As I was saying on Saturday, I had to miss the live broadcast of the match on Saturday evening as I was out with Jo and her friends, Jen and Chris. We met in Camden and went to a pub on the Lock for a drink whilst we decided where we would go to eat. As it invariably does when we get together, the prospect of Wagamamas came up and I said something like "If it's good enough for Thierry Henry, it's good enough for me" (I seem to remember Thierry frequenting the Camden branch whilst still at Arsenal, though it might have been Miso). Jen's response to this was brilliant,

"Is he the new rapper?" 

Aw, bless. Jo and I soon disabused her of that notion.

I didn't fancy being in the position of waiting to watch the game, sitting down to watch it, seeing Arsenal go 2-0 up only to blow it again- so I was a bit preoccupied with my phone for a while. Long enough to establish that Arsenal were 3-0 up and pretty much home and hosed. So, with only a few drinks inside me, once Jo and I got home, I stuck the football on. And Jo told me I had an hour to watch it.

Thank God for V+, much of the first half passed by at 2x or 6x the speed of a normal game (thank God again that we weren't at our imperious best, it'd have sent me dizzy). I couldn't really tell you what was going on, but the ball did seem to be down our end a lot. Is that how I saw it? Or have I been influenced by what I have read of the game since? Maybe. Anyway, it seems that once the own goals had happened- the second one coming from good work by Ramsey and Eduardo, we pretty much played the game we wanted to play.

If the opening goals, though, owed something to fortune, the third goal was a thing of beauty. Of course, this is just how we do, but nonetheless, from Bac Sagna's play down the right (is Eboue really better going forward? Really?) to RvP's "wall" pass to Cesc's clinical finish, well, it was just precision play. Arshavin's second half goal, returning Wayne Hennessey's flappy punch with interest, was a little snapshot of the quality that he possesses.

After that, it seemed like one way traffic and- yet, again- it really should have been more than four- RvP went round to keeper but onto his "chocolate" leg, so missed his opportunity to shoot before being crowded out and Rosicky shot over after some lovely interplay. There was one more goal though, as Jody Craddock headed home a last minute consolation for the home side and their "loyal supporters".

I know these goals are but footnotes at this stage of the game, but I'm getting a bit annoyed at our seeming inability to keep a clean sheet- although it goes without saying if we win every game between now and May 4-1, we're not just going to be Champions, we're going to be the highest scoring Champions in history. Obviously, we're not going to be able to keep that  rate up, so maybe I should just enjoy the goals whilst they last. It's a point not lost on Cesc Fabregas who, in his characteristic feet on the ground fashion, acknowledges that we are bound to go through a period where the goals will dry up and then we'll be back in "crisis" mode again.

The media thing is weird, though. We are second in the table, 5 points behind Chelsea with a game in hand and a home against them to come at the end of the month. Yet, we're still being essentially ignored as title contenders. It seems to me that we need to beat a team like Chelsea to be taken seriously and I look at that Chelsea team, a team that has lost to Wigan and to Aston Villa and I think "Why not?" Why can't we beat Chelsea? No reason at all, with the quality we have in our squad now. 

Speaking of Chelsea, I was most amused to see Darren Fletcher blaming Arsène Wenger for the attention he is now attracting from referees- this, of course, resulted in the award of a free kick at the Bridge yesterday which gave Chelsea their winning goal. Well, Darren, if the ref had done his job properly a couple of months back, perhaps our manager wouldn't have needed to say anything bout you. It's just dawned on me that this has actually backfired on us, as RvP admitted, the draw would have been the result we were looking for yesterday- shut it boss! We've suffered with this ourselves, we haven't had a penalty since that Celtic game and Eduardogate, despite some very good shouts.  What goes around, comes around.

It also ocurred to me earlier, we like to moan about the international breaks, but- even on this brilliant run we're on at the moment, given that November is indeed the month of doom, should we not be grateful for the fact we now have a two week respite? Of course, we've got an intense week when we come back from it, with little time between a trip to Sunderland for which we will have minimal preparation, a home game in the Champions League and then that game against Chelsea.

Hopefully, Alex Song will come back to us in one piece and manage not to get booked against Sunderland (if selected) because that will mean him missing the Chelsea game. I'm very pleased that Aaron Ramsey got a start on Saturday- and did well, by all accounts, but the idea of Abou Diaby, injured again, filling the holding role against Chelsea scares me a little. We may have Denilson and Theo available by then, let's hope we haven't lost anyone else in the meantime.

I don't know what it is with Tottenham, I really don't. Much as I'd like to leave them alone, they just keep bringing it on themselves. Fresh from their latest dvd release, 42 Minutes- commemorating their acheivement in those opening 42 minutes last Saturday-

we now have their Chief Executive, Paul Barber, talking up their new stadium. But not just talking it up, obviously I'd have no problem with that, he has to bring us into it. Apparently, their new stadium, being a generation beyond ours- as if 6 years is going to make such a huge difference- will be more advanced technologically and environmentally. I wonder about his environmental claims. As Patrick Barclay pointed out in Monday's Times, anyone who's ever been to White Hart Lane will know how difficult, due to woefully inadequate transport links, it is to get there. I don't see how an extra 16,000 knuckle draggers coming into the Tottenham area is going to help the immediate environment at all, the new stadium is going to have to be the Eden Projects of football stadia. Somehow, I don't think it will be, so Paul Barber, please try and  get over you and your club's unhealthy obsession with trying to outdo the neighbours.

Back in the real world..

I came from home work last night and the Tesco man had just arrived with Jo's shopping and a complimentary Dail Mail. Now, I'm not a Mail reader, but I am a man and the Daily Mail has sports pages. I know that 99.9% of men can never resist the back pages, regardless of which newspaper they belong to, I'm no different. I'm glad I checked them out because, as well as some very complimentary observations from Andy Townsend on Wednesday night's performance, there was an illuminating article on the nature of Arsenal's capture of the man we now call The Verminator.

It transpires that two months before the end of the season, Steve Rowley was tasked with finding a replacement for the outgoing Kolo Toure. Having hunted high and low, Rowley was tapped out. He had seen Vermaelen, but Vermaelen had not ticked all the boxes. Remembering how Vermaelen kept Thierry Henry quiet in a Champions League encounter with Ajax in 2005, Mr Wenger told him to go and look again. And so Rowley hid in the trees as Vermaelen trained with the Belgian national squad and his eyes were opened to the qualities of a player Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa had all looked at. And now the man who prefers to study the game, not the London night life, is ours and I think we can all agree on being happy with that outcome.

One player who most definitely does agree is Alex Song. Of course, like Vermaelen and Steve Rowley, Alex is also a player who qualities were not immediately obvious to everyone, though in my first attempt at an OleOle blog, back in the days before Gillespie Road, I expressed my belief that he was the most suitable partner for Cesc. Of course, Cesc has two midfield buddies now. Anyway, come the winter we will be losing one of our most influential performers in the team to the ACN, but Alex thinks Denilson will be able to deputise for him. I wonder about that. He is the only one currently in the first team squad you would think capable of doing the job, but I wonder if he is physically suitable for playing that role effectively. I think he did a good enough job of it last year, but Song's emergence as the holding midfielder has probably put his efforts in the shade a touch.

That's a future question, though. Today we go to Wolverhampton and we do so with Manuel Almunia restored as number one in the manager's eyes. Citing the importance of having the experience to deal with pressure and need to have continuity in goal, the manager says that Almunia did suffer a crisis of confidence after we beat Portsmouth. He wouldn't have dropped him had he not been sick, though. I have well documented reservations about the Spaniard and his propensity for errors of judgement as well as a lack of conviction in dealing with crosses, but without Fabianski available, it's understandable that he has been restored to the team as Mannone was beginning to tread water. I hope the rest has done Almunia good, he hasn't had much to deal with since returning to the team, but has still let in one eminently saveable goal, but on the positive side, he did make a cracking save on Wednesday night. Let's hope it's that side of him we get to see this evening. Or even that we don't see him at all!

Unfortunately, I'm out with friends, so won't be able to see the game live, which is a shame because I would have been looking forward to using my new Twitter account for the first time. I will however be watching either late tonight, or tomorrow morning, before heading over to mum's house to see my sisters. Enjoy the game, wherever you are. 

As Arsenal move ever deeper into the month of November, such is the quality at Arsène Wenger's disposal that even with ten members of the first team squad- yes Liverpool fans, we are also minus ten at the minute- missing in action, we don't seem to have been unduly disrupted. I say "don't seem", of course what I actually mean is that we haven't been disrupted at all. 

One of my favourite moments of the Alkmaar game, apart from the delicious football, was the sight of Andrey Arshavin trotting off to be replaced by Tomas Rosicky, who joined Samir Nasri in midfield. The manager is looking for Nasri and Rosicky to energise what could become a jaded midfield this month. With Theo Walcott and Denilson expected to return after the international break, the options for the manager are extensive. It even looks to me like, whisper it, Cesc Fabregas- perhaps not in the form he's in now- would not be missed if he was unavailable for any time. Not that I would want that to happen, you understand. But even without him you could have a midfield of Song, Rosicky and Nasri."The Legend" Rachid has a dream of seeing a midfield containing Cesc, Rosicky, Arshavin and Nasri. We may not be far away from that scenario, although I don't think we'll be seeing it tomorrow.

Staying with the manager, he has hailed RvP as the best striker in the league, citing his link up play as the winning factor. I think that if the manager had Didier Drogba, then perhaps he'd be calling that cheat the best striker in the league. But he doesn't, even if he did it would be understandable. I don't know if I'd pick Robin above a striker like Drogba or Torres, but one thing is clear, the improvements he has made this season and his current form, do demand a touch more recognition than he has been shown. One football website highlighting the fact that whilst Rooney and Drogba were lauded for their performances in their sides victories at the weekend and Torres was lauded for being, well, Torres, Robin's matchwinning display in the NLD was ignored by the MotD team. Actually, you could make a case that Arsenal's performance in that match was basically ignored by MotD,  what with it being 4th on the bill. Which is fair enough, but one wonders where the Lineker fronted programme would have placed it had Tottenham managed to change the habit of a century.

Annnnyway.

I mentioned Cesc earlier and he was one man who was clearly not going to get carried away with one of the most breathtaking expositions of Arsènal style on Wednesday night. It was quite a funny interview post match as whoever interviewed him was obviously trying to draw him into the kind of statement that saw Robbie Keane's ugly face covered in eggs last week- I will stop mentioning that eventually, I promise- but Cesc was having none of it. To the point where I was sitting there willing him to crack a smile. I don't know how many of you saw it, but I do agree with the sentiment, "Nothing is done now, we will talk when we win something". That kind of attitude might guarantee the growing feeling that something special might just be around the corner in N5. It is also the attitude that the captain will be leading his team out in Wolverhampton tomorrow night with, which will hopefully guarantee that we avoid any Stoke style surprises and climb ever closer to the Premier League summit. 

Mick McCarthy reckons Wolves are going to have a go at us, citing the manner of our setruction of Alkmaar as evidence that it's pointless trying to stop us in such a negative fashion. Whilst I welcome that as a refreshing change in attitude from a manager at the wrong end of the table, I do wonder if that's influenced by the fact his team will be at home and whether he might rethink closer to kick off. Either way, I say bring it on.

Arsenal have been a strange animal in this year's edition of the Champions League group stages. Off to the most catastrophic of starts in the opening fixture, they needed a late comeback to acquire the three points, dominant against Olimpiacos, they still needed two late goals to get the result the performance deserved and, at AZ, they sloppily conceded a late equaliser when they should have been comfortably out of sight.

Last night, however, the strange animal turned dangerous and finally put an end to talk of Ronald Koeman as their own personal bogeyman. In some style, too.

The team had three changes from Saturday afternoon; it was Samir Nasri and not Eduardo given the nod to replace Nick Bendtner, whilst Eboue replaced Bac Sagna and, as we knew would happen, Keiran Gibbs took Gael Clichy's place in the team.

And we picked up, pretty much, where we left off on Saturday.

An early move, which saw the ball pinballed between about 6 different Arsenal players- so quickly it happened, I can't remember who they were- ended with Robin van Persie's right foot shot across goal being touched behind by Alkmaar's Argentinian keeper. Which didn't stop the referee giving a goal kick. Which was a bit crap, but the quality of the passing signified danger ahead for the Dutch side. The ref then further endeared himself to the crowd when the keeper collected a backpass and he awarded an indirect freekick to Arsenal, but failed to keep the Alkmaar wall on the goal line, as they should have been, RvP's rushed shot hit the wall on the near post.

When the first goal arrived, it came during a period of relative quiet and the manner of it was most unexpected. William Gallas had such a quiet night last night that he spent much of the game bombing forward in Kolo style, it was from one such sortie as he wandered hither and thither along the grass that he found Cesc Fabregas on the edge of the box, 1 touch, 2 touch and a daisy cutter that was hit so slowly a passing tortoise ran zoomed past it, flicking a "V" as it did so, somehow crept just inside the near post. Yes, Cesc looked somewhat embarrassed, but who cares?

The second goal was indeed a thing of beauty. It came just before half time, ending any pretence of a contest and came about when the Bergkamp like Arshavin threaded a lovely ball through to Samir Nasri- the beauty of our fluid football exemplified by the fact that Samir found himself furthest forward in the de facto centre forward position, rocking one way, before rolling the other and sending the covering defender to the turf, Samir advanced to the edge of the area and slotted the ball home. Welcome back Samir, we've missed you!

Half time was spent listening to Tony Adams talking about the cosy chats around the fireside that he has with his old boss and the fact that Arsenal don't play a 4-3-3, it's actually a 4-1-4-1. Which, when you think about it- though I laughed at the time, does explain how Emmanuel Eboue could be deployed in an advanced position. It also explains, partly at least, how Cesc has been so amongst the goals this season. In my opinion, anyway.

Cesc it was who set things in motion in the second half, the goal beginning with a smart interception and pass from Abou Diaby, who found Arshavin, who waited and then played Cesc in for a 1 on 1. The result from there was emphatic, the keeper anticipating a far post finish and totally deceived by the finish high into the near corner of the goal.

Shortly afterwards, Manuel Almunia made a brilliant reaction save to deny Alkmaar a certain goal (I'll be honest, I didn't think he still had it in him) and then Ramsey and Eduardo replaced Cesc and Robin. It was Eduardo's intervention that led to a wonderful 4th goal, the beautiful cherry on top of a ginormous cake of attacking football.

As with most classic Arsenal goals, the story of it began deep in our half. William Gallas was, to me, lucky not to concede a corner, instead putting the ball out for a throw in. We stole the ball almost directly from the throw, the ball found it's way to Eduardo who took it forward, stopped, swivelled and then tried something it's okay to try on the halfway line when you're 3-0 up, but not on the edge of your box in the first two minutes of a Champions League game. Yes, it was the famous backheel. This one, perfectly executed, found Andrey Arshavin who charged on, before squaring the ball to Diaby. Hard. Diaby managed to control it with one touch, his second planted the ball home. 

Or, as Gordon Ramsey might have described it, Eduardo. Backheel. Arshavin. Square. Diaby. Control. Scored.

Rosicky replaced Arshavin and between him and Aaron Ramsey, they nearly managed to walk the ball into the net, Ramsey's shot hitting the bar- though it would have been disallowed by the offside flag anyway. That should have been that, but Alkmaar sub, Jeremaine Lens muscled Keiran Gibbs out down our left and then left Manuel Almunia looking rather sheepish with a toe punt inside the near post from the edge of the box. But then Arsenal wouldn't be Arsenal without the concession of such goals.

I think, though, this was the best team performance of the season.  Everyone seemed to play their part- although Eboue's dawdling tendency to forget where he is and then brainlessly concede possession continues to irritate. Arshavin, as I alluded to earlier, had a quiet game, but still managed to create 3 goals, Nasri looked sharp, Gibbs excellent in defence and attack. The strength we have at the moment, evidenced by the substitutions even with Bendtner, Walcott and Vela all unavailable, is proving too much for the opposition at the moment. Qualification is not yet ours officially, but it is surely only a formality now, with one point required from our last 2 games. Unlike Liverpool, heh heh heh.

Peter Hill- Wood and Stan Kroenke must be best mates now, as the Chairman has sold him 100 of the 200 shares the American has just purchased. This purchase has taken Stan to 29.9 of the 29.99% of shares required to trigger an offer for all shares issued in da club- sorry, couldn't resist that one. Of course, it probably needs to be said that any offer from Stan to the shareholders does not have to be accepted by them. But an oik like me wonders where all this could possibly be going. Interesting times ahead..

With much of the team news available today already covered in my blog yesterday, today's looks like being an Arse.com extravaganza ahead of the visit of AZ Alkmaar tonight.

With Keiran Gibbs coming into the team in place of the injured Gael Clichy, the boss has been talking about the young Englishman and how well he played in the aftermath of his slip in the Champions League semi final. Apparently, Keiran was set to be more involved in first team action over the coming weeks with the boss looking to rotate him with Clichy anyway. With Armand Traore, according to the extensive Arse.com injury update, due back in training from tomorrow, the situation is simply that Traore will now provide the rotation for Gibbs that Gibbs was due to provide Clichy. I wonder, though, whether Traore will be exposed as much as Gibbs would have been? There again, Traore had a season of first team football with Portsmouth last year, so Clichy's injury is a good opportunity for him as well as Keiran.

I'm sure Arsenal's current injury woes- ten first squad members are currently unavailable (did you know that, Robbie?)- were on Arsène's mind when he talked about the nightmare before Christmas that is also known as the month of November and the volume of games that coincide with the football season's transition from the late autumn sunshine and green pitches to the wintery chill enveloping various mud filled, potholed football pitches up and down the country. Although, not ours of course. Is it a coincidence that this month is traditionally the one that has us all scared to check the results on a Saturday/Sunday evening? Does the boss subconciously transmit his fear and loathing of November to the players?

That's enough film references for one paragraph, I guess.

I saw the boss talking about "Silent" Stan and the increasing volume of shares in his possession yesterday. Well, I say talking, what he said was pretty simple really. As long as his technical vision for the club is not interfered with, the ownership of the club doesn't really concern him. I guess some bloggers might take that as Arséne aggressively defending his territory, but what else is he supposed to say? You might not be surprised to hear that I agree with him.

He also took time to thank Alex Ferguson for the Manchester United manager's personal intervention regarding the obscene chants directed at our main man and the letters to be sent to Manchester United supporters. He didn't question, though I wonder, if the letters are to be sent by horseback?

Of course, tonight's game sees the return of Ronald Koeman, a man with very happy memories of north London- whether as a manager, knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League with a late Alex goal in 2007; or as a player, scoring the winning goal for Barcelona as they won the first of their three *sob* European Cups back in the early 90's. He comes here, though, under no illusion about the size of the "difficult" task in front of him. Especially as his team will have to contend with the man Koeman believes to be Holland's best, I'm not talking about Nacer Barazite either. With le boss talking up Robin's increased maturity, the player himself has been talking about how he is enjoying his new role. It seems to me that these are the keys to his success so far this season, I guess it isn't rocket science, but becoming the main man seems to have been the making of him.

Despite Robin's excellent form over the last month, though, the honour of being voted the PFA Fans' Player of the Month has fallen to club captain Fabregas. He's probably earnt it on the basis of that inspirational performance against Blackburn, though his goal on Saturday won't have hurt him either.

Of course, it was Robin and Cesc who combined for the opening goal in Holland two weeks ago, so Alkmaar know all about the difficulties of containing those two. If they can manage that, then they will have to worry about an Andrey Arshavin who hasn't seemed entirely happy over the last few weeks and an Eduardo who hasn't quite clicked into his clinical gears just yet. At least, with Bendtner on the sidelines for a month, I assume it will be Eduardo starting tonight. The inclusion of a clinical finisher as opposed to a trier who runs up and down a lot but ultimately achieves very little seems the obvious thing to do against a coach who likes to contain.

Enjoy the game, wherever you are. 

If yesterday's blog came to you via 4 hours sleep and a somewhat fragmented state of mind, then today's blog.. today's blog I'm starting to feel a little like Christian Bale's character in The Machinist. In bed at the not unreasonable time of 10.30, asleep by 11 and juddered awake by 2am. A night on the sofa finishing watching Star Wars- I'd started that one on Monday morning- before deciding I might as well eat something before getting into work early was all mine.

Before I decided to put the rest of Star Wars, perhaps not the best choice on an extremely black night of the soul, I was cruising Sky Sports News and came across Jermaine Jenas and his assertion that Tottenham's defeat at Arsenal was a one off. Er, really Jermaine?

What about this then?

Yes, I am that sad. But it tells its own tale, doesn't it? Twenty matches, 11 wins, 9 draws with 41 goals scored against 22 conceded suggests that perhaps it wasn't a one off at all. Anymore than Tottenham's third consecutive match against a member of the big four ending with them conceding three goals in defeat was. Harry Redknapp can claim there is no gap between the squads, but we all know that Arsenal are in the title race- whether they win it or not, Tottenham are in the race for a Champions League spot, if they're lucky. That is the reality gap.

To be honest, I think enough's been said, and I might not have mentioned this at all had Jenas' daft comments not interrupted my fun filled night, thoughts like fireworks exploding through my brain, on the sofa, "phenomenal squad"? the only thing phenomenal about Tottenham is the size of the ego in relation to the acheivement.

I could go on, I really could, but I don't want to lose you and I fear I might, so I will move on from Saturday's events, as the official website seems to have done.

The original version of yesterday's blog mused upon the plight of Liverpool, the bet I made with Luke's brother and Luke's insistence that 4 draws in a row Manchester City will finish the season crowned as champions. I forgot about that by the time I got home, but I also caught myself wondering about the Chelsea Manchester United clash at the weekend. With Arsenal playing Wolverhampton Wanderers and with Mick McCarthy's shocking record in the Premier League, it's difficult to see this as anything other than a chance to finish the weekend either in second place, or points closer to Chelsea. Honestly, the way United are playing, it's difficult to see how we won't be in second place come Monday morning, but let's not jump the gun and by doing so jump back in time to last season's assumption that games can be won by just stepping onto the pitch.

It's perhaps, with the visit of AZ Alkmaar a day ahead of us and Champions League qualification beckoning, a touch premature to be considering the Wolves game, but in a classic Arsenal touch, the players will take the field on Saturday evening with poppies embroidered into their shirts as a precursor to a shirt raffle in aid of the Royal British Legion and Help For Heroes.

Moving back to the Alkmaar game and the early team news is that Gael Clichy will be out for a month, due to a stress facture of the back. I might be wrong, but isn't this the same injury, or type of injury, that ended last season for him? Good news for Keiran Gibbs though, who showed last week just what he is made of. I look forward to seeing how he does in the month ahead with interest. Tomas Rosicky, on the other hand, returns to the squad after a short time out. So it'll be good to have him augmenting the options once more.

Stan Kroenke has made a further share purchase, the percentage of shares owned getting ever nearer to the 29.9% trigger. So that's something else to keep your eye on as I move deeper into my week from hell and Arsenal begin their traditional month of doom.

How absolutely lovely to be able to bring you post number 300 of Gillespie Road still basking in the afterglow of the smackdown handed out to our local "rivals" on Saturday afternoon.

I belatedly watched MotD last night and was surprised, or was I, to see no mention of David Bentley's lucky escape either in commentary, or what passed for analysis afterwards. I thought Hansen's assertion that Arsenal are superior to Tottenham only 1-11 is not even close to the truth. And that showed on Saturday afternoon. Though to be fair, given Liverpool's ongoing travails, perhaps his mind is on other things at present. To sum up, don't give it the big one about the strength of your squad and then cite injuries when you get bitch slapped- that's what the squad is for.

Harry Redknapp has made an even bigger arse of himself than Robbie Keane did by complaining about one Arsenal fan and his language on Saturday afternoon.  Did you read that right? Yes, you did. One Arsenal fan upset him, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. When you consider the abuse that Arsène Wenger takes as a matter of routine at the Lane, then perhaps Harry, like Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United are doing, should attempt to address the problems they have whenever we go there before sounding off about our supporters and their conduct.

Okay a few of us Arsenal fans had to nudge Manchester United in the right direction, but at least they now seem to be promising some action against supporters who continue their vile abuse, rather than just saying they've tried to do something.

At this point, I guess I should say- just in case you're wondering, and you might not be, but I need to get it off my chest anyway- this post would have been with you at lunchtime, or just afterwards- were it not for a return to work today that included a noon meeting with my capo di tutti capo- no, not Randall the very quiet Spurs season ticket holder and a 2pm team meeting. I nearly managed to squeeze the blog in between them, in fact, I did. But as I went to hit "Publish", for some reason the mouse found "Search" instead and I lost half of the blog. Shall I blame 4 ours sleep or a dodgy mouse? Anyway, rather than try and salvage it at work, I decided to come home early and finish undisturbed. At least, until la Ryan gets in.

Where was I?

Oh yes, Tottenham Hotspur and the utter tosh coming out of Harry Redknapp's mouth. It's a shame that the Online Gooner hasn't yet updated to the new print issue, all I'll say is, "This guy can lie".

Now that the talking has been done on the pitch, Robin van Persie has chosen to do some off the pitch. After Saturday's win, he came out with a line that may go down as one of the all time classic Arsenal quotes,

"It always feels good to beat Spurs. It even feels good when we don't play them and they get beaten, so it's especially good when we've played them."

Robin, until recently has been a source of frustration to this writer, but it's in lines like that you see how much this club means to him. In lines like that you can see the how DNA of the club (loathe as I am to bring such an issue up) has been passed down from the likes of Bergkamp and Henry to him. It doesn't take much to imagine these words coming out of either Dennis or Thierry's mouths in years gone past. In fact, it doesn't take much to imagine either of them saying it now, which is why they are still revered as Arsenal legends. Well, that, and the not insignificant contributions made to this club's recent past. According to the boss, that's not all RvP shares with the two either.

When he talks like that about a player, it shows you why he is a football manager and the rest are just writers. The obvious, logical thing to do was to play Bendtner through the centre and Robin right, right? Wrong. RvP's technique and intelligence has allowed him to flourish as the central striker in a way I never thought possible. And full credit to him for that, he's been inspirational of late and long may it continue.

One place it seems certain not to continue, despite the player's wishes expressed on Saturday night, is the Carling Cup quarter final at Middle Eastlands. I don't think you have to be a mind reader to work out what's on Robin's radar when he says he would "love to play" in that game. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist to surmise that, as the club's top scorer this season, he's unlikely to get his wish.

Another person wishing is Emmanuel Eboue- he's wishing on a star. No, not really, but he is apparently hoping to play for PSG one day. I'm not too sure what's prompted this none too subtle "come and get me" plea. Is it the fact that it is they and they alone who have room in their line up for a winger with no end product? Are they promising to make him first choice right back? Or is it just that he fancies the idea of Paris? I imagine that, for a French speaker, it would be ideal. I think, in all seriousness, he's never going to be more than Bac up to Sagna (sorry) and that he knows, with the talent in the first team, and coming through the ranks, his days as part of the attacking triumvirate are numbered. Would it be hypocritical of me to admit I'd be sorry to see him go? Sorry, that is, unless we got offered like ten million euros. Then, I'd get over it pretty quickly.

I mentioned Robin's similarities to Thierry Henry- without the searing pace, obviously- earlier and I'd like to close by making the observation that another player invoked memories of TH14 on Saturday. Cesc Fabregas' run through what passed for the Tottenham defence might not win the goal of the season award, but I bet when Thierry sees it, if he hasn't already, will be having flashbacks to that memorable day in 2003. It's so good to see that where we once had Robert and Thierry, we now have Robin and Cesc to torture the ones who shall be forever in our, long, shadow.

"Arsenal there for the taking, says Redknapp" screamed the headline in the sports section of the Guardian yesterday morning. I didn't know this because I didn't read it till Saturday evening, by which time I think it had been amply demonstrated that if we are there for the taking, it is only by teams just a little bit better than the current Tottenham mob. Arsenal's status as the north London boogeymen now fully restored on Halloween.

I said earlier in the week that, minus Modric, Lennon and Defoe, this game would prove the acid test of Robbie Keane's midweek windowlicking. And so it did. Yes, Tottenham missed those players, but we were without Rosicky, Walcott, Denilson, chose not to play Nasri and lost Nick Bendtner after half an hour- credit to the boss for bringing on Eduardo, rather than an attacking midfield option there. And we still won with lots to spare. On this theme, I heard Andy Gray say during commentary that Tottenham have only won one game since losing Modric through injury. That doesn't sound like a team with a strong bench to me, that sounds like we could justfiably call them a one man team. Before moving on, I guess, I'd like to to thank Robbie Keane on behalf of Arsène Wenger, for giving his team talk for him, cheers Robbie, hope you enjoyed your early bath.

Jo said to me before the game as I sat in the living room, stomach swimming from too much Staropramen with the boys on Friday, that she didn't know why I watched these games as I rarely enjoyed them. Of course, she's spot on. In truth, my physical condition was a good omen, our first victory over the cave dwellers at the Grove was preceeded by acute pre match nerves mixed with an alcohol sick stomach.

Not that it felt that way in the early exchanges, Tottenham happy to sit and spoil. In the case of David Bentley, he can consider himself a very lucky boy that he didn't follow up his wonder goal of last season with a red card in the first ten minutes. I'd like to know how Mark Clattenberg felt that a deliberate handball, preventing an Arsenal counter attack was not worthy of a yellow card. And if Bentley's tackle on Thomas Vermaelen just minutes later wasn't worthy of a red- I think some referees might have gone that route- it was certainly a yellow card. To the incredulity of everyone watching, he didn't even get that. A farce amplified when Vermaelen was booked later in the game for a tackle where he, get this, actually won the ball. Cleanly.

By then, it was immaterial. Gomes had already made a great save from Cesc Fabregas when the goals came. We hadn't been allowed to do much else, but aside from Alex Song making a great tackle on everyone's favourite little pikey, we'd given Tottenham nothing either. With just minutes to go till the break, Tottenham switched off for just a fraction of a second. It proved fatal. Arsenal worked a triangle from a throw in on the right, Sagna crossing hard and low to the near post, where RvP had got ahead of his marker and forced the ball past Gomes and into the corner.

It was as if Tottenham had been hit by a huge uppercut. Trying to clear their heads from the kick off, Cesc Fabregas won the ball almost instantly from some dithering midfielder, tearing through and past Tottenham challenges to the edge of the box where, when he might have been expected to go far post, he drove the ball inside the near post and went tearing off into the same corner as RvP, sliding to his knees in absolute triumph. Just 10.9 seconds of playing time separating Tottenham from the 0-0 they had and the 2-0 deficit they were now faced with.

Now, we know Tottenham have previous in recovering these deficits, as Arsenal have previous with throwing away these advantages. But I never felt that was on yesterday and when you look at the Tottenham side in the second half, I don't think they did either. That said, I think there was still a feeling that the destination of the third goal might prove crucial. It came with a delightful karmic payback for the goal that Tottenham scored in the last every Highbury derby, you know the one that nearly cost us Champions League football?

Eduardo was cleaned out on the right touchline, the ball running to Bac Sagna. Everyone stopped waiting for the ref's whistle, but Arsenal stopped for just a second less than Tottenham. It was enough. Sagna got his cross in, Gomes tipped it past the covering central defender and RvP was on hand to flick the ball into the empty net. Game, set and match.

On another day, it would have been much worse for Tottenham even with Arshavin playing like a dunderhead, the normally reliable Eduardo failing to convert any of the three decent chances he had, one in particular you would have put not just your house, but everything you owned on him. Beating the offside flag, he was alone in the stadium, just him and Gomes with the keeper in no mans land. As the ball dropped to him perhaps he wanted to lob it, but the ball died a fraction. Settling for rolling it past, he rolled it just wide of the post. No matter on this occasion. For their part, the closest they came was a Bentley free kick that the restored Almunia made a bit of a meal of. Nice to see a clean sheet though, and nice to see him actually coming for crosses for a change.

There was a glorious snapshot of both managers during the second half yesterday, as the game slipped away from the twitchy one, he could be observed slumped in his seat, almost put to sleep, it seemed, by the soporific fare offered by his Tottenham team. I've said it before, but surely a team with Champions League pretensions has to be expected to actually come out and play a bit, not just be happy to defend, Spurs had nowhere to go once we were ahead. On the other hand, as Arsenal went looking for the 4th that never came, Arsène was seen slamming his jacket into his seat on the bench apparently in frustration at his inability to communicate with his team due to the "noise of the crowd" . Such is the passion that still burns deep. What a way to pick up your 1,000th Premier League point, too. And whilst we're on milestones, Arsenal have now gone undefeated in 20 Premier Legue fixtures againt the neighbours, a whole decade has passed since Tottenham's 2-1 home win in 99, acheived when Arsenal were down to 9 men, by the way. Rivals? Really?

Diaby shouldered a corner wide, Aaron Ramsey sprinted clear in the final minute, causing a hmastring injury to Sebastien Bassong and so reducing Spurs to the ten men they should have been at after ten minutes, but failed to pick his pass properly. None of that mattered though as the final whistle went and Arsenal proved that not only are they top dogs in north London, but they are in this title race. Arsène had observed pre match that perhaps Tottenham's talking would be better done once they had managed to qualify for the Champions League twelve seasons in a row. You'd like to think that now the not so great white hype fully realise the scale of the Everest they must climb.

Shaking off the cobwebs of my first game of football in 5 weeks last night, we lost but my ankle stayed in one piece- so really, I feel like I won- despite some distinctly Eboueesque crossing, this blog comes to you before I head off to Comet to look at dvd players via a night on Steve, the QPR season ticket holder's sofa and a morning trip cross London.

It comes to you now because after the dvd trip, Jo and I are heading up to Islington for a night out with Luke and his girlfriend, Pia, who is returning to Denmark for a while. So, the chances of getting up tomorrow morning and banging out a Tottenham preview are, well, less than good, shall we say?

Here are my thoughts, then, about tomorrow's meeting between the teams sitting 3rd and 4th in the table respectively; we have to win. Simple as that. I don't care if they outplay us for 89 minutes and 30 seconds of the game and we score a goal off Emmanuel Eboue's arse and nick it 1-0. I know that, going on previous history, this is unlikely, what's more likely to happen is that we will outplay them them for 89 minutes and 30 seconds before Jermaine Jenas pings one in from 30 yards. No matter who is in goal.

We had a humiliation to avenge when we last met at the Grove and despite looking like we were going to avenge that humiliation for, oooh, 89 minutes and 30 seconds, we ended up with enough egg on our faces for one hundred tortilla patatas. Then, at the Lane, we were denied a chance for revenge when Eboue ridiculously managed to get himself sent off with an hour to play. A moral victory for us in the end, but that's all it was. You sense too that recent results between us have resulted in Tottenham feeling quite confident about tomorrow, but I think they're underestimating what lies ahead of them tomorrow lunchtime. Yes, they should have beaten us last time out. No, we haven't beaten them since December 2007, but that is precisely why they should fear us.

The first team have had a week to prepare for this, we've had a year of waiting to restore the pecking order. That Tottenham are set to arrive without Defoe, Modric and Lennon really will be the acid test of Robbie Keane's "bench" assertion of midweek. Of course, we will be without Walcott, but it seems- so far- as though Nasri, Eduardo and Bendtner will all be in contention to augment the line up tomorrow lunchtime. I don't say this with any wish to denigrate Eboue and Diaby's efforts so far this season (what, any more than I have already?) but I think it's fair to assume that a front 3 of Arshavin, RvP and Eduardo is more than enough to have Tottenham wondering about what's in store tomorrow. And then you think that Nasri could join a midfield of Cesc and Song. Yes, Tottenham have started well, but they've come up short when faced with quality this season as, admittedly, we have. Well, tomorrow, they'll be facing quality all over the pitch. I can't wait.

As I alluded to earlier, the goalkeeper conundrum is set to continue a while longer- designated number 2, Fabianski have a thigh problem that will see him miss three weeks. Which means the shirt tomorrow is being fought for by deposed number 1, Manuel Almunia and the current incumbent, Vito Mannone. Football365 sum the problem up nicely with the line, "Almunia set to be Arsenl's non saving keeper again". I reckon, though, if you're going to have a keeper in goal who's going to make mistakes, go with the one who is going to improve. It's not like Almunia's big game temperament will be missed anyway, is it?

Elsewhere, star of the week, Fran Merida has got Atletico Madrid sniffing around him, he's out of contract in the summer and though he seems happy in London- well, he says he is, I do wonder if the pull of home and the promise of first team football may see him on his way. That'd be a shame, but not, you'd think, the end of the world.

No, the end of the world might come at around 3pm tomorrow. Let's hope not.

Come on you reds!  

So, after I left you yesterday evening, Jo and I headed off to get our train up town. We got to Soho's Revolution, having threaded our way through London streets teeming with theatre goers, just in time to make use of their 241 on burgers offer and ordered a couple of Russian Brides- why they can't just call them White Russians, I don't know.

From there, we squeezed in a couple more cocktails each and then headed off to get the Piccadilly line to Arsenal with about 40 minutes to kick off. I got chatting to a friendly Liverpool fan on a predictably packed tube, he hadn't got a ticket but was going up on the off chance. Our exchange opened in classic style,

Scouser: Excuse me mate, which station's best to get off at for Arsenal?

Me: Arsenal.

When he started talking about "that Brazilian" from a couple of seasons back, I opened up a bit more. He meant Baptista, obviously. I wonder if he made it in? The scouser, not Baptista.

There were ten minutes to kick off when the train pulled in at Arsenal and four minutes to kick off by the time we made it out of the station. As for outside the ground, the queues were not moving that quickly. There seemed to be, in our entrance at least, a problem with some cards- I think the problem was supporters queueing up at the wrong entrance.

So, we got to our seats in block 6 about 90 seconds into the game. Despite best intentions- I hate being late for football- it seems to be getting more and more difficult to be on time for it these days. Is it just me, or is the London Underground a total disaster zone?

Anyway, Nasri, Eduardo, Bendtner and Merida all started. The midfield anchor, though, was not Randall and it wasn't Coquelin either, it was Craig Eastmond. And between you and me, he did rather well. Not, reading around t' interweb, that I'm the only one to have noticed this.

Liverpool had Babel, Kuyt, Skertl, Voronin and N'Gog in their team, so Liverpool were clearly not coming down to roll over and have their bellies tickled by a strong Arsenal side. And it made for an absolutely riveting cup contest.

I think Liverpool had a good chance just as we were getting to the seats, which we stood in front of all night. Our first chance was a Nasri free kick just wide. Then, some brilliant interplay down the left, culminated in Bendtner playing a 1-2 with Eduardo, in on goal with an option to the right, he stumbled over it allowing Liverpool's keeper to collect.

I said yesterday that Fran Merida had a chance to shine and he took it with aplomb yesterday. Good passing and clever turns characterised his performance yesterday. But none of that would stand out especially alongside the performances of Eduardo, say, or Samir Nasri. What did stand out was the opening goal. As Arsenal attempted to work their umpteenth triangle on the right, Kerrea Gilbert gave the ball away to Voronin, who tried to lay the ball off, the ball was intercepted and arrived at Fran Merida's feet on the edge of the box. His fierce left foot drive smashed off the near post- ooh! and into the back of the net sending everyone, including Cesc Fabregas on the big screen,  mental. Except the couple next to me, eating their Maltesers.

The Grove rocked, how it rocked- unlike a normal Carling Cup game, I have to say. And then Liverpool reverted to type, a big hoof down field, headed on and Emiliano Insua continued the Grove tradition of ridiculous goals scored by the opposition with a dipping volley that gave Fabianski no chance. He celebrated in front of us, too. Git.

Shortly after that there was piece of football that summed up so much about Arsènal, the way they play  and why it will always be preferable to watching a team drilled by the likes of Benitez- who was on his feet most of the night. Penned in to our corner, Nick Bendtner managed to sidestep a challenge; working a series of one twos with Aaron Ramsey, he started an attack that finished with Fran Merida beating the keeper from the left, but his shot being blocked. I haven't done the sheer audacity of that move justice, but it was ejector seat football. From the Liverpool keeper missing a corner, there followed a ridiculous goalmouth scramble which finished with Bendtner shooting tamely into the keeper's hands. Another spell of intircate passing ended with Bendtner just failing to get on the end of a through ball.

And at half time; the score was, somewhat improbably, one all.

As the second half began, a beach ball began flying around our block, "On the pitch, on the pitch!" before an alert steward confiscated it. And before many had made it back from their half time miturations and refreshments, Arsenal had the decisive goal. It began, I think- my glasses aren't that powerful- with a lovely piece of skill and driving run from the excellent Keiran Gibbs- though it could have been Eastmond (no, it wasn't, just seen it again). It ended with Nick Bendtner holding off Martin Skrtl's challenge and lashing the ball, left footed, in at the near post.

Of course, we didn't mind him celebrating in front of us. Not one bit.

From there on, it seemed that we were trying to play on the counter a bit, as Liverpool had far more of the ball than in the first half, Vornonin and, from a free kick, Babel going close. Eastmond and Bendtner were replaced by Randall and Sanchez "you what you what you what you what you" Watt and, for me, Watt should have had a penalty. Played in on the right, he might have shot but chose to take the defender on, turning him one way and then the other, he was clearly impeded. But it seems that an Arsenal player would have to have both legs hacked off at the knees to get a penalty these days. Eduardo, playing the full 90, might have made the game safe in the dying minutes as he burst down the left, but put his shot just wide of the far post.

Liverpool, apparently had a claim for handball against Senderos in the 4 minutes of injury time, but being down the other end, I have no idea whether it should have been given. I guess we're due a bit of luck against them with regard to penalty claims, so I'm not going to complain. Obviously.

Amazingly for a midweek cup game, the majority of the crowd were still in (or at) their seats on the final whistle, which no doubt contributed to the big roar which greeted the end of a thoroughly absorbing contest.

And the insanely crowded Gillespie Road, as we made our way out. So crowded it was, in fact, that we decided to forgo the tube queues and head to the Arsenal Tavern, or the @ Club, whatever it's called now, and have a nice, relaxing drink before heading home.