My dedication to the cause faltered somewhat over the weekend. Not, as you can imagine, as a result of the crushing 4-1 victory acheived over Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon. But just caught between a wealth of options. Three options, to be exact; the conclusion of the fifth and final Ashes test at the Oval, the finale to the World Athletics Championship and making some progress on my final season of Pro Evo 2009 before going back to the beginning with Vermaelen and Gallas at the heart of my defence.

There was also series six of Curb Your Enthusiasm and series one of Mad Men to take in this weekend. Lest you think I had a complete couch potato weekend, I did manage to get to the gym on Saturday morning and so there was even less time for blogging than usual this weekend. Which is a shame because it seems there has been much to talk about.

You might remember such stories in the Spanish media as the "pacto" Arsenal are claimed to have made with Barcelona to sell Cesc. The boss wasn't slow in rejecting that one, whilst that reputable bastion of journalism, also known as the News of the World, reckons Arsenal are poised to offer Cesc another improvement to his current contract. I'd be interested to know how many contracts Cesc has signed for the club, he seems to sign one every 18 months by my not very scientific reckoning. I doubt, however, that any improved deal would stop the vultures circling. We all remember 2006, a certain T Henry, a very public press conference and what happened just over a year later, don't we?

Speaking of Cesc, Arsène pulled one of his classic gambles at the weekend. Why he continues to do this I will never understand, but it's like he hasn't learnt the lessons of trying to play Patrick and Thierry when they were clearly not right. And so, Cesc took the field on Saturday with a slight hamstring niggle, he didn't reappear for the second half and will not take part on Wednesday. Not that should be a concern, but what might be a concern is his availability for Saturday evening's trip to the Champions.

Never mind though, because Abou Diaby was in scintillating form on Saturday, taking his two goals very nicely. I loved the way he took the second goal, sending James the wrong way as he finished off from Eboue's pass. Whilst Aaron Ramsey, who replaced Cesc, took advantage of a lovely little "Bergkamp" pass from van Persie to score his first Premier League goal for us. The seventy minutes that Eduardo played will have been a big plus for us, whilst Fran Merida- who I thought was going on loan, apparently not- also made an appearance so, even without Rosicky, Walcott and Nasri, one thing that this 4-3-3 apparently gives us is options.

Okay, so we might have expected more from Bendtner, RvP, Arshavin and, to a lesser extent, Eduardo, but when ten league goals have been scored by seven different players in two league matches, with an apparently rampant midfield, I'd say we're definitely in a "half full" kind of situation. The only caveat here is, of course, that it is so early in the season that Tottenham currently occupy the number one spot. It was funny to hear an exchange involving Paul Merson and Jeff Stelling on Sky's Soccer Saturday, that went something like this:

Stelling: And to come in, Tottenham have got players like Woodgate, King, Jenas, Crouch, Pavluychenko etc...

The Merse: "If they were any good, they'd be playing"

Nice one, Paulie.

On a media tip, what good is having a blog if I can't self promote ocassionally? I was interviewed this morning for Absolute Radio's Sport podcast. The interview covered my thoughts on the embryonic season so far and hopes for the rest of it. So, if you haven't heard enough from me already, you'll be able to listen to it here from Wednesday.

I was amazed to watch Match of the Day and see not only that Arsenal were not buried away at the very end of the programme, but also that Hansen and Shearer were of the opinion that Steve Bennett was absolutely correct in his decision not to give Portsmouth a free kick and William Gallas a red card at 2-1 on Saturday. That Gallas then scored the third goal must have felt like a right kick in the teeth to Paul Hart, but what a great decision from Bennett. It sticks in my craw, going back to MotD briefly, that the two hammerings we have dished out thus far have been attributed more to the limpness of opposition than Arsenal's general magnificence. Yes, Portsmouth are crap, yes Everton haven't had a great start to the season, but I can't see Manchester United dishing out two hammerings and being treated thusly.

If, as I said a while back, the boys began the season feeling they have a point to prove, it seems a few more batterings need to be dished out before people get the message. I look forward to seeing them.

So... after a couple of days' contemplation, I've decided that, as far Abou Diaby goes, there is no case for the defence.

No, no. I'm kidding, but talking about him like the new Patrick Vieira has been proven time and time again to be a fallacy, it's rather like comparing Terminator 3 to the first two Terminator films (I haven't seen Salvation yet), they may appear outwardly to be cut from similar cloths. But actually, it's just a superficial resemblance. There's nothing inside that can be compared.

Moving on from the crowbarred in film reference, I guess you could say that Diaby has shown flashes of brilliance and you wouldn't be far from the truth. That game against Fenerbahce a shining example of Diaby at his best. But there haven't been too many of those this season. The manager thinks Diaby is best deployed as a number ten. But we have Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky, Nasri and Bendtner that can all play that position and do it better. I'm not doubting Diaby's ball control, his ability to dribble or the fact that, when he catches it right, he can really hit a football. I'm just doubting his ability to put it all together on a consistent basis. I certainly think he's behind Denilson and Song in central midfield.

Which brings me to Aaron Ramsey.

I didn't see enough of Aaron last season for me to make a truly informed judgement. We did see, when Arsenal went to Ninian Park in the FA Cup, that- at a young age- he was still capable of letting an occasion get to him. Not that should be held against him, after all an entire team managed it  in Roma a few weeks back, having been the beneficiaries of such a happening in north London a couple of weeks before that. In the chase for 4th place, he was nonetheless all but banished from first team duty afterwards.

Before that though, we saw that young Ramsey has a very good eye for a pass, evidenced by a lovely pass for Adebayor to complete his hat trick against Blackburn, he also produced a couple of assists in the Carling Cup. On international duty, he hit an absolute screamer against the English kids and whilst these are the same kind of flashes produced by Abou Diaby, Ramsey is a significantly younger prospect. I've said it before on this blog, I was struck by Wenger's description of him having a great engine and it leads me to believe that whilst he could be seen to be yet another "number 10", he may end of playing the same kind of role that Matty Flamini did for us. I don't have any real evidence for this, but what the hell, it's my blog, and I can make a leap if I want to.

Theo Walcott apparently set a goal up in England's 6-0 romp last night, that result has been somewhat overshadowed by news that Manchester United have accepted an £80m bid from Real Madrid for the Portuguese Winker. That leaves only one question in my mind, where do Real Madrid get their money from?

Sitting here on a Saturday evening, having popped into Bromley to pick up a Fred Perry for the upcoming Specials gig at Brixton on Monday and then going to the gym in the ongoing battle to turn my one pack into a six, I wasn't particularly planning on writing a blog, but a couple of things have caught my eye. Oh yes.

So here I am.

We start with an apparent hardening of position from the manager regarding his youth policy. He asks if he is supposed to "kick out a quality young player like Diaby" to accomodate any incoming signings. Whaaaaaaaaaaat? In fairness, I should point out that he also mentioned Walcott, Fabregas and Bendtner here. But whilst there may be doubts about Bendtner and Walcott in the here and now, I don't think it's unfair to assume there is a great deal more to come from them. Diaby on the other hand... I just don't see it. Ok, on a couple of occasions this season he has looked stunning. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more from him. He isn't a kid anymore. More to the point, his favoured position appears to be the one off the striker. Now if someone can tell me what he can do there that makes him more effective than Arshavin, Nasri or- let's go mental here- Robin van Persie, I'm very interested to hear it.

Speaking of the boy Bendtner, Arsène has sniffed out a conspiracy theory worth of The X Files' Lone Gunmen. Or should that be Lone Gunner?

Anyway, Bendtner was not drunk and in fact, his pants were pulled down for him. By whom, we do not know, and why he was unable to pull them back up is unexplained as well. Truly, this is a case for Mulder and Scully. Though I suspect were Agent Scully to get involved, she'd tell le boss to stop being so silly and put him to bed.

Finally, and this is my favourite for the day- having heard Myles Palmer go on and on and on and on and on about how Xabi Alonso was at Arsenal, ready to sign, in the summer only for the deal to break down over, first, £2m and subsequently 200 grand (perhaps Myles misplaced a decimal somewhere) he has had to publish this email from the Liverpool Echo. Which says that Alonso was never in London and, in fact, closer to signing for the Old lady of Turin than for us. So that's another conspiracy theory debunked and more Palmer bollocks to be shown for what it is.

How apt, all this talk of conspiracy theories the day before our clash with the most paranoid football club in the country, if not Europe. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean everyone doesn't hate you, I suppose.. It's a difficult one to preview, really. To all intents and purposes the league season is over, even if we beat Chelsea tomorrow, given we have to go Old Trafford next week, are we really expecting to overhaul them? The massive downer they suffered on Wednesday might aid us, as could the need for our players and supporters to show the world that we aren't a bunch of lily livered jessies, but if Arshavin hasn't recovered from his virus- and we all saw how Sagna played, having apparently recovered, at Liverpool- it's going to be tricky. I'm looking forward to it though.

You know how I like to share a thought with you, don't you? Perhaps a little something from the ongoing drama that is my life? Well, today all I can think is, I blew green snot, yes green, into a tissue earlier today. I think I need a doctor. If you were a drama series, what would you be? I'd like to think I was The (just begun airing on the BBC at the stupidly late time of 11.20pm) Wire; smart, witty and so complex. But I'm probably more like any number of ITV dramas that are half arsed and only ever predictable in the fact that they disappoint absolutely.

 Anyway, not to string an introduction out unneccessarily, what can we talk about today? Well, there are injuries, injuries and more injuries to discuss. Nick Bendtner, it was reported yesterday, has pain and irritation of the knee. Robin van Persie, in time honoured tradition, has sustained a groin injury whilst with the Holland squad and his treatment table colleague- they must be best mates by now, surely- Abou Diaby has also managed to get himself injured. I knew it was all going too well to be true.

There's no news, as yet, regarding the inclusion of Theo Walcott at the weekend but it must be said that the potential loss of Bendtner and van Persie would be offset by the return to the fold of Adebayor and Eduardo. Whilst Bendtner and van Persie have done alright of late, I don't think anyone would say that Ade and Eduardo represent a drop in quality. I think you could possibly even argue that these two at top form would our first choice partnership anyway. Perhaps Theo will be back, otherwise our only other attacking option, in the event of RvP and Nik being unavailable, is Carlos Vela.

Central midfield, well Cesc Fabregas is quite a replacement for Diaby. Whilst not having the power and pace of the frenchman, he's probably about 5 yards quicker in his head. And he shows this in his response to talk he had been tapped up by Real Madrid. He has a contract till 2014, you know. That's right, for the next 5 years. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Calderon, Perez, the News of the World, Marca and anyone else who wants to argue!

Sticking with Cesc, Hull City have submitted their evidence to the FA regarding the alleged spitting incident. Having had two weeks to compile their dossier, you might think it to be a weighty tome, full of witness statements from everyone connected with Hull City. But no. Just three people, in a busy, post game tunnel saw this thing happen apparently. Brian Horton, Phil Brown and their fitness coach, Sean Rush. How did it take two weeks for three people to get their evidence down? Are there language difficulties we should be told about? Or has it been an exercise in collusion?  The world waits, no doubt, with baited breath.

Finally, for today, the club get a lot of flak when they make a balls up something- the grass your stadium neighbour up initiative for example- so it's only fair to give credit where it's deserved. Not entirely unexpectedly, the club have decided to lift their ban on national flags in the stadium. But not a centimetre more than a metre deep, or you will be cast out! Well done, Arsenal.

On a frankly freezing north London afternoon, normal service resumes and just in time for a Bolton preview.

 Other blogs will have told you about Emmanuel Adebayor's comments on William Gallas' comments. You won't be surprised to hear I agree with Emmanuel, though it has to be said, I don't think there's an Arsenal fan from Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight who didn't agree with what he said, just how he did it. Emmanuel also reckons we can still win the title. Not so sure about that myself, big man, but then around a year ago, I couldn't see us finishing lower than second, so who knows?

The boss has been talking up our defense as "solid" of late, which leads me to wonder if his infamous "I didn't see it" catchphrase is less a diversion than an indication of how much of a game the boss sees stood down on the touchline. Certainly, nobody who witnessed the Aston Villa game would talk of our defending as particularly solid. Though I do think Djourou (yes, him again) has certainly improved things at the back. As has the return of Sagna. Kolo makes his return to the team, his first game since making and then withdrawing a transfer request. It does seem very convenient that as Kolo returns to full fitness, Gallas once again succumbs to hamstring trouble- conspiracy shenanigans afoot in N5, surely not! I don't think the loss of Micky Silvester is going to cause anyone a sleepless night.

It's interesting that Kolo made this request apparently due to the breakdown of his relationship with Gallas as Djourou seems to have cemented his place in the starting line up. Of course, Kolo was talking up his partnership with Gallas, a piece of PR that nobody really believed in, not too many months ago. It has been put to me that as Gallas is more or less likely to leave in the summer, we're better off sticking with the guy closer to everyone's hearts. I can certainly agree with that, but the truth is nobody knows what Gallas will do in the summer. As I said initially, I hope it works out and they both stay. There's room in the Arsenal first team squad for both of them, so come together brothers!

When talking up our defensive solidity, le boss also said, the creative side would come back with confidence. I think his cause would be helped by playing players who are likely to create in the midfield. Players like Aaron Ramsey, for example. Okay, you might not want to start him against Bolton, but analyse it, why is he any less likely to cope than Denilson, or sicknote Diaby for that matter? You can analyse too much though, nobody thought the midfield Arsène selected at the Reebok a few months back would play as spectacularly as it did. Denilson had a great game that day, lest we forget. A quick word about Gary Megson who has quite rightly pointed out that Abou Diaby could have injured a Bolton player or two (in fact he did a couple of years back) in recent fixtures. Fair enough Gary, but Abou's not malicious, he's just a clumsy tackler. You have serial offenders who specifically go out out to hit people hard. Like Kevin Davis, like Kevin Nolan. And generally they get away with it, whereas Abou got himself sent off with his tackle last season. Consistency.

It seems that whilst a gun or two may have been jumped in the print media, Arshavin is an ongoing project. But a defensive midfielder is a priority. And quite right too. Allegedly, not content with tapping up cashley whilst at Chelsea, it seems Mourinho's Internazionale have been messing with Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Eboue. Why? I don't know either.

Finally, it's becoming apparent that the prices of a match ticket are becoming too much for Gooners, in the middle of recession and after Christmas, the attendance against Plymouth was widely held to be around 52,000 and though the game tomorrow is "sold out", I think we can assume there will be more thena a few red seats visible tomorrow. There is an argument that you support your team regardless, but I do think that the board expecting people to shell out fifty notes to watch the current team in the current times, well... they're having a laugh, aren't they? What would be great, apart from a price reduction which will never happen, is if everyone at the game tomorrow went to the game and went there to enjoy themselves. If you're going and you're reading this, then having spent that money, why not go and enjoy yourself rather than sitting like a lemon in a library?

I didn't write a blog yesterday because I wanted to try and answer the questions I posed in Monday's blog, but in trying to answer those questions, I found myself profoundly depressed. Everywhere you read about Arsenal in the blogosphere, it's doom, gloom and more doom and gloom, I didn't want to echo that. Hence no blog.

Did a day of not writing about Arsenal hlep my mood any?  Perhaps a little bit. I went home and ate pork chops... yum yum yum. I... oh, how could I forget? Finally, I received my membership pack from Arsenal- they beat the end of the decade and I lose my bet. Although I am currently engrossed in Roberto Saviano's Gomorrah, I took a look at the opening chapters and, cheekily skipping ahead, some of the Arsenal related writing in Perry Groves' autobiography. An absolute riot, I can't wait to explore it in more detail. So that cheered me up.

And then, as I got on my 7.30 train out of Terminal 5 this morning, I see a Metro lying on a seat carrying the news of Theo Walcott's injury in a training session for a friendly that nobody wanted and nobody really cares about. At least, not me, I knew there was a friendly tonight, I only realised this morning it was against Germany-  only because of John Terry's tubthumping.

Three months. Three bloody months. Though I said a couple of days ago I thought Theo probably needed some kind of break, I didn't mean this. So, Arsène will take his squad up to Manchester at the weekend without Cesc, without Walcott and without Carlos Vela, though hopefully we will have both Robin and Ade fit for selection. What a palaver. It seems obvious to me that Abou Diaby will deputise for Walcott after the Citeh game, but who replaces Cesc on Saturday? It has to be Aaron Ramsey. That is, assuming he comes back in one piece from his tour of duty, but perhaps the boss will be tempted to play Diaby in the centre. It is after all, supposed to be his position. Personally, I'd like to see Ramsey and Diaby in the centre on Saturday and see how they get on... could Jay Simpson do a job wide if he was required? I'd like to see him on the bench at the very least. It's ironic that as the striker crisis is easing, our midfield options are reduced dramatically. 

I don't know if it is ironic actually, it certainly isn't surprising. Let's hope we're in no worse a position tomorrow afternoon.

Seems my last blog piece- because that is what this is, a blog- has upset a few of you. Yes it may have been self absorbed whinging, but if you can't have a self absorbed whinge after seeing your team blow a two goal advantage in 4 minutes and then lose to an inferior team because they can't handle, as they couldn't last year, a couple of set pieces, when can you have a whinge?

I am upset, I am upset because I care passionately about this club and am no longer sure the manager will make the (minor) changes he needs to to make this team successful. I'm sorry if my mood yesterday upset some of you but my mood was directly related to us losing to Stoke and fielding a midfield full of central midfielders because Arsene thought that was our best option.
Questioning my support because of what I write here… I've spent more than enough time, money and effort in support of this team over the years. And this season in particular. If a whinge about losing to Stoke qualifies me as a fair weather fan, then yes it must be that every single Arsenal blogger on t'interweb is a fair weather fan. Take a look around cyberspace, please check out the Online Gooner, read the Arseblog or Gunnerblog and see what you think then. If you still feel I'm a fairweather fan, fine, but please, bear this in mind; I had a sore throat by half time on Wednesday night, I never boo the team, I never go for a half time beer or a hot dog, thereby missing goals, as so many did on Wednesday night, and guess what? I never leave before the end, either.

I am not turning against the team, or in fact the manager. I am questioning, legitimately, I happen to believe,  some of the decisions made in the summer, and the somewhat odd decisions made recently. No, I'm not a football manager, no I don't know better than Arsene, but what good is knowing better if it doesn't help you to make the right decision? One of my first blog entries was the piece about Arsene's vote of confidence in the midfielders at the club. Does that confidence look justified to anybody right now?

Midfield, for me, is where games are won and lost and it's an area that Arsenal have traditionally been strong in under Wenger. Of course, we were blessed with the Big Sausage for 9 years, but alongside him he had battle hardened players such as Parlour, Overmars, Petit, Pires, Gilberto and Edu. Whilst a player like Freddie Ljungberg, already a Swedish international at 21,  grew into such a player. Now we have Cesc Fabregas and… and? Samir Nasri in his first season in English football, Theo Walcott in his first season as first team starter. And if Tomas Rosicky had been fit, would Theo be getting all these games? The central midfield options are poor beyond belief when compared to what we have seen before. If Cesc Fabregas gets injured, then what? Diaby, Denilson? Both are obviously decent enough players, but they are not ready to deliver a League title. What was once an area of strength has become a playground for our overpaid kids. Cesc has been overplayed since his return to injury and is going to be frazzled come the run in because we can't afford to rest him now. Is that healthy?

I touched on our central defence issues yesterday and don't particularly want to go back there again, but the inability of our central defence to deal with set pieces is compounded by our first choice goalkeeper's complete refusal to do so. Is he scared of getting his nose broken? What's the deal here? He's a fine shot stopper, generally speaking, but behind a defence that seems unable to deal with aerial threat, he is nothing more than a liability.

I hope for better things on Wednesday, I really do. I'd love for the boys to respond to disappointment as they generally have done this season and put in a big performance and, when Saturday comes, I will be shouting my head off in Block 100. But I'm not sure they're capable of it. That isn't their fault, it's the manager's. He has miscalculated this season, and okay we're only 6 points off the top but we haven't played anyone yet, and it looks like costing us. If you don't like what I'm saying, maybe a better question for you is not "Why can't you show respect to Wenger?" but "Why can't Wenger show us respect?" 

You see, I have long said that we don't have a right to expect anything in football, but when you are told the squad you have is good enough for a title challenge and the evidence of that is shredded before November is even begun, you are supposed to ask questions. I close here, reminded of an exchange between Brian Glanville and George Graham during the Makita tournament of 1991, George had read a piece by Brian about Arsenal's defensive weaknesses and said of it,

" I expected more quality".

Brian's reponse?

 "When I see it, I'll write it."

Not quite sure where to start or how to even begin to summarise the madness that unfolded last night. So, whilst I consider how to do that, let's consider the words of Jose Mourinho, who having spent two or three years defending Didier Drogba, finally came clean and admitted to the world that Didier is a diver. Somewhat bizarrely, he also lumped our own Robin van Persie in with him and then proceeded to tell the world that these foreigners were coached how to dive in England, though quite who was coaching Didier to dive is not made clear by Mr Mourinho...

Anyway, whatever the merits of Manchester United's 3-0 win at home to Celtic last night, the ITV bosses must be feeling a bit gutted that the real entertainment was consigned to the digital world. They weren't the only ones feling a little silly last night (if, indeed, they were).

I questioned Manuel Almunia's captaincy credentials and alluded to doubts over his suitability to be Arsenal number one, yet he was majestic in goal last night; making a great save at 0-0, which set the tone for his evening, a heroic display of blocking and sweeper keeping behind a high defensive line which enabled Arsenal's midfield to weave its' pretty patterns at will. I think that was Manuel's best game for us. I also wondered whether we'd put two good halves of football together, so good were we in the first 22 minutes, we didn't really need to.

Arsène Wenger said yesterday, as I noted here, that with a weak defence, Arsenal would look to attack. They did so. He also said that we would look to silence the crowd in the first 20 minutes. It may have taken maybe a minute longer, but Arsenal also managed to acheive that. Comprehensively so. A blog post by Baselgooner yesterday noted that he would like Arsène to give the racist Arragones a bloody nose last night. Mr Wenger didn't need to, his team did it for him. That the opening 4 goals were scored by, respectively, Adebayor, Walcott, Diaby and Song surely the salt in a festering wound. Yes, the Karma Police were out in force last night.

And what goals, Fabregas' slide rule ball after ten minutes, taken on and slid home by a man who has been infuriating of late. Adebayor only needed four touches, and Walcott to nimbly get out of the way, to complete the job like a man born to do it. Jo had barely returned to the kitchen to get on with dinner when Walcott sped onto another Fabregas pass and rounded the keeper and slotting the ball inside the near post- are there really Arsenal fans still doubting this boy? Really?

It could have been three almost immediately after as Samir Nasri took maybe a little too long to get his shot away and drew a fine save from the keeper. It might have been a crucial save, as Fener got back into the contest via a very unfortunate Silvestre own goal. However, Abou Diaby, who must have been close to his best performance in Arsenal colours scored a cracking goal with his left foot. And all of this took place in the first 22 minutes, Jo managing to miss all 3 goals.

The sting was entirely taken out of what might have been a tricky second half when Alex Song lashed home from the corner of the 6 yard box following a free kick. Whilst Dani Guiza got on the scoresheet towards the end and my favourite pantomime villain Eboue made two astounding blocks in quick succession to prevent what looked a certain goal, Arsenal were pretty much in second gear for the majority of the second half and so we saw Aaron Ramsey make his Champions League bow. If he was awed, he didn't show it, coming on demanding the ball, knocking it around from side to side and even trying a cheeky backheel (like the one for Bendtner a few weeks back) before, as the game hit injury time, scoring a wonderful goal from the edge of the box following great work from (gasp!) Eboue. I said of his goal for the u-21s last week that he probably wouldn't beat it, but this wasn't far off. And there's so much more to come.

It was a breathtaking attacking performance, incisive and clinical. We were open at the back, but I think it was entirely understandable for a defence playing a high line (for the most part) well and missing 3/4 of the regular performers. Arsène doesn't get much credit for his tactical insight, but in my opinion he deserves it here. The high line gave us the platform to play off and his deployment of Abou Diaby was inspirational. The defending, you would think, will have to improve come Sunday afternoon and Upton Park, but with Gallas and apparently Sagna due to return, you would hope it will.

So, another great european away day for the travel club to savour, and qualification from what was thought to be a tricky group can be guaranteed, with two games to spare, when Fenerbahce come to north London. Bring them on!

I started this blog post with a rant about South Eastern Trains, but unless you have to get a train to London Bridge every morning, it wouldn't interest you, so let's revise that, shall we?

I posted yesterday without having read much of the fall out from Saturday's match either in the press or online, but it seems that the trouble at the game on Saturday was very definitely our fault, perhaps the guys were getting ready for next Wednesday night, but it reflects very poorly on the club as a whole when stuff like this happens. Irony of ironies, the matchday programme on Saturday ran a small article saying that Hull and Sunderland had been in touch congratulating the club on the comportment of our support! Oops.

Fenerbahce beckons tomorrow night. Unbelievably, ITV have decided that more people would rather watch the European and English Champions take on the Scottish Champions than watch the Arsenal under 12s go to Turkey. Shocking. Can't think how they came to that conclusion, but anyway... A win there would put us in firm control of the group with two home games still left. I wouldn't bank on anything from tomorrow night, especially as we've seemed relatively unable to string two good performances together this season and are missing 3/4 of our first choice defence for tomorrow night. So what does Arsène do?

Well, Alex Song on Saturday was a bit like me, as I put my feet down in Lake Constance over 20 years ago only to discover I'd ventured beyond a depth of five foot, so with Song likely to be at centre back in any case, he's probably got a choice between Johan Djourou and Eboue. I think Eboue should get the nod, but only because he has experience of playing in this position. No matter how poorly. I hate saying that because I'd love to see Djourou given a chance, but not at full back and not in a game like this.

Abou Diaby gives Arsène a central midfield alternative to Denilson, and I think having played more football than anyone else this season, Denilson could probably do with a rest. Not to mention watching from the bench and learning something. Though, who he's supposed to learn from is open to question...That's your lot, I'm hungry!