Life has a habit of following you around, doesn't it? As the Metropolitan line tube was arriving at Wembley Park last night, I overheard a group of northerners talking about football. One of them was being ever so slightly condescending about the Arsenal "Invincibles". When did they ever retain the title, he wanted to know. I had to point out to him that football didn't begin in 1990 and that we'd done it "three times". It is, of course only twice, that we retained the title as part of the 30's hat-trick, but I had a point to make.

The conversation continued with and without me and then the guy said something about it being a sad day for football when Thierry took Cliff Bastin's record- "Wrighty's", I interjected and then we got off the tube and made our way to Wembley Arena for the Arctic Monkeys gig, which was breathtakingly good in parts and a little slapdash in others. It's been a while since I've been so far away from a band, seated as we were in row U of the block closest to the back of the stage. Anyway, duties dispatched for the evening, the closing track 505 gave way to the theme music from the Wire (which was proper weird) and then we had a synchronised slip down beer sodden steps those further damaging my right ankle. So we headed home feeling like we'd been part of a mosh pit that we'd been able to look down on and be thankful for the seats we had- Alex Turner even stopping proceedings early on Strummer style when spotting some fighting going down.

It's ironic that that bloke was talking about it being a sad day for football when Thierry... because that seems to be what everyone's talking about today. Gabs the part time Gooner texting me to say that Thierry let himself down last night, and he is by no means alone in his opinions. But, surely some of the guys absolutely slating Thierry today should know better. Yes, it was a blatant handball, accident or no, but I don't remember Michael Owen being similarly chided for the blatant dive versus Argentina in 2002. I don't remember Rooney being taken to task for either of his dives against us in 2004 and earlier this year. Diving is not the same as handball, this is true. But they are both instances of cheating, and you're either against it, or you're for it in all its forms. The only distinction here seems to be that cheating is ok, unless it's an Arsenal associated player doing it- that sounds like I condone a Gooner doing it, I absolutely don't. I just want the same standards to apply to everyone. When wankers like Tony Cascarino have penned character assassinations on the likes of Didier Drogba, currently representing the club Cascarino is most associated with, then come and have a go at Arsenal idols. Until then you are morally bankrupt and every word you say is, in the words of Hicks, "like a turd falling into my drink". I do wonder what Liam Brady thinks of it all though.

Now I've got that off my chest, and really I couldn't care less one way or the other, Thierry is a Barcelona player now and I actually wanted Ireland to win last night, so the French lads could get some rest this summer. But you know, anything to fuck off Robbie Keane (Sorry Kev).

Moving on, I postscripted my blog yesterday evening with the excellent news that Eduardo had signed a new contract with Arsenal. Apparently, Liverpool have been linked with him in the press over the last week (whether that link was based on the fact that Liverpool is a natural home for divers one can only speculate), but I think that the "courage, bravery and commitment" that Arsène Wenger attests to is the more probable trigger for the new deal. Eduardo himself is "very pleased" to have signed on again and will go to Sunderland on Saturday, I hope, with a spring in his step and a song in his heart. But not Alex Song, that would be... odd. Now, go score some goals, Eddie!

There was more good news yesterday, very uncharacteristically for Arsenal, it transpires that Keiran Gibbs is another player who will be back in a much shorter time frame than originally feared- like next Tuesday, perhaps. The suspected broken metatarsal is only"severe brusing to the bones and soft tissue...". I think that is what is known as a bit of a result.

But wait... there's still more, yes more good news! Though the English duo of Wilshere and Walcott are a bit short for the weekend, the manager can now count on the availability of not just Fabianski, not just Armand Traore, not just Denilson (definitely in Saturday's squad, apparently), but also Carlos Vela too! Can you believe it?

I can only assume a swine flu epidemic is about to sweep in and decimate the squad, because that's too much good news for one day. Tomorrow y'all.

When I was 21, as part of my degree course, I went to spend a year in the Basque Country. Bilbao, to be exact. When I returned to London for Christmas, I discovered that my girlfriend of two years had been assuaging her loneliness by dating a guy that she'd got off with before I'd even left the country- I couldn't really complain about that, I'd been just as bad. Anyway, she'd decided we were over and she was moving on with this new man (she married him, now has two kids with him and lives in the USA) leaving me to spend a truly desolate Christmas in London. On my return to Bilbao, plagued by persistent insomnia, I lost myself (and for more than a minute). I found myself writing a letter a day to her, tearing my heart apart. I didn't send them all, obviously, that would have been truly mental and in time I began to adjust and what happened before moving on myself.

The only reason I mention this is that when I arrived at Grove Park station this morning, I bought The Mirror and flipped immediately to the back page. Greeting me for what seems like the millionth time was the picture of Mr Adebayor celebrating his goal in front of the Arsenal fans along with the headline "You asked for this".

Again citing songs sung about his parents that no Arsenal fan at the game remembers hearing and the fact that the Arsenal team shunned him before the game, Mr Adebayor explains away his behaviour that, inexcusably, resulted in a steward being struck unconcious. The final quote in this particular story is "It was just my way of saying 'You let me go. See I am not as terrible a player as you thought I was!'"

I think I can speak for all of us in saying that nobody thought you were a bad player, we just thought- as some Manchester City fans do already- that you're a bit of a cock. In a further story headlined, "Wenger forced me out" he says that although Arsène never explicitly said it; he felt that he wouldn't have played, even if he had stayed and so, even though he didn't want to, he had to leave. Awwwww! The evil Mr Wenger deciding not to pay someone who was clearly coasting eighty grand a week for the next four years... how inconsiderate.

I think we can all agree that with Robin playing some of the best stuff he's played in years, right ankle not withstanding, and the team firing left right and centre, we haven't really missed the 4 goals in 3 months Togolese. It seems, though, that the feeling is not mutual.

Mentioning Robin, I don't want to take you through my daily routine again and there were no surprises from the I-Pod this morning, but waking up to stories of Robin van Persie being massaged with placenta fluid was quite a weird start. But whatever works! Robin is going to see Mariana Kovacevic in Serbia, her treatment of PSV's Danko Lacevic saw him returning from a similar injury in 4 weeks as opposed to 6. With RvP saying that his ligament is almost completely torn off, the Mirror reckon recovery will take 3 months for Robin, but then they also think Andrey Arshavin is about to be given the nod at centre forward over Eduardo. Not sure I see that one myself, but the idea is given credence in a Guardian article, which also suggests that now might be the time for the returning Theo Walcott to get his long awaited chance in the middle.

Eduardo himself is feeling good and ready to put the "horrors" of last month's north London derby behind him as the team push on in the quest for honours. It's a funny thing though, for a manager who garnered so much success in the deployment of a physically imposing collection of athletes to have only a group of nippy little speed merchants to replace Robin. He hasn't been helped by the injury to Nick Bendtner of course; timing, as Eduardo can testify, is everything.

Having revisited The X Files on Friday night and watched Dracula, Prince of Darkness (coincidence that I ended up watching this a week after hearing Cesc described as the Prince of Darkness?) for the first time last night, should I have been surprised by the strange visions that permeated my night's sleep? I had a dream that I was staying at my mum's house- on my own- and that weird alien type creatures were in the pipes and bursting periodically through the plug holes, making weird noises as they did so. Obviously, I had to kill them all. Which I did, but the last one didn't give up without a fight.

And then... and then,  I had a dream about taking Tom cat to a football match at Brentford. I don't know why, but I do know that I was really worried about him running off never to be seen again. Anyway, somehow Brentford's football ground had ended up right next door to QPR's and we had to walk past them both to get to the pub. As I walked into the pub, a guy with a Liverpool scarf on got up and started screaming at the telly, which was showing football and the landlord made him leave. Entranced by this, I forgot all about Tom and then I remembered him and he was asleep under the table next to me.

What does it all mean? I don't know, but I do know that I felt a bit odd when I woke up just under an hour ago. Jo revived me with a coffee and then I looked at my phone, which had updated The Times Sport RSS feed on my phone; "van Persie out for months", it said. So, clearly, the next thing I did was switch on the computer and see what I could find. It transpires that Robin was chasing an early through ball when Italy's Chiellini brought him down and it looks as though, he has ruptured his ankle ligaments. Some friendly, huh? Dutch coach, Bert van Maarwijk describes the incident as a "terrible" blow for both player and club and he's not wrong. Never mind the fact that we host Chelsea in two week's time; the news that Robin will probably miss three months of the season means that we will be without the previously in form striker throughout the traditionally testing Christmas period, the ridiculously harsh Manchester United-Chelsea-Liverpool trifecta that takes place over ten days at the beginning of February and it means that he will miss the 1st leg, assuming qualification from the group, of the Champions League knock out stages. Arsène Wenger, a vociferous critic of international friendlies, has yet to make his thoughts known, but I doubt there was any champagne being popped in Totteridge last night. In fact, I heard a rumour that Arsène might even have said the f word.

I guess there's two ways of looking at this really. One is that with Nick Bendtner currently recovering from surgery, we are now a bit light in the centre forward department, especially with Eduardo's season yet to take off as he might have hoped. The other way is that, assuming he returns to north London in one piece, this is a big chance for Eduardo to get a run in what must be his favoured position and for the likes of the previously forgotten Carlos Vela to make an impact. I'm curious to see, in the short term at least, to see how Eduardo will replace the man whose playing style really has been integral to Arsenal's good run. We know Eduardo is a clever, technical player with a usually unerring eye for goal, but he's a bit lightweight, I think, compared to Robin. How well will the team adapt to playing with him up top? I championed his cause as the spearhead earlier this year, so we're about to find out if I do know what I'm talking about or not.

One man about whom there should be no doubt is young Keiran Gibbs. Simply put, he was a revelation at left back last season, when deputising for Clichy and he finds himself with an early opportunity to press his claims further this time around. He says that he wouldn't be in the first team without the coaching he has received at Arsenal. He speaks of learning how to play the game technically first and says that this is a new angle of coaching that is becoming prevalent within the country, but especially at Arsenal. Which, for anyone who played football as a junior and had to cope with the "Ten times round the pitch" approach, is quite enlightening and maybe this is something else we'll look at long after Arsène has left us and say, "You know what? That Frenchman we all used to think hated English players, God he taught them how to play didn't he?". I've mentioned before that my uncle reckons the manager's legacy will be a number of English youngsters coming out of London Colney trained to world class standards- we can see this in Gibbs and, as he himself says, Wilshere, Lansbury and Emmanuel- Thomas. But might it also be possible that the Arsenal approach is taken on at clubs across the country, producing as a result, the kind of Engish player that might, finally, be able to end 43 years (and counting) of hurt?

Not that I give a toss about England right now, I'm just saying...

Anyway, that's enough for today, I've already had to type the last part of Robin section and half the Keiran Gibbs stuff twice. Enjoy the rest of your weekends.

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.

If we can talk about one of our strikers for a minute, then. It was with great pleasure that I switched on Sky Sports News yesterday evening, when I got in, and heard that Eduardo's ban had been overturned by UEFA's appeal's body and so he will be available for tomorrow night.

Now, listening to a brief snippet of Andy Townsend and Mike Parry this morning, they seem to think UEFA have missed a trick by not upholding the ban. I think the trick UEFA have missed is using Eduardo, not that I'm saying the should have- only that they could have, to clamp down on the divers en masse. It was wrong of UEFA to single out one player for this incident and from the moment they stated this was only going to be a one off, that's where they've gone wrong. As it is, the charge has been rescinded, but mud sticks. Eduardo will still be booed, and okay he's dealt with worse, but I sense he's won his last penalty for Arsenal (and his national side) for a long time.

The initial charge that UEFA hit Eduardo with has been made to look rushed and knee jerk. I think the majority of football fans will agree that Arsenal's appeal had to succeed because of the arbitrary nature of the charge. This is borne out by both UEFA and Arsenal's statements. How silly UEFA have made themselves look.

Meanwhile, I was going to leave this till last, but I think it's best said here, Emmanuel Adebayor has somehow escaped charge for his "tackle" on Cesc Fabregas. But he has been charged with violent conduct as a result of the RvP incident. And improper conduct for the celebration in front of the massed Gooners. So hopefully, we won't be seeing him for a while.

That Mark Clattenberg has confirmed he would have sent Adebayor off had he seen what actually happened, I'm not sure how he missed it- selective blindness, maybe?- only adds salt to the wounds opened on Saturday afternoon. However, it looks as though he was subjected to racial abuse on Saturday and that's completely out of order. It may be what Tottenham fans and Manchester United fans were singing about him last year, but that doesn't make it alright either. We should be better than that. Apart from anything else, if he could hear it, it's a safe bet, Messrs Gallas, Sagna, Clichy, Song, Denilson, Diaby and Eboue would have heard it. How would they have felt about it? Going back to the AISA AGM, there was some discussion about the Wenger chant heard at Old Trafford, one member pointed out that it's all very well pointing the finger at others, but we need to get our own house in order too. That he was proved right less than a day later should be a source of shame to the travelling Gooners.

The Greater Manchester Police have written to the FA regarding Adebayor's inflammatory goal celebration, they will also be working with Arsenal and Manchester City to identify any supporters involved in "violent or aggravating" behaviour and so trouble inevitably looms.

The whole thing's a bit of a mess really, isn't it? Manchester City have hardly covered themselves in glory, at a time when- whatever the circumstances- they acheived a resounding win over the team many expect them to succeed in the top four. The Arsenal team have earnt criticism from former team mate Kolo Toure of their treatment of Adebayor. Adebayor himself could have spent this week thinking about a wonderful win with his new team over his old team and been looking forward to the Manchester derby. As for our fans...

A Final though on Adebayor then? I guess what that celebration showed, in the cold light of day, was how much Adebayor misses us all. I mean running the length of the pitch to celebrate with us, rather than staying with his new team. Sweet of him, when you think about it.

If he has become Public Enemy Number One to us, then the man spent much of 2008 in that position, William Gallas has enjoyed such a rejuvenation that le boss is considering offering the Frenchman a new contract. I've heard so much crap from some Gooners about how he isn't an Arsenal man and blah blah blah,  so I'm quite enjoying the rebirth he's had. I'm enjoying it to the point where, having just finished reading the Picture of Dorian Gray, I'm starting to wonder whether Willy has his own aging and blemished picture hiding away in his loft somewhere...

Whisper it, whisper it very gently indeed, but it looks as though the Arsenal Internationals Brigade will be returning to north London completely intact.

In fact, Tomas Rosicky and Cesc Fabregas will return to us in healthier condition than they left. Cesc scored the first goal for Spain last night, whilst his best mate managed around 55 minutes for the Czech Republic last night. Apparently Andrey Arshavin played, and set up a goal, for Russia. So, bearing in mind Guus Hiddink's antipathy towards "stupid risks" it seems reasonable to assume that our little Russian genius is firing on all cylinders again. Eduardo, of course, didn't quite manage that hat-trick, but he did manage to get Croatia's consolation goal having been apparently roundly booed throughout last night's match.

And, whatever Arsenal's stated objections to UEFA charging Eduardo, this is why I think it was such a horrible move. In a game where players routinely fail to stay on their feet in the hope of gaining an advantage. In an age where the game is so extensively covered, it wouldn't be difficult to root out these guys and deal with them accordingly- perhaps UEFA have it in mind that were they to proceed accordingly, fans would be turning up to empty football pitches, I digress- but UEFA have singled out one player, one person, with whom contact was actually made, and labelled him a cheat. I guess Eduardo can count himself unlucky that he's had to play at Old Trafford and then Wembley since the incident, but if this is the state of things to come, he's in for an uncomfortable season.

On that note, the boo boys will be having a field day in Manchester on Saturday, won't they? You've got Eduardo (if he plays) certain to be booed and, of course, City have that bloke that used to hang around up front for us, who will no doubt be warmly welcomed by the travelling Gooners. I don't expect to hear much singing anyway.

As we move towards football we can all get interested in again, I note that Thomas Vermaelen has been named Arsenal.com's player of the month, scooping 34.9% of the vote. With William Gallas the next player on the list with a quarter of all votes polled, it seems that the Arsenal public are happy indeed with the new centre back pairing. And, so far, we have every right to be. As I have said before, it seems Thomas has reinvigorated big Willy, whilst being the presence at the back we've needed since Sol Campbell left us. Let's hope that is still the case after Saturday. On the back of these results, it's one of those little football ironies that we reunite with deposed centre back and new Manchester City captain, Kolo Toure this weekend. Whilst the the centre backs, whatever we think of him, are sure to be tested by the gangliest man in football- Peter Crouch excepted, of course.

Andrey Arshavin polled third, which I find a touch odd. Given his start to the season, not that it's been a bad one, but perhaps quieter than we might have expected, you would have thought someone like Cesc might have been to the fore. I guess that's what an Old Trafford exocet does for your profile. Not that I'm complaining, keep them coming Andrey.

Final thought for today, and it's back to Eduardo again. Hasn't the poor lad got enough on his plate without his own club putting up "Wanted" posters on the website?

Someone at Arse.com has quite the sense of humour. Maybe they're just trying to help UEFA find him and bring him to Switzerland, which is where he they wanted him to be yesterday, in front of their kangaroo court. Not at Wembley and not scoring for Croatia. It's almost like the lunatics have taken over the asylum, isn't it?

Even as Amazon hide behind a ludicrous "freedom of speech" defence to justify their sale of a Manchester United cd featuring that chant, the press pack, finally, have got involved. The Guardian and The Mirror questioning why the Football Association, the Police have not acted to stamp out the abuse routinely suffered by the Arsenal manager.

Some people read my blog yesterday and apparently wondered where I get off emailing Manchester United about this. It's really very simple, it's gone on for years and United have had ample time to do something about it. They haven't. Some people read it and wondered whether I'd like to take my middle class sensibilities for a cup of tea and a game of rugby. I'm sorry, but if that's the way you feel, then this blog isn't for you. I can't help the fact that I was educated enough to know that 70,000 thousand people singing a song about our manager, that decries him as the lowest of all humanity, is totally unacceptable. As it happens, I do like tea but, despite the fact I went to a rugby playing school (yes, I did) I can't stand the game. Yet another person wondered whether the fact that Wayne Rooney is widely lampooned as Shrek is even worse than the abuse that Arsène suffers, because it intimates Rooney is ugly. Let me answer that one, no it isn't. There were some good points like the one that said, shouldn't the media bear some responsibility for this as they were the ones who started it and then have pretended it never happened? It is funny that the media have suddenly picked up on this after all these years.

It can be put down to Arsenal having just had a very bad week and, I think, us fans thinking that enough is enough. UEFA are out to get us, we shot ourselves in the foot on Saturday evening and on top of that, on top of all that, we had to listen to our manager being demonised. The internet has given football fans the world over a louder voice than ever before, and we've been able to use it to get the media to wake up to this embarrassment.

Good.

Speaking of UEFA, as widely predicted they will not be pursuing the diving culture wholesale. This standpoint rather negates Mike Parry (yes, I know) and his opinion yesterday that Arsenal should accept the Eduardo punishment as for the good of the game. I don't see any good for the game in the fact that Eduardo seems fairly certain to be the one and only player in the history of football to be charged with diving. Just typing that sentence makes me think how ridiculous it is. In the era of Gerrard, Rooney, Ronaldo, McGeady et al, it is Eduardo whom UEFA have decided to tar and feather. How absurd.  

Moving onto something rather more positive now. As also predicted (although not by me) in the absence of any last minute signings this week, Arsenal have got busy tying down more of the youngsters. And what a wonderful image that is. Denilson's looking to "build" on the solid platform laid last year, whilst Nick Bendtner is looking for "success". Is he dressed for it? As long as he keeps his jeans on. Now, I know Bendtner signing a new deal and Adebayor being the one gone is not how everyone saw our future- though it is how Mr Bendtner Snr saw it at the time of the Tottenham debacle. But don't we, as fans, clamour for players who want to play for our club? Bendtner has, for me, shown not just that he wants to play for our club, but that he has the ability to do so. I also think that anyone prepared to write a 21 off as a professional footballer, is being a little bit premature.

I've just read that Chelsea have been banned from making transfers till 2011- how funny is that?

Okay, so it wasn't so much an email exchange as I sent an email, Phil Townsend very quickly replied to it. But he didn't reply to my reply, perhaps he felt that he didn't need to and that he can only do so much, I don't know. I do think that United could do more to, if not prevent, than limit the vile abuse directed towards Arsène Wenger. It seems that the response I got and fair play to Manchester United for responding quickly and honestly, is somewhat generic (see the Online Gooner if you don't know what I mean). You can judge for yourselves, though:

-------------------------------------------------------- 

Hi Phil,
 
Thanks very much for the rapid response.
 
Farbeit for me to comment on how to handle the situation, but it seems to me that in communicating these appeals through the supporters groups, programme and mutv, you are perhaps limited in the number of people you can logically expect to reach? When I go to Arsenal (yes I am an Arsenal supporter, if you hadn't guessed), I rarely buy a programme, I haven't been to many supporters group meetings, though I have just joined our AISA and I'm sure you've heard about Arsenal TV!  
 
My point is, surely if Sir Alex was to voice his concern for a fellow professional and someone I believe he has belatedly built something of a rapport with, through the mainstream media, Sky Sports News, or the press, a) more of your support would hear the message and b) they might think twice about giving voice to such vile abuse. You will be aware of the esteem Arsene is held in by those of us of a red and white persuasion and the respect he commands from us, I can only imagine that Sir Alex, with his ten extra years (and extra trophies) at Manchester United is similarly regarded. I'm not saying I believe it is up to him to end the abuse, but it wouldn't hurt him, or the club, to make a public statement, would it?
 
Thanks again for your time,
 
Paul
 

So, it's 4 hours, 1 minute and I don't know how many seconds to the transfer deadline. I don't really care how much time Arsenal have got left to sign somebody because they've had all summer to find a better goalkeeper than Manuel Almunia and if they haven't managed it already, they're not going to manage it now.

There is, I believe, still a rumour doing the rounds about Patrick Vieira, but quite frankly I think that's as likely as me signing for Arsenal.

So, what else is there? Not completely Arsenal related, but Birmingham chairman David Gold has reacted to claims by the head of the Croatian FA, Vlatko Markovic, that the injury suffered by Luka Modric at the weekend is the result of an English conspiracy. I say "claims", it seems to me it's more a case of an internal monologue being voiced. Of course Mr Markovic was also referring to the injury suffered, entirely coincidentally I'm sure, at the hands of a Birmingham player by Eduardo in 2008. I don't think this is about anything other than Birmingham signing players who can't tackle. And even that might be overstepping it, Randall tells me it was Modric who made the challenge, and not the other way round. So, Lee Bowyer's off the hook for this one, at least.

And speaking of Eduardo... UEFA were in such a rush to charge him that the charge took the form of a two and a half page page fax sent to the wrong part of Arsenal's admin wing. The evidence submitted against Eduardo consisted of one single paragraph. No extra evidence was submitted, with the referee standing by his original decision. In response, Arsenal have submitted a 19 page dossier containing video evidence of the challenge, which I think will show Eduardo was touched, albeit minimally. It does all seem as though UEFA have decided that Eduardo dived and are not expecting any argument. The "dangerous door" Mr Wenger spoke of last week is swinging wide open as Arsenal react to an "arbitrary and unreasonable" charge. I wonder if that in house lawyer has started work yet?

It's a short one today, mainly because there's not much about, but also because I've been involved in a email exchange with Phil Townsend, Manchester United's Director of Communications. Yes, I'm wondering  what the biggest club in the world have to say about the abuse our great manager suffered on Saturday, I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

There's a cliffhanger for you...  

When I was much, much younger, I developed a habit of writing match reports that rewrote history in the event of things going against my team. Writing as exorcism twenty years ago. If I was still in the habit then... well, Robin van Persie would be coming home with the match ball after a brilliant hat trick. Manuel Almunia would have stayed on his line once and come and claimed the second time- more on that later, we would have had a proper referee and Arsenal would have won a match we thoroughly deserved to.

Alas, in the real world, the karmic boomerang I have mentioned once or twice before came swinging back and slapped us all on the back of the head. It was inevitable there would be some kind of fall out from Wednesday night, but did it have to all come in this game? 

In so many ways, this game was history repeating itself through the years. As last year, we were much the better side for the majority of the game, but we couldn't turn our superiority into goals. This was also the case the year before, in a match that had we won it, we may well have won the league. Two years ago, we bossed the game, going a goal up before William Gallas conceded a needless penalty and then the referee gave a soft free kick against Gilberto which Owen Hargreaves duly dispatched to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory.

History repeating... Manuel Almunia once again suffering his usual brain freeze against the Champions of England. I don't care what anyone says, he cost us in the semi final last year, he cost us in the home league match two seasons back with another ill judged sortie from his line, and they're just the recent ones. Only he knows why he felt he had to come rushing from his goal to meet a player who, has history against us when William Gallas was there too. Simply put, Almunia stay on his line and there is no danger. After that, the truly game turning penalty was a formality. He compounded this five minutes later with his usual failure to come and collect a routine keeper's ball on the edge of the six yard box, thereby allowing the otherwise excellent Diaby to inexplicably put through his own net. Coming just a minute after van Persie's free kick cannoned off the bar, it was a dagger through the heart.

History repeating, it was a vintage Arsenal suicide. United went 2-1 up having had just two shots on target, what will still be hurting this morning is that United really did nothing to deserve the stunning turnaround, it was gifted to them.

History repeating, in a game generally played without nastiness, without rancour, Manchester United committed 22 fouls to Arsenal's 16 and guess what? Yeah, we got 6 yellow cards to United's 3. I'm sure you can do the maths on that one. No arguments about Eboue's dive, but how Mike Dean looked at Darren Fletcher's "cleaning out" of Andrey Arshavin in the penalty area and waved play on and then booked Robin van Persie for an identical challenge minutes later, only he knows. Okay, so Arshavin angrily smashed in a beauty just seconds after the penalty not given, but that shouldn't detract from the inconsistency of the refereeing. History repeating, for those two incidents we have Rooney's assault on Walcott at the grove last November unpunished with a card, only for Gallas to earn a booking for an identical tackle on Ronaldo within minutes.

On that Fletcher challenge, by the way, Sir Alex must have borrowed le boss' specs because he said that Fletcher played the ball. Which is true admittedly, but he played it with his hand. After taking Arshavin out. It was a stone cold penalty.

History repeating, once again we go to Old Trafford and get to hear our manager serenaded with usual style by men who really should know better. It is beyond belief that this has carried on for years unchecked by the people wielding the real power in the game, the media. Or by Manchester United themselves, it demeans one of the biggest clubs in the world. As did the, apparently irony free, booing of Eduardo, Ronaldo is out of sight, out of mind it seems. On Eduardo, he must be thrilled that his next game is for Croatia at Wembley- I hope he scores a hat trick.

One of the positives from yesterday's game is that Arsène will be getting an apology from Keith Hackett following Lee Probert ( a man I believe we have history with, I've also seen him make a complete dog's dinner of a QPR match) and Mike Dean's ridiculously heavy handed handling of the manager's reaction to RvP's last gasp equaliser being cancelled out- why did Mike Dean just not end the game, rather than subject the boss to such ridicule? We seem to be up on a disciplinary charge after every Old Trafford fixture, and I think I'm right in saying we'll be getting the "failure to control players" fine for our six bookings, but it's progress of a kind that le boss is the one being apologised to.

Sometimes it just isn't your day. I remember thinking, as Andy Gray talked about Ben Foster's great reaction save from van Persie which kept the score at 1-0, that it was starting to look like it wouldn't be our day. But for it to unravel as it did, it's very hard to take. That said, I think we showed yesterday, and it was admitted as much in the Sky studio and from what I saw of the Sunday Supplement this morning, that we are a much, much stronger team than we were given credit for. To go to United and play like that, without Cesc, Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott must give the guys tremendous belief for the rest of the campaign. It looks to me, that if we can cut out the mistakes,  it is going to take a special team to beat Arsenal this season. My only worry is that with players that seem to suffer brain freezes with some frequency, step forward Almunia, Clichy, Diaby and Eboue, those mistakes may just keep coming.

No links today, I purposely haven't read anything else (other than the apology story) so you got pure me today. The Sopranos' Dr Jennifer Melfi said that "depression is rage turned inward", I feel I've directed it appropriately.