Well, seeing as I didn't quite make it to a computer before this afternoon's game in Manchester, there is only one place to start and that is to congratulate Manchester United on title number 18. The fuckers. I guess today was a microcosm of why they are the champions, whilst we are, to all intents and purposes, nowhere. We absolutely dominated today's match in a way we never got close to managing in either Champions League tie, yet like the first leg of that match, we rarely looked like scoring. Often the final ball is the problem, for me today, it was the ball before the final ball. That being said, that Cesc's 86th minute shot against the post was the closest we came, was down to a very defensive display from a team who only needed one point to be able to celebrate in front of their own fans. Their fans. Their fans who don't deserve the success they have seen. On the day they should have been looking forward to another title procession, they couldn't resist a little blast of that disgraceful song about our manager. Scumbags.

So, no Mickey Thomas moment for us today. That we finished the game with Arshavin, Cesc, Nasri, van Persie and Song all in the book after a game that never really matched the intensity of fixtures past, was a minor miracle. It says much about the top red carder in the Premier League, Mike Dean, to me. Arshavin's card in particular was ridiculous, at one point I said to Jo there was no way we'd finish with 11 players on the pitch.

The right team was picked today, with Ade left out again (we'll get to him in a bit), in the right positions and credit must be paid to the team for not allowing United one shot on target during the game. When, I wonder, was the last time that happened at Old Trafford? I thought the substitutions were positive. Though I still think if you have an attacking trio of Theo, Robin and Nick, Nick has to be central with Robin right and Theo left. Some day soon, maybe...

Funny to see Cesc shaking a smiling Fergie's hand at the end there. If a pizza really was thrown way back when and it really was Cesc, that seems to have been forgotten now.

Emmanuel Adebayor has been talking to the BBC and is seemingly as frustrated with us as we are with him. He's quite right when he says that if a paper says that Milan want to buy him, then that isn't his fault (unless he's been for a cheeky gelati with them) but we all remember how he told a press conference he was staying with Arsenal last summer only to tell Sky Sports News not half an hour later that he would decide on his future in the next week. At the end of that saga, of course, he did stay, but promised to win the fans back with hard work. Perhaps he has suffered in front of a totally rebuilt midfield this season, something else we'll come back to, but even so this hasn't happened. To the point now that he realises that his song will never be sung with the same gusto as it once was. Maybe it will, one day but not by us and the player who once told Wenger he'd come for free has only himself to blame. In the week that he's been linked with a move to Chelsea, the situation has echoes of the Ashley Cole saga- without the car crashing business, of course.

And so to the Arsenal TV broadcast of Question Time. Actually, it's called Wenger's View, but again, in a week where Margaret Beckett was heckled on Question Time as the expense scandal continues, let's go with it.

We've all read that it was a stormy old affair, players being accused of not caring, too old, too young and Wenger of being irritable and seemingly at the end of his tether. Well, the propaganda wing at Arsenal managed to turn this event into something... positive, I guess is the word, for all involved. No mention of geriatric centre backs, thankfully there were none on the pitch today either, no real irritation displayed by the boss in an impassioned defence of his team, himself and his "shared vision" with CEO, Ivan Gazidis.

The boss pointed out he has had to completely rebuild an exceptional midfield due to the departures of Flamini and Hleb and the unforseen season long absence of Rosicky. He didn't really explain why, with those departures added to Gilberto and Diarra, only Nasri and Ramsey came in initially. There is  money to spend and he will be buying. In what areas he didn't say, but I'd suggest it's reasonable to assume we won't be seeing anymore playmakers coming in.

In response to a question about the defence, he managed to raise a few laughs by forgetting for a moment that the left back of the 2004 team was Ashley Cole, though he also forgot that Martin Keown did play a part in that season, particularly early on. As Ruud van Nistelrooy will remember. He observed also that defence begins from the front and I think this ties in with one of the frustrations with Ade this season. Nobody really minds a sitter being missed at times, especially if it isn't costly, but a lack of effort is never to be tolerated.

He turned a question about a perceived lack of leadership in the team on its head by saying that 9 different captains this season suggest we have captains everywhere. I suggest that it is just further reinforcement of this idea of shared leadership. It doesn't neccessarily mean that the person wearing the armband is a leader, it's symbolisism. Is that a word? It is now. He completely agreed that the team should be acknowledging the "fantastic" away support after defeats, apologising for the fact that they don't and later went onto say that he feels this young team will grown into leaders.

Mr Wenger then went onto say that he was conscious of the need for greater physicality within the team. I have to say today's game showed that it doesn't have to be the team with bigger shoulders muscling you out, I thought we competed really well with United on that front today. perhaps Chelsea are a different matter, but as the man himself observed, they're a different matter for everybody.

 "The future of this club is great... The basics are right, let's try to correct what doesn't work"

Two quotes taken a touch out of context, but it seems to me that there is an acknowledgement that some things have to change- the defence hopefully- but the club is generally "on the right track". I think, if you factor in a fully fit and ready to go Rosicky and Eduardo for next season, money spent well on a replacement for a man seemingly at the end of his Arsenal road in Adebayor- perhaps we don't even need to spend the money there with the forwards already at the club and the boss can make the adjustments needed in defence then he is, very possibly, right. I'd still like to see another central midfielder and defender in, but it does sound, at the moment, like this may well happen. But perhaps I've been swayed by the propaganda machine...

Right, I'm off to enjoy what's left of my Saturday night.

12.01pm- Arrive at The Rocket. No Gabs; keep headphones on (Doves' album, Kingdom of Rust), keep reading book (To Reach The Clouds by Philippe Petit).

12.10pm- Gabs arrives.

12.11pm- We head into Rocket and buy 2 pints of Grolsch.

12.45pm- Having finished aforementioned pints, head over to the Grove.

12.50pm- Struggle with Club Level card reader

12.55pm- Seeing us wandering around clearly looking lost, a gentleman in a suit directs us to a bar I realise is the 49'ers. We go through a corridor featuring various photos from that era. Unfortunately, it's quite dark in the corridor, so, no usable photos.

1pm- Purchase 2 pints of Kronenbourg

1.15pm- Finish pints and head to seats just above and to the left of Arsène's dugout position, where we say hi to Gabs' work colleague, Jason- a Boro fan- and his companion for the day. An unnamed Manchester United supporter.. I make sure I take the seat furthest away from the enemy in our midst.

1.26- The Wonder of You is struck up. The team do not appear, however, until the DJ has started playing the super crap We Will Rock You, by Queen.

1.30ish- Arsenal begin the game kind of on the front foot, with Cesc ahead of Samir Nasri, dominating possession but not doing a lot with it. In truth they don't have to as Boro, despite the massed ranks at the back seem even sleepier than we are.

1.40ish- Realise that we are sat behind and just to the left of an Arsenal legend. No, not Frank McLintock, the woman who can usually be found shouting "Come on youuuu Gunners, come on Arsenal!" Her repertoire has now developed to include songs about Andrey Arshavin- which got her a round of applause from the "fan club" but she seems to sing songs nobody else knows the words to. Or is everyone just really quiet?

By now, Arsenal have repeatedly worked the ball into good positions wide, but Theo seems to be having one of those days where he is passing on the reponsiblity of being decisive. After a few attempt to work the ball into the area and decent shooting positions, and a few Boro blocks. The goal comes and it's a bit of a cracker.

Arshavin bursts down the left and cuts the ball back, running in, Cesc smashes the ball first time into the far corner. Apparently Bendtner was offside in front of the keeper, but I wonder how much of it Brad Jones would have seen anyway.

One always looks like it's going to be enough and still, in their perilous position, Boro can't lift themselves from their lethargy. Eboue, just for me I think, throws in a little dive having already gone down very easily in an earlier challenge. Gabs goes to the toilet just before half time and Jason says to me "You wouldn't think we were fighting for our lives here, would you?" I have to agree. One decision from Foy to award Boro a free kick even has Jason shaking his head in disbelief.

 Half time. I head for the loo and then Gabs and I head for the complimentary bar. One down. Two down. And then we belatedly realise that the second half has indeed started. There was no announcement and the plasmas were, for some reason, showing Formula 1. Not the game. That said, the fact that the area has emptied might have clued us in. So we missed three minutes (I know, corporate sell out!) and, watching the highlights later on, a chance for Aliadiere that he couldn't take. In addition, Djourou who had been warming up for much of the first half had, thank God, replaced the liability that is Sylvester.

Four pints in, I must confess the second half passed by in a blur but as Diaby and Adebayor prepared to come on, a lovely pass from Eboue put Fabregas in, Jones did a "Fabianski" and Cesc, who had taken a couple of rough challenges beforehand, went round him and slotted the ball into an empty net.

That was Cesc's last action of the game and Walcott went with him. Ade came on and, hanging around on the left wing,  didn't do very much at all. Well, except give the ball away. I guess you could argue the game was won, but in that case, surely we could have seen something of Carlos Vela, who would have been out to impress?

Diaby, producing a nice piece of footwork as I recall, skipped clear in the box late on, but hit the side netting from a tight angle and that, for me, was pretty much it. The whistle went. We took another threee steps to securing fourth, Boro took another step to the Championship. On this showing, you'd have to say it's where they deserve to be.

Despite the invitation to stay behind and relax whilst the crowds dispersed, we decided to join the throng in the afternoon sunshine and headed to the Arsenal Tavern for a couple before making our way up Blackstock Road to the Twelve Pins for one more. A quick wander up Stroud Green Road for a pizza and, in Gabs' case another beer, and then it was time to head home.

8pm- Arrive home and carry on process of trying to sober up.

11am today- Get a text from Gabs telling me he didn't make work and has to give up beer. Lightweight.

I, for the record, did make it in to work. All in all, it was a great day out, for which I have to thank Gabs profusely (profuse thanks, Gabs) though the "corporate" experience was a bit of a weird one. Not many people joining with "Stand up if you hate Tottenham". I'm not sure how good the VFM would be had we stumped up full whack for the tickets. The free half time beer was nice and the view was cracking- maybe it was worth it just for that actually, but essentially, for me at least, the experience can be summed up as Kronenbourg, carpets and a lot less crowded.

Some observations, then, this afternoon. An afternoon, incidentally that sees me back at work for the first time in two weeks (boo!), but with tickets for Massive Attack's September show at the Brixton Academy in the bag (yayyy!):

Alex Ferguson will be a very happy man this afternoon, here's why:

Liverpool's title challenge has all but ended on the back the Anfield thriller last night.

Andrey Arshavin will not be playing in the Champions League semi final against Manchester United

The majority of our "defence" playing last night will be playing in the aforementioned Champions League semi final with Manchester United.

If you can't enjoy a game like last night, in my view, you have no business watching football. Disappointing as it was to concede another injury time equaliser this season, definitive proof if it was needed that this Arsenal defence needs drilling, it doesn't come close to the "we've blown it!" feelings at the end of the Tottenham and Aston Villa games. certainly, it's difficult to imagine that Liverpool will be bringing out a dvd of this game any time soon. Though, perhaps someone should.

I guess the thing is that Liverpool did come flying out of the traps and it was only Fabianski's heroics that kept us in it in the first half. To use a boxing analogy, Liverpool shuffled and jabbed and jabbed some more and then, out of nowhere Fabregas and Arshavin combined to smash them with an uppercut on the 36th minute flooring them. If we could hold out till half time, I felt we'd have a chance.

We did, but promptly Liverpool, having raised themselves off the canvas, delivered a 1-2 of their own first through Torres and then Benayoun.

Slumping in front of the telly, I felt something had to change. We were told, when Arshavin signed, that perhaps we didn't realise quite how good this man is. When he took adavantage of Aurelio to power home a tremendous strike, rightly compared by the Arseblogger to Thierry Henry's Man City missile and then, displaying a poacher's instinct to hit through Reina for his hat trick, perhaps football watchers the country over began to realise. Was it a decisive 1-2 combination? Not quite.

Torres, almost immediately, produced a carbon copy of his goal in the Champions League quarter final last year, shielding the ball from Sylvestre before smashing the ball on the turn, via Fabianski's outstretched hand into the corner.

As the game opened up and Arsenal began to find spaces that hadn't been available to them before Walcott replaced Denilson, the game looked as if it could go either way. Song played Bendtner in who produced a lovely finish for 4-3. Except that the linesman's flag had gone up. Incorrectly, in my view. But then, like Steven Gerrard admitted at half time, I'm biased.

Digressing slightly, I found Gerrard's comments, not to say his slouched, legs akimbo out Redkapping Jamie (he even threw in a couple of "top, top player"s) position, somewhat odd. Ok, you'll always say that a marginal decision should be given your way, but to say the officials had been brave in allowing a perfectly legitimate goal just because it was in front of the Kop? Alright, Stevie, whatever. 

Anyway, the pace of Walcott, as in that Champions League quarter final last year, made a telling contribution as the game entered its' last minute. Bursting clear from a corner; he streaked down our right, the excitement in the voice of Martin Tyler as he realised that Arshavin was charging through the midfield was clear, found by a perfect ball by Theo, Andrey smashed home a great goal and- this time- I allowed myself to celebrate, jumping on top of Jo, possibly nearly half killing her. But what's this? Another Howard Webb special? Five minutes of injury time. Andy Gray called it. It wasn't over.

Yossi Benayoun, with two minutes left, took advantage of yet another Arsenal failure to clear their lines to net the 8th goal of an extraordinary game. But this late goal, unlike so many other Liverpool goals against Arsenal, did not produce an orgy of Anfield delight. There was still time for Cesc to pop in what might have been a winning goal, had the linesman's flag not gone up again. Correct decision? Not having seen the replay, I don't know.

I think a winner for us would have been harsh on Liverpool so that's why I'm not too down about the failure to win, well that and we're essentially just playing for pride now. That said, the failure to close this game out, the reduction of our defence to rubble are symptomatic of something not being right in defence. We can put it down to Gallas not being there, and he is a big miss. But he was in the team when we shipped four against Spurs, he was there when we did the same at Anfield last season. Would Djourou have made a difference? I'm inclined to believe that Djourou and Gallas would have made a better fist of defending then their team mates but who knows for sure? I do know that if our defence was half as well drilled as the Graham era, we would have won that game last night. Perhaps, if we saw anything last night, it's that Adebayor and van Persie are not the be all and end all of our attack, that it can be built around Arshavin and perhaps we could sell Ade and spend that money, some of it at least, on defenders that can, you know, defend.

As it was, at the final whistle rather than scenes of mass celebration, the Liverpool players went down on their knees. They knew that they had to win this game and despite Steven Gerrard's belief that the point won could be "massive", I think that's more wishful thinking than anything. In many ways, this game summed up all that is very good about Arsenal. And all that is very bad (has Bacary Sagna ever looked so ordinary? Was he still ill?). But we can leave the bad for another day.  As, I suspect, the boss may well be doing.

I feel sorry for Arshavin, four goals at the home of one of the best teams in Europe, and despite his Roy of the Rovers style heroics, the team couldn't close out the victory. I wonder what he thought, sitting in the dressing room after the game last night. Actually, I don't wonder, because I know he was "disappointed"  the team didn't win. But I do wonder what the rest of the Premier League thought of his display. No point on looking back on it now, but imagine what might have been with him in the squad in August. Imagine what could be to come from next August. 

In the St James Park fixture last season, Steven Taylor was at the centre of a spirited performance from the home team as they recovered well from having conceded a 4th minute strike from Emmanuel Adebayor to bag a draw. Last night, Taylor was again at the centre of things as Arsenal continued their recent good form with a well deserved victory on Tyneside.

The legend that is Rachid and I were talking after work on Friday evening, the end of a particularly crap week for me, and came to the conclusion that as long as we won yesterday evening, whatever happened in today's clash between Liverpool and Aston Villa could be seen as a bonus. Liverpool win and, with our now superior goal difference, we're effectively 4 points ahead of Villa, a draw would see us just seven points behind Liverpool, whilst maintaining a gap ahead of Villa and a Villa win would draw them level on points but miles behind on that goal difference, whilst Liverpool would only be 6 points ahead. Which is more than manageable in my opinion. The important thing was to make sure that we won.

Buoyed by the home crowd, Newcastle went right at us from the off, with Mr Diddly diddly dee, as me and my friends like to call him (Damien Duff in case you hadn't guessed), to the fore. He wanted a penalty, which would have been a soft award after Nasri eased him off the ball. He didn't get one. Not long afterwards, a penalty was awarded as Almunia's historical weakness in claiming crosses came back to bite us on the bum. Happily, one of his more celebrated traits came to the fore as he easily claimed Oba Martins weak penalty, nearly headbutting Kolo Toure in celebration. Martins went close again late on in the first half, whilst Lovenkrands had a couple of decent opportunities.

Despite Jon Champion's (him again!) continued bleatings about what might have been had the penalty gone in, we had a couple of decent chances ourselves. Robin played in Arshavin whose goalbound shot was blocked by Steven Taylor, van Persie himself had a shot blocked by the head of Taylor as well, having taken the pass down beautifully, seeing an attempted chip saved by Steve Harper. That was, from a Newcastle point of view, the good side of Steven Taylor. In my opinion though, he was very lucky to still be on the pitch, or at least not carded for a deliberate fist in Arshavin's face on the touchline- doesn't he have history for this kind of thing? Arshavin picked himself up and minutes later, having left two Newcastle players on the deck like it was as easy as taking candy from a baby, Arshavin cracked a shot onto the top of the bar from distance.

The second half began at a slightly less frenetic pace than the first, no hint of what was to follow apparent. Ten minutes in though, Newcastle's other Taylor (Ryan), found the excellent Gael Clichy far too much to handle. Apparently, shirt tugging and wrestling opponents into headlocks are not bookable offences as long as you're the home side. Nevertheless, we were given a free kick out on the left, which Arshavin put on Nick Bendtner's head and he put it into the top corner. At which point I left the room to grab a celebratory Budvar. Before "It's up for grabs nowwww!" haded faded away, imagine my shock to return and see that Oba Martins had benefitted from a couple of generous, Michael Thomas style ricochets, slack defending from Gallas and slid home an immediate equaliser. Shit!

Steven Taylor went down, moments later, with an ankle problem and went off for treatment. Not for nothing does Arsène Wenger prize intelligence in his footballers, Abou Diaby, almost immediately realizing there was now a wide open space at the heart of the Newcastle defence, played the ball into van Persie, carried on running, got the return pass and smashed it into the roof of the net to restore the advantage. Cue Michael Owen, the thief of Cardiff 2001, replacing Taylor. That substitution was quickly rendered academic as van Persie, further exploiting the space afforded him, played in Samir Nasri for an excellent finish and his seventh of the season.

After that, we could have had more, Bendtner missed a header it seemed easier to score with, Diaby smashed the ball against the far post and Robin managed to mess up two gilt edged opportunities. Not that it affected his man of the match award, mind.

I questioned on Friday if we would turn up ready to fight for the right to play and I have to say that I thought we weathered Newcastle's first half storm magnificently. Ok, we got a little lucky with Taylor being off the field for our second goal, but you could argue he should have been off the field anyway, without the right to be substituted either. Our derided, maligned little team is building up a nice little head of steam- too late for a title challenge, even as Manyoo went down to defeat again, but with Chelsea falling to Tottenham, perhaps a place in the top three, is not yet beyond us. 

It's been widely reported this morning too, that Theo's injury is not as bad as originally feared and that he might be back in a couple of weeks- ie our next home match with Manchester City. I think you'll all agree that's good news.

It's been interesting to note the reaction of the media and football fans populating the F365 mailbox to the draw for the Champions League. It seems widely assumed that United, who perhaps are beginning to feel the strain of their 5 pronged assault, would walk a Champions League encounter with us. Well, they've only recorded one win against us since we moved home and that was due to some generous officiating at Old Trafford last season. Let these people underestimate this football team, now growing by the week, at their peril.

We crossed fingers, we crossed toes, we prayed to Gods we don't really believe in and some of us may even have sacrificed a goat or two. The result?

A result! 3-1 to the Arsenal! Hurray, huzzah, break out the champagne! Ok, so it was only West Brom, but at the weekend it was "only" Fulham, the week before, "only" Sunderland. A win, any win, is to be celebrated at this point in time. And three goals! Well, we're being spoilt there, aren't we?

Are you still reading? OK, cool, I'll get serious now.

Nick Bendtner bagged two very nice goals, the first kind of a Thierry Henry goal but from the other flank and with none of the effortless grace of the frenchman, whilst his second he took very well. He controlled a (collectors item) long ball from captain Kolo that actually found its' target, on his thigh before smashing it in on the run. A very nice goal indeed. And by all accounts, a very good performance from the Dane, who is now in double figures for the season. He might have had a hat trick, had he not taken over from RvP as the man who likes to hit the woodwork.

I suggested yesterday that Arshavin might be in need of a breather, but he didn't get one. He played the full ninety playing off Bendtner, and it was his expert delivery from a free kick that Kolo capitalised on to restore the lead obtained by Bendtner's first goal. That we lost the lead in the first place- irony of ironies the team that can't score doesn't concede, the team that does score... well, it was inevitable, wasn't it?

Inevitable maybe, avoidable, definitely. Why anyone would put Emmanuel Eboue on the end of their wall is beyond me and it was his stepping out of the wall a fraction- yes, only a fraction, but why?- that led to the equalising goal for the home side. Thankfully, the captain's intervention meant that this mistake only proved a minor, irritating, footnote to a game that will have provided some relief to the manager, players and supporters of the Arsenal.

So relaxed did the manager feel that he could afford to continue Aaron Ramsey's integration into the first team set up by giving him the last quarter of the game in place of Eboue, whilst Fran Merida made what I make his Premier League debut for us, replacing Samir Nasri with seven minutes left. Perhaps the more important susbstitution was Abou Diaby replacing Kolo Toure at half time. Kolo has "moving pain" in a calf strain and, I imagine, is sharing a treatment table with William Gallas right now. So Song reverted to centre back with Djourou and it seems that after a period out of the side, the Swiss may get another run in the team now. Hopefully one of the two senior players will be back to play with him soon.

Too much alcohol and not enough sleep. So I resisted the temptation to post my thoughts on the North London derby when I arrived back from Leeds via Angel's Lord Wolsey pub yesterday evening. Had I written something, it would probably have been slightly hysterical. Instead, I come here today slightly calmer, but still feeling that yesterday we saw definitive proof of why Emmanuel Eboue, despite the Arsenal PR offensive and despite the protestations from the manager, will never have it in him to be an Arsenal player worth the shirt on his back, why he is an accident waiting to happen.

I know I can go overboard on him, I know that he isn't the only Arsenal player in the past, or even recent past, who has had disciplinary issues, but his sending off yesterday in the most pressurised of environments was not a sending off as a result of a poorly timed tackle, it was a result of blind stupidity and petulance. There can not be an Arsenal supporter watching the game who did not see it coming after he had talked his way into a first booking, I wonder if the players felt the same. I wonder, too, what the manager made of it all. Was it part of a hysterical overreaction to his disallowed "goal"? Whatever it was, I hope that it was the last time we witness this individual in an Arsenal shirt. Listening to the two guys chatting behind me, one observed that he would only get a one game ban as the dismissal was for two yellows, the other asked if we could appeal to get the suspension raised to ten games. Can anyone think of another player within the squad we would like to see treated so? No, of course you can't.

Although his early bath and the enforced substitution of Adebayor limited the boss' options to try and turn the game later on, the nine men left to battle on in his absence performed admirably and, for me, restored a bit of local pride after the ludicrous 4-4 draw last year, though I don't expect to see a dvd of this game any time soon. The defence, particularly Gallas and Sagna, coped very well, whilst Almunia was like a rock behind them. Alex Song put in quite the performance and should have capped it with a late goal. I thought Samir Nasri showed a willingness to accept the ball and take responsibility, whilst RvP worked hard with the pinball wizard up top.

Harry Redknapp can say Tottenham dominated, but even with their numerical advantage, I can only recall a couple of occasions where Almunia was made to work- his save from Modric at the end of a frantic ten minutes sealing a point for Arsenal that, bottom line, was probably not good enough in terms of the season, but I'm sure we'd have all taken it as Eboue made his long walk in the first half.

Next up is Cardiff in a week's time. I'm hopeful that not only Arshavin, but Eduardo too, get through enough training to start that game. It would be quite the lift for us supporters, the players and the manager too.

What a day yesterday. In some respects, having the day off proved to be a touch unhealthy as I spent an inordinate amount of time glued to Sky Sports News as their reporters guided us through a- I say "us", you were watching too, weren't you?- right rollercoaster that was deadline day, Arsenal style. As you know, the early reports yesterday were that the deal was off. This was contradicted in fairly short order by the news that- unbelievably- Arsenal and Zenit had agreed a fee. Piece by agonising piece, the deal began to come into focus, personal terms were announced by Sky Sports to have been agreed with about two hours left till the window shut. This might have seemed unlikely earlier on with one of Arshavin's people, according to the Guardian, deriding Arsenal's financial package as good enough for a "16 year old from Africa", but obviously, it was resolved. Medical passed, the only obstacle left was the loyalty bonus Zenit had paid out to Arshavin when he signed his last contract with them. They wanted the money back.

It was about three minutes to 5 when SSN announced that Arsenal had sent the required paperwork to the Premier League. But that wasn't the end of the story, as half an hour later, Zenit were claiming the deal had collapsed. Even Arsène assuring the world, well SSN, that the transfer would go ahead to be announced today, has not entirely quelled fears that the deal will be called off. Today's papers, however, and radio in Moscow have claimed a done deal with the payment issue resolved, a fee of ten million quid being paid out initially and Andrei, expecting to wear the number 23, coming in on about 70 grand a week. So hopefully, we'll get some positive news today, and we'll all be spared the sight of Eboue flopping about like a dead fish on the wing for the rest of the season. And that for me, is the crux of this matter.

Yes, we needed central midfield reinforcements and, frankly, it's unbelivable to me that we haven't got any- there again, if the players weren't available at prices we were willing to pay, then you wonder what else we could have done. Nonetheless, people complain about the lack of squad depth and then say, well what happens when Rosicky and Walcott return to full fitness? Well, this presupposes both Nasri and Arshavin will stay fit and in form. This presupposes that both Rosicky and Walcott will return 100% before the end of the season and it also presupposes that the boss has no other plan for Walcott than the wing. It also forgets that most of us were saying that there's no way Theo should be playing week in, week out just because there was nobody else.

Look yonder on the horizon... with the postponement I mentioned yesterday of tonight's FA Cup replay at home to Cardiff now set for Monday, 16th February (thank God for that, Valentine's Day plans have not been ruined), we have the rest of the week to prepare for the North London derby. One would reasonably expect the horrible, gnome faced, Robbie Keane, with failure ringing in his ears, to resume hostilities with us. One more reason for us to go there and rip them apart- can we? I hope so. Tomorrow will probably see my last blog before that game as a sentimental trip to Leeds (is that an oxymoron? I don't know) beckons and, what with being up north, I can't be sure of internet access till Sunday. Hopefully I'll get back in time to get to a pub.

Tomorrow, y'all.

I woke up this morning and, rather sadly, pretty much the first thing I did was turn on Sky Sports News. Luckily, I did it close enough to the hour that I caught the headline story: Andrei "The Outcast" Arshavin is on a plane to London. He might even have landed by now, anyway the reporter giving us the news said that he had spoken to a nervous Arshavin yesterday and seemed to be of the opinion that, finally, the transfer is a done deal. Things ain't like they used to be, huh? I remember the news of Bergkamp being linked with Arsenal, thinking to myself "nah!", then glueing myself to Teletext for two days until, at long last, London Tonight carried pictures of the messiah arriving to deliver us all from long ball evil. Two days. Now, an Arsenal transfer saga rumbles on for months. Anyway, he looks to be coming and I'm glad. Glad, glad, glad.

One player who apparently won't be joining us is Matthew Upson. Centre back for today's visitors, Wessssam and, of course, one of Arsène's earliest and failed experiments in the joys of youth. I always felt Matt was a little unlucky not to make it with us, injuries at the wrong times and behind Stepanovs and then Cygan, whenever one of Adams, Keown and, later on, Campbell were unavailable. But then, maybe it was just down to the fact that he was young and english that I was sorry to see him go. Anyway, he's done well for himself since then, maybe, with Kolo falling out of favour, Gallas becoming a mentallist and Silvestre just not being up to very much at all, he would be a good signing but I don't see it happening. 

Arsène has spoken about contract negotiations with our man on fire. Apparently, they were due to begin two months back, but were postponed due to the boardroom reshuffle. With eighteen months remaining on his current deal, this is a situation I think everybody would like to see tied up quickly. For me, whatever my criticisms of Robin, one thing you can't dispute is the fact that he cares about this club and wants to win things with this club. So, I hope that he can reach agreement with the club quickly and get on with his football. Wenger makes a good point about the time invested in both him and Theeeeoooo, I just hope that doesn't mean the board think they can take the piss out of these guys who have developed immeasurably over the last year or so.

On that note, it was interesting to read, earlier in the week, Arsène's quote about making money for the club being "most important". Some fans, I know, have taken that to mean it's more important to line the club's coffers than build a team. I think it's more to do with ensuring the club is on a secure financial footing and not at risk, in these heightened times, of doing a "Leeds". I don't believe the manager thinks for a second that money should be the be all and end all. After all, taking the "doomsday" scenario of not qualifying for the Champions League as an example, we would lose at least £40m in tv money, players like Cesc and Robin may well consider whether they'd be better off elsewhere and surely crowds will shrink. Ok, so the wage bill would come down, but so would the revenue. For me, we must qualify. We can begin that process this afternoon.

On various Arsenal related websites and forums, a consensus appears to be forming, the current Wenger boys being compared to the squad that George Graham had in his last years at Highbury. The accusation being that, like Graham before him and Emperor Nero before anyone else, the boss is fiddling whilst (north) London is burning. Personally, I think that's a bit of an over reaction, but if it's true, then does that mean Arshavin is Arsène Wenger's version of Glenn Helder? I was at Helder's debut at home to Nottingham Forest and, whatever he did- or didn't do- for the club following that game, it was an excellent debut. A breath of fresh air as Gooners reeled from the news of "Gadaffi"'s sacking. I still have that night's programe, complete with GG's programme notes.

Is this the beginning of a call to sack the gaffer? No. It's the beginning of an observation that even with things being as bad as they are, we've been in worse positions. Namely in 1995. Okay, the defence was top quality, and we had Wrighty and we had the reborn Merson person, but we didn't have much else. The squad today is missing a raft of top quality players that would have walked into the 95 "vintage", albeit perhaps not if George was managing them! By way of an example, Chris Kiwomya scored the winning goal against Forest...

Anyway that was then and this is now. Today it was reported that a work permit had been secured in advance of the proposed/anticipated/unneccessary (delete according to your point of view) transfer of Andrei Arshavin. But the gaffer has come out relatively quickly to damp down the fires of expectation. There was also talk of Manchester City coming back in with a £12m bid for Kolo, who was relegated to the bench on Wednesday night- which I suppose you could take as further confirmation of the Ivorian's decline in standing. However, and if you haven't heard this before you might be in for a shock, so I hope you're sitting down... Mikael Silvestre is injured and won't be available for another two or three weeks. At least. I bet you're reeling from that eh? And gutted too, I should think. That seems to be the only update in the way of team news for tomorrow, the boss has said he will make changes- though not too many. I hope whatever he does, it restores some pace, mobility and intelligence to the side, who AM I talking about?

I mentioned the Merse earlier and here is a man who normally reserves anything nice he has to say about us for his column in the official magazine, but he points out here that all is not lost for us yet. He also picks up on a belief I have had for a while and half articulated here, that both Chelsea and Liverpool are vulnerable at the moment. One or both is certain to drop points this weekend and so if we can win at home to Hammers, and whatever their form we should win, we will close the gap down again. On the Merse, it was funny to see him talking about Liverpool's game against Wigan whilst they were 1-0 up and saying how defensive they were. That for me is the reason why Liverpool will not only fail to win the title, but are the most vulnerable to us.

I know this is old news, but I just wanted to congratulate Eduardo on his return to the Croatia national squad, I think we're all looking forward to seeing him in the red and white (or yellow and blue) as soon as possible.

I said yesterday was the beginning of a sequence of must win games. It didn't quite go to plan, really did it? Had it not been for a worthy addition to RvP's personal canon of wonder goals, Arsenal would have succumbed to a defeat leaving them looking over their shoulder at Everton in 6th and 6 points behind 4th place Aston Villa. As it is, we're merely five points behind Aston Villa and our fate is a long way from being in our own hands. I must confess, dear reader, that I'm worried about where this team will finish this season. Although, if we can garner enough points, I'm convinced Liverpool are there for the taking.

I know we have Walcott, Eduardo, Cesc and Rosicky to return and they can only help our cause, but we don't know exactly when Cesc and Tomas will be back, which leaves the task of reinvigorating our attacking play, as I type, on the shoulders of Theo and Eduardo. After a year out, how much can reasonably expect from Eduardo? After four months out, is it reasonable to expect Theo, who seems to have become a much better player in his absence, to return to the side and take the mantle?

It is for that reason, that whatever our worries about the state of central midfield, our the central defence, or the form of Gael Clichy, that I think signing Andrei Arshavin is so important. The midfield needs an injection of quality that isn't currently available to the manager. If Arshavin, and the deal is 90% done acccording to the boss, comes in, our wide options become varied and should be adjusted on a game to game basis without a big drop in quality. As it is, at present, we are seeing the likes of Eboue and Denilson feature there and whatever their qualities as footballers are, they are not what we require in our wide midfielders. I don't understand how the manager can play Denilson wide. It's like a rerun of the deployment of Cesc 3 years ago. That didn't work, no matter how good Cesc is as a footballer, a winger he ain't. He had better players to play with then as well. It might not be an option to explore when playing away at your (ouch) nearest rivals, but I really want to see Carlos Vela tried on the wing. With his pace and trickery, he would surely offer more than any other option we've got at the moment.

I said it yesterday, I shudder to think where we would be without Robin at the moment, the man is on fire and, call me naive, I don't think that, as Myles Palmer suggests, it's to do with playing for a contract. I think it's to do with Robin beginning to realise his full potential, it's to do with him playing at 100% and not having to recover from injury every 5 minutes and, perhaps most importantly, it's to do with him relishing in becoming the team's talisman. Robin, Robin, Robin, how could I ever have doubted you? His strike partner cuts an interesting figure at the moment, without the goal out of nothing qualities of Robin, and starved of quality service in the absence of Cesc, Ade seems to be turning up for his appearance bonus. I don't know, I do know that after the summer shenanigans, Ade was expected to work hard to win us back. Has he done this? I'm don't think he has, really.

For those of you hoping for better things and thinking about happier times, perhaps Arse.com can interest you in this?:

Part of me prefers the Nike version, and then I look at the canon, with the balls and the JVC logo and I think "Ah, memories!" I'll probably buy it.

Rejuvenated West Ham are up next...