Tottenh*m 1 - 1 Arsenal

So.. 1-1 at the shithole that is Spite Heart Lane.. (the image of big Tony spitting out the tube window as we travelled past to the game still locked securely and vividly in the memory banks!)

Probably a fair result to be honest..

Undoubtedly the yids had the best of the first half, Ledley King rising highest as he slammed home an unmarked header to give the jews a 17th minute lead.. A lead which they were incapable of adding to and it was the failure to do this which undermined any chance of victory..

It was probably even for 10 minutes after the interval and then we started to play.. Pires came on for Flamini and our balance seemed to be restored.. Fabregas slotted back alongside Gilberto in the centre of midfield and our belief poured back.. Angles opened up and we suddenly found the ability to create and exploit space.. Van Persie was introduced, he was sharp and we looked dangerous again.. By the end of the game we were as frustrated not to get something more out of the game, just as Sp*rs were disappointed at only being 1-0 up at the break..

Arsenal dominated in the last quarter and only an excellent reflex save from Robinson denied Robin Van Persie, moments before the England 'No. 1' (2 mistakes in 2 games, Kirkland injured again, therefore England's No.1 by default) flapped at Bergkamp's cross and allowed Pires to fire a well taken volley past him for the equaliser..

Arsenal had a late rally and only a brave block from Dawson saved a goal bound effort from Van Persie stealing the points.. But overall a point was fair.. Despite what the really clever psychologist Martin 'we're the best side in North London, because i said so, don't worry about the 9 years of trophy's and top 2 finishes we can never compete with' Jol says..

Finish above us 9 years in a row, top 2 finishes minimum each time, win the premier league 3 times, do it at our ground, play the best football ever seen in the league, break the goal scoring run, the unbeaten record and number of F.A. Cups won and lastly, win the league unbeaten and then maybe.. Just maybe we'll talk.. But i doubt it.. Talk about delusional..

The pic is especially for you Martin.. Champions at the Shithole what??

Sunderland 0 - 3 Arsenal

To some the faces may have been unrecognisable but, unfortunately for Sunderland, the style was unmistakably Arsenal.

Arsenal's youngsters proved that there is light at the end of the tunnel for Arsenal following a stuttering start to the season. A 30 yard thunderbolt from Emmanuel Eboue and a brace from Robin Van Persie ensured Arsenal's win, but the style and attitude of the performance were just as pleasing as the score line.

A 47,366 bumper crowd witnessed Arsenal, who made 10 changes from the side that beat Manchester City on Saturday, enjoy a fully deserved victory against the Black Cats.

It was a harsh footballing lesson for Sunderland as the young Gunner's probed their opponents for an hour before tearing them apart. Arsenal had several impressive performers in Alexandre Song 17, Fabrice Muamba 17, Emmanuel Eboue 21, Robin Van Persie 21 and the effervescent Quincy Owusu Abeye 19.

Eboue opened the scoring on the hour mark, with a spectacular 30 yard drive, Van Persie rifled a penalty into the roof of the net after he was bought down by Dari Smith shortly after. Van Persie then completed the rout with a well taken goal from Sebastian Larsson's through ball three minutes from time.

Arsenal's average start to the league campaign has led Arsene Wenger to be heavily criticised by the media following his failure to replace Patrick Vieira. Wenger however, has faith in his promising batch of youngsters and performances like these repay such faith. I don't want to get carried away, but how good are these kids going to be in 2 or 3 years time? Not all of them will make it. But you can see why Arsene doesn't want to just buy to make up the numbers. He doesn't have to. The thought of challenging Chelsea in our new super stadium, with a burgeoning young team of world-class players, which importantly have been assembled for free, is a mouth watering prospect. It will be Arsene hand reared fledglings against the team that money bought. Morally already victory is ours. It may take time to come right but.. Stand by Arsene.. He know's what he's doing.. Performances like last night prove it..

Arsenal 1 - 0 Manchester City

Arsenal beat Manchester City 1-0 at Highbury thanks to Robert Pires' 61st minute penalty. David James bought down Henry and Pires duly obliged from the spot. With what was in truth a beautifully taken Penalty.

However, the game was overshadowed by the other penalty in the game. Robert Pires' second penalty kick, awarded after Sylvain Distin felled Dennis Bergkamp, will live long in the memory. The flamboyant Frenchman rather controversially opted to pass to Henry instead of dispatching the penalty in the usual manner. However Pires decided to roll his studs over the ball and Henry was confused as to whether he could touch it and the moment was lost. Having missed a clear cut chance from 8 yards you would think Pires would be keen to make amends, score the second penalty and secure the result. However, it was apparently Henry's idea. The wrong decision yes, but nothing more.

I don't see why we are being lambasted by the press so much. Admittedly Arsenal is the only top flight club where this could happen. Isn't it a good thing, to an extent, that the players feel free to try these things? Yeah it didn't come off, but then what's the harm? If it had gone in it would have been audacious, innovative and daring. If it had been a big game we wouldn't have tried it. It matters not. The league is gone. We all know it.

It wasn't Arsenal's most convincing performance, the weren't at their free flowing best but they took the 3 points from an ever improving side with several key players out and made up valuable ground on their Champion's League chasing rivals. So it wasn't a bad day by any means.

Is it me or does Jose Mourinho look increasingly like a drunken detective? Babbling on about a goal which 'should have stood'. If Gudjohnsen wasn't offside/interfering with play standing on the middle of the six-yard box where do you draw the line? Has he started to model himself on Columbo?..

Sparta Prague 0 - 2 Arsenal

Arsenal beat Sparta Prague 2 - 0 in the Letna stadium to maintain their 100% start in the competition and cement their place at the top of Champions League Group B.

Thierry Henry's sublime brace ensured Arsenal's victory and in doing so the great man eclipsed Ian Wright's goal tally to become the greatest goalscorer is Gunner's history.

Henry replaced the injured Jose Antonio Reyes on 15 minutes and took only 7 minutes to score a memorable goal, controlling the impressive Kolo Toure's long ball with the back of his heel and firing an unstoppable, anger filled, swering bullet of a shot into the far corner.

1-0 Arsenal and they never looked back. From then onwards Arsenal controlled the game and looked pretty comfortable, with Toure putting in a assured defensive display which was key. The Gunner's doubled their lead midway through the second half, Robert Pires playing a beautiful curling pass, which Henry controlled expertly and finished with his usual laconic style. Henry's footwork in the build up to the goal summed up what he is best at. He made taking a moving ball in his stride at full pace seem devilishly simple, something it is not. Great players can make hard things look simple. Henry is a great player. It now says so in the history books. Admittedly Sparta weren't the best opponents, being described by a well respected Arsenal expert as a 'bunch of c**nts' with an attack which was 'bread and butter' to defend.

Arsenal put in an confident display which is a rarity in the Champions League, there were plenty of positives to take from the game, the defence was solid, after Clichy had improved, Pires looked 50% improved when Henry was introduced and Arsenal didn't have their usual stutter and drop in confidence.

However, Arsenal do lack a dynamic ball winner, who can drive the team forward, increase the tempo of the team and play a defence splitting pass. However when you are 1-0 up and have Henry it's not of that much importance. Even less so in the Champions League than the Premiership.

Can Arsenal win the Champions League this season? Yes for the first time I can remember, I think they actually can.

West Brom 2 - 1 Arsenal

Arsenal were beaten at the Hawthorns by a Darren Carter wonder goal. Chris Kirkland (Left) however, was the star of the show. Kirkland produced countless saves to thwart Arsenal who were dominant in almost every department, as for the second game in a row Arsenal came up against a goalkeeper in form.

Philippe Senderos volleyed in Jose Reyes' 17th minute corner to give Arsenal the lead. It looked as though that would settle Arsenal's youngsters and give them a platform to go on and win the game as they had a more than healthy amount of possession and looked like the dominant side.

Ljungberg was replaced due to injury on 37 minutes and it didn't take West Brom long to capitalise. It was somewhat against the run of play that Kanu, the idiosyncratic Nigerian ex-Arsenal player, equalized with an unusually very well taken goal. Kanu pounced on an error from Senderos, his headed half- clearance found Kanu and he duly netted his first goal in 18 months, from then on it was clear that it would not be Arsenal's day.

Arsenal continued to press and created several good scoring opportunities, but Kirkland was equal to everything that Arsenal threw at him, on another day Arsenal would have won this game easily. It was West Brom who did exactly that though as Darren Carter smashed home what in truth was an excellent goal from all of 25 yards on 75 minutes.

Arsenal have a problem scoring from open play at the moment. Reyes badly needed a goal but didn't get one. Hence the fact that Arsenal's second and third top goal scorers are centre backs. Kirkland played well, yes, however a lot of the shots were at a nice height. He made several good saves and one excellent save but none were world class. Arsenal were not clinical enough and ultimately punished for that.

The truth is Arsenal lost this game due to a combination of profligancy in front of goal, a lack of ability to find the net without Thierry Henry, bad luck and a memorable goalkeeping display.

It is a little mellow dramatic to say Arsenal are finished, that Tottenham are the best side in north London and that we have nothing to play for. We still play the best football in the league and this display wasn't the worst and we have won games not playing as well. The cream always rises to the top a very good friend of mine said to me and he summed it up perfectly. Arsenal will win the title again. We have a new stadium which will make us the most profitable club in the world, our long term future is secure. No need to panic.

The good news for us is that the league is and always was done and dusted. That'll give our younger players the chance to play without as much pressure and allow them to develop their potentials. With any luck, this time next year, at Ashburton Grove we'll have grown a team to befit what should be a world class stadium, what's more important we'll have done it the right way.

Roll on the Champions League..

Will Arsenal Prosper In the Champions League Without Vieira?

This is something I have been thinking about..
I wrote most of this article on 29th September, but it's more apt now than ever..
At the moment I think we are lacking a little bit of physical ness in the midfield, especially in the premiership. In Europe I don't think it is such an issue because the pace is slower & it is more about tactical awareness. Look at Liverpool, Biscan is not the world's greatest player by any means, & no one can say he was a success in the premiership, but the guy is a European Champion. Fact. He was told to do a job, fit into a system & he did it.. Well. The Champions League requires something different to the week in week out battle that the Premiership provides. It is more about tactical awareness opposed to physical ability. To a certain extent at least.

I truly believe & this may sound odd to some people but.. We have a better chance to win the Champions League without Patrick Vieira. This is surely one of the main reasons (the other possible being he has one leg longer than the other & so is more susceptible to injury in the latter stages of his career, possibly just hearsay) that Wenger sold him. We will miss him in the hustle & bustle of the Premiership, no doubt about that. However, in the Champions League I think, we can prosper without him.

I think we will sacrifice a bit of physical power for tactical awareness & the ability to play as a team & not just through one player, whom you expect something special from. I believe that now we can play in a system & no one will overly rely on one player & will fully appreciate their roles in the team.

A classic example would be the Inter Milan away game. Our best ever result & performance in the competition. No Vieira, Parlour (a workhorse) & Edu in the midfield. No ego's, no expectations, no shackling of our play as the load was spread evenly & everyone did their jobs. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for what Vieira did for us. He was a giant. But it was harder to win in Europe with him in the side.

We remind me of Liverpool, they lost to Palace and we have lost to West Brom, the Premiership has gone we accept that, for once we seem to look forward to the Champions League. We are more tactically aware than before as each players know they must perform a specific job and they have been doing that. We look more compact and less nervous. A few early wins can be key to us having confidence something we have lacked in the past.

Maybe this is why we look a bit more comfortable in the Champions League, that & the fact we have Sol Campbell back. We seem to be a lot more defensively stable now that Sol is back. That is the Key for the Champions League, if they don't score they can't win. Like 2003/4, Juventus got to the final. They were boring but had an equal chance to win the trophy. No-one would have remembered as boring now if they had won it..

Arsenal 1 - 0 Birmingham

So.. A rare deflected Arsenal goal, a sending off, 3 points & a master class in goalkeeping..

Arsenal maintained their 100% home record, Robin Van Perise's deflected shot gave them a 1-0 win over Birmingham at Highbury.

Robin Van Persie's speculative drive skipped wickedly off the heel of Stephen Clemence with 9 minutes remaining, to leave the excellent Maik Taylor stranded & Birmingham deflated.

It could've been an interesting game, Birmingham started quite well, Heskey missed an early chance & Birmingham didn't looked overawed, as the game developed the balance seemed to be shifting in Arsenal's favour & it looked as though it would be a good encounter.. But for the second time this season Arsenal were left trying to break down a 10-man rearguard action.

Cunningham scythed down Ljungberg when he was clean through on goal after 24 minutes & he was already walking as the referee went to his pocket. It was the right decision, anything other would have been an injustice however it ruined the game as a spectacle.

It appeared the rest of the game was a formality & that Arsenal would open the door sooner rather than later..
Taylor had other ideas & produced a penalty save from Robert Pires' rather tame effort & made several world-class saves, notably from Ljungberg & Reyes twice..

Arsenal pressed time & again & were thwarted by an inspired Taylor & the woodwork & it appeared that Birmingham would hold out for an unlikely draw. However, Van Persie stepped up & uncharacteristically for Arsenal tried a long-range strike that was deflected past Taylor in the Birmingham goal. It was unfortunate for Taylor personally as he was outstanding, but it was not particularly harsh on Birmingham.

Going down to 10-men away from home at a ground where you have never done well may be seen as unlucky. I view it in a different way. It put Birmingham in a no lose position, not literally as we have seen.. However it gave them an excuse to put 10-men behind the ball & they could be as negative as they liked & be safe in the knowledge that no-one would criticise them, Birmingham had no pressure to show any attacking ambition, as a draw would be seen as a heroic effort (despite the fact it was their fault that Cunningham was sent off & I'm sure we'd have rather he'd not bought Freddie down & allowed him the clear cut chance to score). It also puts us in a no win position, if we batter them it's only because they had 10-men & if we don't it is seen as a failure.

Arsenals' style of play is at it's best when we're counter-attacking, when teams press us, creating an open game, our intricate & quick passing allows us to explore any spaces in behind & break quickly, utilising our pace, taking out the players in forward positions, allowing us to get into attacking areas before they have a chance to get back.

Therefore we find it difficult to break teams down, especially at the moment. I think we lack directness at times & I was pleased to see Van Persie shooting from 30 yards, I am a great believer that, to a certain extent you make your own luck. It was also pleasing to see that we are carrying more of an aerial, threat from set pieces especially & that gives us another avenue to score. However we are still undoubtedly guilty of trying too hard to be technically perfect & playing the 'right' pass.. There will always be time for that & it is amazing to watch, we are the best at it, no doubts.. But sometimes you have to be more direct & things will happen.. I think this is something we have to & hopefully are starting to learn..