Trying to make sense of games like the one last night is always going to be a conflicting experience, you're view or opinion is not unrelated to your pre-match expectations, how you expect football to be played, how the game pans out and what you believe constitutes a great game. Looking around the blogs today it seems that there is a fair share of mixed reaction from disappointment to just plain enjoyment of the madness that is a 4-4 result.

Prior to the match at Anfield I think the majority of Arsenal fans would have looked at team with a defence that contained just 2 first choice members of a back 5 (one still unfit and one just uncertain) and missing both first choice strikers with some trepidation. Combined with the fact that our record at Anfield over the 40 years of supporting Arsenal is littered with thumpings and poor results, it would not leave us optimistic especially as Liverpool had the weekend off and needed the win far more than we did. Bearing that all in mind I think I would have taken a point before the game...

I'll also say that I was hoping for a good performance against a side with so much to play for but once the game starts those pre-match thoughts disappear and you tend to view the game based on how events unfold. On that score, there are two trains of thought, we were either quite fortunate to get a point by scoring some great counter attack goals or we threw 2 points away by being unable to defend a 1-0, 3-2 or 4-3 (with a few minutes to go) lead. For me it's somewhere inbetween and a draw was certainly a fair result at the end of 90 (+6???) minutes.

The other talking point about 4-4 games is whether they are "classics" or "great" or just "error riddled goal fests"! If your Alan Hansen or one of the other cynical media folk it always seems to be about the "poor defending" and, to be fair, there was plenty of that on show last night. But hey, let's celebrate the joy of a game like that for the entertainment it provided, even comedy defending has its own moments and so we should get Silvestre his own pair of big shoes and red nose. Let's enjoy the moment Arshavin announced himself in true style to the Premier League..

No the only really bad thing about last night is the fact that the one man smiling after it would have been Old Red Nose himself and I can never like that...

I'm not sure that in communities like OleOle.com there are many people who really got to see Ray Kennedy play for either club, particularly Arsenal, of course. He was one of my first heroes - that goal at White Hart Lane in 1971 was probably my first complete emotional moment that I can remember. He went on to much more success when joining Liverpool, winning titles and European Cups galore. It was in more recent times that news came of his early onset of Parkinson's Disease and subsequent loss of money and even the most basic of living requirements. You can see in this article how he had to sell off his medals and other memorabilia jusy to make ends meet. The tribute to him tonight and the work done by many fans from both clubs should take centre stage and the game of football can be exactly that - just a game.

A few Arsenal fans have been saying (me amongst them) that Villa have had their fair share of luck in their recent performances and to a small extent that may be true but as Gary Player once said, "the more I practice the luckier I seem to get". So whatever luck they've had (or not) they are in a deserved position and leaves us (as we stand) with the intriguing possibility of a three way fight for fourth with us, Chelsea and Liverpool. As it stands none of them are in great form and it could even be that Everton sneak up as well.

What's quite odd is the media's incredulous dismissal of Aston Villa, unbeaten in ages, seven staright away wins and yet they a still have no chance of the title and only an outside chance of a top four finish. It seems they've refused to listen to the media and I for one say well played and I would, of course, much rather finish in the top 4 with one of either Liverpool or Chelsea outside.

This means, of course, that we need to win tomorrow for more than just the bragging rights and I'm not thinking it will be easy and I've not got too many good vibes about tomorrow. I just feel when there's a chance of him being found out, Harry Redknapp conjures up some luck from somewhere - I hope I'm wrong. 

Not much better for  FC Basel who staged a comeback today to get back to 2-2 after being 2-0 down to the Young Boys and then lost it in the last couple of minutes!

There's always been something about the Liverpool games that makes me dread them. Firstly there was the period in the late 70s/early 80s when you were never likely to win and they would play pass back to the keeper all day before Rush scored a winner. More recently they have played dull football and yet we never seem to beat them as often as we would like and the Liverpool centric pundits would always harp on about how it's good for the game if Liverpool challenge for the title. So I've never really enjoyed these games and today was no exception.

We took the lead in a fairly scrappy and hectic first half, saw Keane lunge in on Clichy (which could have seen him sent off but being Liverpool there was no chance of that), defended badly to concede and then saw Adebayor sent off for two innocuous challenges. However, since Liverpool looked the more likely victors when we had 11 men on the field it was good to see the passion and commitment (so often missing this season) when we were reduced to 10. I'd love too think it will galvanise us for the Villa game but I'm not holding my breath!

Let's now wait and see what ex-Liverpool players such as Hansen and Lawrenson say about the sending off on MOTD!

I could go on about the Champions League draw (seen on a TV in the gym at lunchtime) and the possibility of a trip back to Rome (I used to go there a lot for work) but it doesn't mean anything until February so we can wait till then.

It seems the boardroom saga will run for a few more days and the game against Liverpool that used to be all about sport is now more about problems in each of the boardrooms and contracts and buy outs and bollocks...

It's not stopping me coming home for a game but when the main story about your club, the club you've supported since a young boy, is all about who owns 15.9% of the shares, who wants them, why they owner of the shares left and a Russian oligarch....then...truly...as ...most..of .....us know....

The game is well and truly f##ked.

But we still get up to catch a flight at 6.50am for a game of football.

Financial journalists and experts must be suffering from an incredible workload at the moment as every Tom, Dick & Harry needs a quote or an opinion about the Global financial crisis and its impact on everything aside from the actual financial world. Stories have been written about the Premier League clubs and their potential for catastrophe. So we have West Ham and the dodgy Icelandic banks, Stadiums not being built on Merseyside and Man Utd's sponsor being bailed out by the US government.

However, what this means, in reality, is a plethora of stories that actually aren't stories but need to be written to justify the editor's need for contemporary news, i.e. anything about finance & football. So it was no surprise today to see a story regarding Arsenal, Liverpool, Stoke City & Bolton Wanderers (+ a few more)  that relates to the British Government's partial takeover of UK banks, Lloyds TSB and HBOS (RBS). The headline says "Top Clubs Sweat" but the article really articlulates that there is actually no real problem, in fact, the banks are in a better position in many ways. Yes where renegotiation is needed there could be  aproblem or two but with guaranteed TV income for teh short term that probably wouldn't impact too much.

I read the editorial of When Saturday Comes this morning in which it outlines the reasons why Arsenal did such a good job with the process and timing for the building of the Emirates Stadium. Although there must be some doubts over the ability to sell the expensive new flats at Highbury in the current environment the feeling is that the long term, low-interest loan may not inhibit the club a great deal. Of course, we also need to keep 60,000 people coming in every week and will corporations be willing to keep a £150k box in difficult times.

Having said that there are a lot of clubs who are struggling to either find the investment or make the plunge and spend on a news stadium in the current times. Both merseyside clubs, Everton (with a public enquiry planned)  & Liverpool seem to be pushing back and pushing back any plans to build as have Portsmouth. Liverpool announced yesterday on their website that they have no firm date for starting the project.

as I sit here with a decent bottle of Crozes Hermitage flicking around the channels for a little football, though, to be honest, I only started looking after I finished watching a very good film. If you get the chance (and especially those of you who want to know what life was like in the 80s in parts of England) have a watch of "This is England" - it's a bit raw (in language and content) but there is a superb acting performance by a very young kid.

Anyway, where was I, oh yes football tonight and if the Champions League qualifiers are bad then don't even get me started on UEFA Cup qualifiers - I see Manchester City are struggling against a technically good Danish side but you feel the wealth of the Premier League is far more important for Mark Hughes and his asylum seeking boss.

Of course I'm more excited about coming back this weekend for the first hom egame of the season against WBA. However, the excitement is only partly due to the match and more to do with the pre match banter - having a drink with mates I haven't seen for three months is more important than football. In fact, there has been many a time when we're sitting, drinking a pint and there is that communal feeling that we should stay in the bar and watch it on TV - we never do, of course, but it's tempting sometimes.

Oh and I haven't mentioned last night, I didn't see our game as it wasn't shown on nay of the stations I receive but I saw part of the Liverpool game and it sounds a similar game. Passionate crowd, decent side and we got the goals at the right time. I watched a bit of the Basel game and thankfully they did okay - so the return leg is wide open. There is still hope for Basel to be in Arsenal's group!

I've just been stung by a wasp whilst sitting on my apartment balcony and since this is the second sting within a month I'm reconsidering my "Wasps aren't that bad" stance! My wife hates wasps but I've never had to much to detest them for - until this last month, at least today's sting wasn't whilst I was riding a bike as the last one was. Not only did that one really hurt but it probably looked very strange to car drivers as I performed the dance of "get the f##k off me wasp, oh shite that f##king hurts" before nearly careering into a lamp post...

Anyway on the subject of annoying buzzing things that don't seem to go away, Adebayor has decided he'll stay or Arseblog reporting the Sun says he'll stay. Wonder if he'll get a similar ovation to Gareth Barry when he first plays. I'm off to Stuttgart next week to watch the friendly so maybe I can confirm first hand...

The French Press, in the shape of L'Equipe, when not talking about the great stage to Alpe D'Huez in the tour, are muttering a lot about the transfer from Paris to Liverpool of David Ngog - which will cause great pronunciation problems I'm sure.

In Switzerland there were 3 games last night and both Basel & FC Zurich kept up their 100% records with Zurich playing behind closed doors (and their second home game) due to crowd problems last year.