legend and Randall the Spurs season ticket holder yesterday as we perused the odds for last night's round of matches, I offered a slightly educated guess that perhaps AZ Alkmaar would be good for a draw. I also countered Rachid's assertion that Barcelona would make easy meat of Rubin Kazan and as for Liverpool's home game against Lyon... well, you didn't exactly have to be Mystic Meg to work that one out. But I didn't put my money where my mouth was, which looked like a good decision with 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the 3 allocated minutes of injury time played in Holland last night.

Oops.

How frustrating, how irritating. Ultimately, though, how lucky we are to be in a position where an injury time lapse like last night's will almost certainly not affect our chances of winning the group. It's also irritating as the myth of Ronald Koeman as the spolier bogeyman who knows how to stop Arsènal can not yet be disproved definitively and it should have been last night.

There again, aside from the luck we were shown in the draw, we've had to make a lot of our own luck in the group stages and that we have seven points after three games is down to the quality of the players at the club and the commitment shown to the task, notably after the horror show of the opening five minutes in Liege and against the 10 man defence of Olimpiacos. I think last night's result, although ultimately down to a defensive abberation, was symptomatic of the drain in attacking resources that saw Emmanuel Eboue deployed as a third attacker. Not to mention some uncharacteristically erratic finishing from the likes of RvP and Arshavin.

There was a stat at half time, or around half time that said AZ had 57% possession to our 43%, what that didn't show was, as the game wore on, a complete refusal from the home side to try and keep the ball in our half. I remember thinking that RvP's early shot straight at the keeper might prove decisive, such was the unwillingness of AZ to really have a go. That fear looked unfounded when Arshavin pounced on an error at the back, waited to release RvP down the left and then RvP slid the ball across goal for Cesc, who had not been having a good night, to knock home a vintage Arsenal goal.

"We've got Cesc Fabregas!" sang the away fans.

"You only sing when you're winning" countered the home support.

RvP was unlucky not to add another game to the streak he's been on, a fierce shot that the AZ keeper- for some reason- chose to punch clear, slid off his gloves and looped just over the corner of the goal.

The second half, well I don't remember much of it now, I must say. I know that we had chances to put the game away and that Alex Song was- in my view- the best performer in Arsenal shirt. But I also know that, as Koeman made his substitutions, Arsenal really had to ride the storm (and in the case of Abou "own goal" Diaby, their luck) to keep the lead, which they did and should have had a potentially game clinching penalty when Carlos Vela, on for RvP, was fouled in the penalty area. In the context of the evening's performance, it was not surprising to see the referee wave play on.  

The current, note current, problems with squad depth were magnified last night. In the absence of Denilson, Rosicky and Nasri in midfield, Arsène could only turn to Aaron Ramsey from the bench. Likewise, up top, Vela the only option until Eduardo, Bendtner and, in a month's time, Walcott return. It was in that context that I predicted a draw yesterday afternoon and is in that context that I'm not disappointed by last night's result. After all, as I alluded to earlier, it could be worse, this could be a Liverpool blog!

So, no penalty for us, and the failure to secure more than a one goal cushion was punished when, at the death, Arshavin was needlessly flagged offside. The ball was hammered forward, headed down and with the Arsenal defence slow to react, smashed home on the volley in a manner very reminiscent of Zat Knight's Christmas ruining injury time equaliser at Aston Villa last year. On the benches Ronald Koeman celebrated as if his team had won the competition, the celebrations of the players were something similar. Which, I guess, if you're AZ Alkmaar only underlines the limited ambition displayed during the game. But fair enough, I mean we're not talking Real Madrid here, or even Ajax.

Thomas Vermaelen said afterwards the game felt like a defeat, but I hope the players don't take it too much to heart. It was, bottom line, a minor setback and, should Arsenal win the return fixture on November 4th- which we should, a comfortable qualification will have been acheived. And we will then be able to have a look at Jack Wilshere and co in greater depth.

Which would be nice, good even.

Since I last posted a fair bit seems to have happened, most of which you probably know about already, so I won't linger too long on it. But before we can get to tonight's Champions League match against AZ Alkmaar, let me sum up the weekend.

Mannone kept Almunia on the bench on Saturday before promptly doing an "Almunia". RvP proved that he hasn't let the international break affect his knowledge of where the goal at the south end of the Grove is, as his opening goal of the game was from a near identical position to the one dispatched against Blackburn a couple of weeks back. Andrey Arshavin proved his class when he produced an almost lazy finish from the edge of the box to seal the three points as the game drew to a close. Before we got there, of course, Theo Walcott had been once again dispatched to the treatment table as a result of a fierce tackle from Liam Ridgewell. I'm not sure about this one, you know. I've seen people call it fair and in that he won the ball, then fair enough. But you can still injure players in winning the ball- as I know myself and if that is the outcome then, by definition, it can't have been a fair tackle.

I'm not saying it was Martin Taylor (and well done to the classless Birmingham fans for their Taylor serenade), but the speed with which Ridgewell went into the tackle was reckless and perhaps a yellow card would have been a reasonable outcome. It comes to something when Alex Song can get a yellow card, as he continually does, for a little pull back on an opponent and a tackle like this is not deemed worthy of the same punishment. Yes, the pull back is cynical and therefore probably viewed as not being in the spirit of the game as much as a genuine attempt to win the ball. But you can make a genuine attempt to win the ball and still wreck someone's season. Surely there should be some adjustment in the rules, or is it a question of interpretation?

Long story short, then. No Walcott tonight, indeed no Walcott for the next month and with Tomas Rosicky unavailable due to a small knee problem, the forward options are somewhat shrunk. Eduardo and Nick Bendtner remain unavailable, which leaves Arshavin and Robin van Basten as our front line attackers. All of a sudden Samir Nasri's imminent return can't come quick enough for me! It seems likely that, with Diaby, Song and Cesc continuing in central midfield, Eboue will come in to the attacking triumvirate. It will not surprise you to hear that I would prefer to see Carlos Vela given a chance to make his mark- thus augmenting the technical aspect of our game above the physical. But with limited options on the bench, I fully understand why Eboue might be preferred from the start.

The back four, I suppose, will pick itself, with Clichy returning for Keiran Gibbs. The only question mark is the one that hangs over the man between the sticks. Will it Mannone, will it be Manny? We'll have to wait and see... If it wasn't Almunia tonight, that would be quite a statement from the manager, so I expect blondie to return. Incidentally, I was going to say something about his grumpy face being caught on camera on Saturday afternoon, but such is the Beeb's reputation for shady editing, it's possible the shot of him was from a different match altogether...

And whilst I'm on about the Beeb, has anyone else noticed how, in a season where Chelsea have been battered by Wigan, lost to Villa and had to rely on last minute goals in two home games and Liverpool have lost four games already and Manchester United have lost to Burnley and are relying on own goals- currently their second top scorer I think, poor little understrength Arsenal are still an afterthought on Match of the Day? What's that word Alan Hansen likes? "Shocking", I believe. Everybody in the country knows that on a different day, Man City's 4-2 win would have gone the other way and that Arsenal outplayed the Champions for 60 minutes of the 90 on their own patch. But we're the forgotten ones, trading on former glories. I was quite annoyed by this last season, but this season I've been quite accepting of our perceived status in the pecking order. I'll go further here, I like the fact that we're under the radar now. As Arsène heads towards his 60th birthday looking for more from his team, I think there's a few teams and a few pundits in line for the mother of all wake up calls, their lazy and complacent way of thinking is going to be challenged. Big time.

Watch Koeman orchestrate another Arsenal in Europe disaster tonight now...

Fun and games.

A fat sleep last night and I am indeed feeling much better. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for our receptionist, who cracked her head a good one in the shower this morning. From time to time she reads this blog, actually, so hopefully by the time Sara reads this, she won't be suffering from a concussion.

But enough about the walking wounded in my life, what about the walking wounded of Arsenal? We've already covered Samir Nasri, who may be included in the Carling Cup squad for Liverpool in a week and a half's time. Eduardo's thigh problem will preclude him from avenging the near dismemberment of his ankle last February and Nick Bendtner's groin will see a limitation on our forward options further compounded by Carlos Vela's unavailability as he hitchhikes his way back from South America.

At the back, Manuel Almunia was said yesterday to be "50-50" to return to the first team after his chest infection. A month later and he's 50-50? What kind of chest infection has he got? I mean you could understand it if he had the kind of chest infection suffered by John Hurt in Alien. You know, he gets attacked by a face huggy type thing, which then secretly impregnates him, resisting all attempts to pry it off by having acid for blood that would burn his face off, if it made contact. The thing then falls off, but when he get up to have dinner with your fellow crew, or team members, a little penis looking thing with teeth eats its way through his body before bursting out through the chest cavity. And then turning into a massive black xenomorph that kills everything in its path, except the cat. And a woman clad in only vest and pants- though who that would be in the Arsenal dressing room, God only knows. Not sure there's a cat running around the Grove either, though that Highbury squirrel may well be around somewhere.

Yeah, I could understand it if Almunia had that kind of chest infection. Although, clearly, that would result in sudden and painful death, but if he doesn't have that, then what's the hold up? You can only assume that Mr Wenger, like the majority of Gooners, is none too happy with the way the Spanish waiter has started the season.

Another one who has room for improvement this season is Gael Clichy but he won't be doing that tomorrow afternoon as he picked up an ankle knock whilst on international duty with le France. I don't know about internationals, you can get all wound up about why this player isn't in their national side (as I used to regarding Wrighty and England) and then they get in their side and it's just headaches. They get injured, they have to travel all over the world, they get tired, they get demotivated or lazy, they lose form and then they go elsewhere.

That's a bit simplified I know. To boil it down further; the bottom line if you like, is that Keiran Gibbs seems certain to start tomorrow afternoon's match. I can't imagine that he will be in the team for long afterwards, but if he can continue in the vein of his embryonic yet impressive Arsenal career, he has a chance to keep Clichy's backside in bench warming mode.

So, no Bendtner, Eduardo, Almunia (fingers crossed) or Clichy. But Cesc Fabregas will return and Lukasz Fabianski has overcome his injury and is set to be included in tomorrow's squad. I'll be watching to see if he replaces Don Vito tomorrow. Aside from the pecking order, I don't think there's any real reason to displace the Italian Stallion, who has performed very well, but that's rarely stopped the gaffer in the past. As Alex Manninger can testify. But then Manuel Almunia is no David Seaman, he's not even a Jens Lehmann.

In the background, the intrigue level is starting to verge on the red side of things. Or red and white side of things. Silent Stanley has purchased another 90 shares, at £8,500 per share, taking him to 28.9% of all issued shares and just one single, solitary percent away from having to make a compulsory offer for all shares. It's funny, I've come to believe in Stan as a force for good, but I'm not sure I want this now. PH-W says he's relaxed about it and that he would welcome a takeover, but as we get further down this road, what else can he say? What should he say? What can he do now? I guess the doubts are bound to set in as the inevitable draws ever nearer, but it seems to me- and yes, it's been triggered by my current choice of literature- that no good can come out of one man owning the club, especially when we don't know what his intentions are.

I'd still rather him than the other fella, though.

Before we go any further, I'd just like to tell you- dear reader- that I don't feel very well today and that may affect the quality of today's blog. So, you know, you can choose to stop reading here or you can take a gamble and come with me on a (hopefully) magical mystery tour of the contents of my Arsenal fuelled mind. I don't know what's going to happen today, but I do know that I have given you fair warning.

It occurs to me today, indeed it occurs to me quite often, how lucky we are to have Arsène Wenger in charge. Some of you reading this will not like being reminded of it, so far we may seem from getting back to scaling such lofty peaks again, but when Mr Wenger had the temerity to suggest his Arsenal side was capable of going a season unbeaten in the autumn of 2002, he was laughed at. He was laughed at by most of the media, I'm sure there were many rival fans, even Arsenal fans, who thought he was mental and Football365 produced their famous "Comical Wenger t-shirt". Of course the t-shirt was made even more famous 18 months later when Arsène was walking around the Highbury pitch, soaking up the adulation as Arsenal did indeed complete the season as unbeaten Champions and spotted a fan with the t-shirt, which he was then presented with.

I mention this for two reasons, one is Diego Maradona's charmless outburst in front of the assembled media on qualifying for the World Cup Finals next summer.

"You lot take it up the arse... If the ladies will pardon the expression... people who have not supported me... can keep sucking."

I suppose that it was the Gob of God talking, as Maradona apparently grabbed his genitals before wandering off into the night. In some ways it would have been quite funny to see the boss react like that on that May day in 2004, although it certainly have been conduct unbecoming of an Arsenal manager. Satisfying himself with holding the t-shirt aloft as if it was his own personal trophy was more this wonderful man's style. 

The second reason I mentioned it, I guess, is to reiterate that in le boss we have a man who knows what he's doing, who is single minded of purpose and is capable of getting spectacular results. Even when it's most unexpected. But most of you reading this know that already.

Is it worth me even mentioning that Manchester City have been linked with a summer bid for Cesc Fabregas? Would that be the same Cesc Fabregas who just last summer described a possible move to Eastlands as "suicidal" for his football career? Well, just how many other Cesc Fabregases are out there with those from the Middle Eastlands watching his every move? Of course, Cesc- if he was to go and in my opinion there's no way he's going anywhere other than Catalonia when he leaves one day (when he's 35 and acheived all that he can with us)- wouldn't be the first footballer to change his mind. But when someone has the ability to analyse so intelligently why money is not the be all and end all of footballing success, it seems unlikely that one season is going to bring about a change of heart.

And, to quote Goodfellas's Paulie Cicero, "that's that".

Following his declaration of love for Tomas Rosicky on Arse.com yesterday, Cesc Fabregas has turned his admiring eye to the other Thomas, the man I believe will succeed him as club captain one day. Yes, the captain of Belgium and winner of the Arsenal Player of the Month award for September, is in line for a bit of back slapping today.

It's telling that Cesc spends most of his time lauding the Belgian's ability on the ball, describing him as "like one more midfielder". Obviously the Belgian can hit a ball, we've all seen that in the short time he's been with us, but it's his distribution from the back that gives those in midfield a bit of extra time on the ball that seems to be the main focus of appreciation. I guess it's a world away from those mindless long balls Kolo Toure used to hit and though Vermaelen shares Toure's predilection for bringing the ball forward, thus far it seems to be with much greater effect. The only downside to the Belgian's spectacular first two months with the club, and no new Arsenal signing has ever won the award in his first two months in the first team, is that it's difficult to see how things could possibly get any better for him.

Or is that a good thing?

Speaking of things getting better; Super Samir Nasri, conqueror of Manchester United just under a year ago, expects to be in contention for Arsenal's short trip across London to West Ham next weekend. Which definitely has to be a good thing. I think, as with Hleb before him, he divided opinions in his first season. For me, I saw a player with excellent ball retention skills and an eye for goal, albeit a player who was perhaps playing, to borrow a phrase from the manager "with the handbrake on". I think he had a good season and that was reflected when the AISA voted him third in their player of the season poll. But I think it's fair to expect more. Where he will fit in is food for thought, the manager was happy to play him as one of the defensive two behind Cesc as the season came to an end last year. Having started his Arsenal career as one of our wide options, it seems clear that, with the emphasis in midfield slightly altered, he provides an excellent alternative to either Rosicky or Cesc himself whilst also being able to play higher as part of the attacking three.

I'm looking forward to seeing him back.

Of course, one player who won't be coming back is my hero, Patrick Vieira. He ruled out a January move back to the Premier League and, I suppose, with our financial situation sure to have improved once more come summer, it's difficult to see why we'd go in for him in the summer. 

Once tonight is out of the way, we can look forward to a resumption of normal service and of course that begins with our first meeting with Birmingham City since Martin Taylor destroyed two years of Eduardo's career, Gael Clichy suffered seemingly the first in a long list of mental aberrations and Mike Dean- the referee that day- gave a soft penalty, the catalyst for collapse. I hope we kill them.

I just looked that up, by the way. Mike Dean, who'd have thought? So the man who turned down a stonewall penalty at Old Trafford for us just a couple of months back, before giving United a soft penalty the other way to deny us a just and righteous result has previous with us. We all remember the last minute penalty he gave against Clichy for his ball winning tackle, how many people remember the penalty he didn't give when Mr Adebayor's shirt was practically pulled off his back in that match? I don't like saying referee's are biased, but it seems to me that, er, Mike Dean may be biased indeed.

But I'm not bitter, oh no.

His mate Lee Probert, the 4th official on that farcicial afternoon in Manchester, will be the referee on Saturday. I'm sure I've said it before, but I don't think he's particularly competent either, so Saturday could be a bit of wild one.

I closed yesterday's blog talking about how anyone paying a visit to the Grove of late will have seen that Mr Gazidis is most definitely not all mouth and no trousers. The more astute amongst you may have noticed that I couldn't quite work out how to finish yesterday's blog and it just kind of ended, but that's not important right now.

When you go to the Grove on Saturday- I'm not, but I will be there for the Carling Cup game in two weeks- you will see a brand new mural embracing the stadium, it looks a little something like this:

As you can see, Dennis Bergkamp, Bob Wilson, Eddie Hapgood and Charlie George have joined Adams, Brady, Bastin and Henry in footballing, well Arsenal Stadium, immortality.

It's curious, I don't think anyone can dispute Bob Wilson's commitment to the Arsenal cause, having had the pleasure of meeting Bob I can personally say that not only would he bleed the proverbial red and white, but he is also a top man. But should he be on that wall instead of David Seaman, who served Arsenal for so long and with such success? There again, Dennis didn't feature on the first mural, did he? So perhaps there's time for old "Safe Hands" to take his place in the pantheon.

Elsewhere, not to dwell on it, but perhaps I was a bit harsh on Barcelona yesterday. Reading what their club and those associated with it went through under Franco, it certainly seems to me that if they are indeed "mes que un club", it's only because the Spanish authorities treated them so. Us Gooners have a bit of a persecution complex when it comes to referees, right? Well Barcelona once lost a match to Real Madrid 11-1. It was a game they went into for fear of their very existences, harshly treated by referees, constantly barracked by a partisan crowd and so they gave up trying when Benito was sent off for nothing more than being a bit of a star.

Reading further, it pleased to me to note that they lost out on Alfredo Di Stefano by trying to "lowball" his club. Though the fact that they lost out to Real Madrid I like less. Negotiations went on for ages until Madrid stepped in and well... the rest is history. So, despite continued pressure, Barça were unable to land their man. This didn't, however, stop the local press jumping the gun in announcing Di Stefano as a done deal. Old habits die hard... So, where yesterday, I was quite accepting of Arsenal and indeed Cesc Fabregas' fate, it now seems to me that when he goes, it will be under the best possible circumstances for this football club.

And I wonder too, if Cesc might not fancy doing something to render himself an Arsenal immortal before he leaves? The man himself is doing his utmost to render such talk premature, as it undoubtedly is, whether that's through his actions on the football pitch or in his public declarations. In celebrating his great mate Rosicky's return to the first team, he- consciously or not- echoes his manager in talking up the team spirit and saying this,

 "It's great to have him in the team; he's like a new signing."

Is that an early bid to be the man who replaces the boss when he eventually departs? Not likely, I think. I also think the boss has it spot on by saying he will not be the one to name his successor, but it's a measure of the influence Arsène has had at the club that such a story could even be considered as news. As he says himself, it's not his job- so why would he do it? There are those out there, no doubt, who feel the boss has had too much influence as it is. It seems to me that, as sad as the day will be when it comes, the best thing for everyone will be a clean break and a new start.

But we shouldn't have to think about that for a while yet and yes, I am assuming it's just a coincidence that this story, which prepares the psychological landscape for his eventual departure , comes justa day or two after Gazidis' "Second place is not good enough" rallying cry...

Hasta mañana (with apologies for the Barcelona diversion).