I’m contemplating starting a helpline for all the faint-hearted souls out there who can’t take this roller coaster torture that our beloved Arsenal is unleashing.

I’m too young to die of a heart attack induced by following the Arsenal who have developed an unhealthy propensity to score late in games. 18 goals in the last 5 to 10 minutes of matches with 3 of them coming with the very last kick of the game is not good for anyone’s heart.

I sometimes make a point of reading comments and thoughts Arsenal fans post on blogs and boards during the actual game, and these totally reflect the roller coaster emotions that we all go through. One second, folks are cursing out the team, the next second, the players are the best thing that’s ever happened to the club.

There was even a chap who decided to thank Jesus Christ for the last minute goal yesterday. However, a couple of fans took offence and quickly pointed out that the goal had nothing to do with Jesus Christ and it started from Denilson’s pass to Nasri, who exchanged passes with Rosicky before Walcott laid the ball off to Sagna to cross for Bendtner’s headed bullet into the net.

That’s what you get when following such an emotive game. Hindsight does help though, and you get to appreciate why you love to follow the Arsenal and the joy this team brings to us every day.

The most positive aspect of the game for me was that even with minutes to go, the team didn’t lump the ball forward and hope for the best. We patiently built our play and went about the business of wearing down the Wolves and it paid off.

At the end of January, I wrote a column on ACLF suggesting why Arsenal can do without buying a new striker
. My assertion was that a combination of Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo was a better proposition for Arsenal than buying a striker because people thought that’s what we needed.

Bendtner’s 7 goal return in 8 games or so is a better return than any big name, big money striker we could have bought off the shelf could have guaranteed.

The thing is this though – Bendtner is scoring match changing goals. Whether it’s the first goal of the game, the equalizer, or the match winner, he is quietly but surely chipping in.

Not just this season, Bendtner also scored some very crucial match winning goals last season in very tight games that could have gone either way.

Some still argue that Bendtner has yet to prove himself. I personally think that it’s absolute nonsense to question what his contribution and impact to the team is. It’s not just about the goals, the Great Dane’s link play and influence in the team is paramount.

He was the provider for both goals against Barcelona, and yesterday he popped up again with that rocket into the back of Wolves net.

Mick McCarthy was already counting his point and getting ready to wax lyrical in front of the cameras about the performance of his 10 men. With 44 seconds to go before the final whistle, it was hard to see how Arsenal would come back.

The look on McCarthy’s face when shaking hands with Wenger was priceless. It was like someone had just stolen his family silver while grazing his testicles. He was a beaten man.

Considering that he decided to applaud his captain for a show of violent conduct, I have no sympathy whatsoever with McCarthy and his team. I’m just thankful that Tomas Rosicky can still walk without the aid of crutches.

It was great to see the Arsenal players remonstrate and fight for their team mate and the longer the referee delayed taking out the yellow card, the more it became obvious that Henry was destined for an early shower.

The title race is still on, and we still have the momentum. Most of us would have preferred a draw between Manchester United and Chelsea, but we’ll take a Chelsea win for now.

Let’s hope Tottenham and Liverpool are strong enough to assist us against Chelsea, and let’s hope we continue with the rich vein of form that we’re showing.

I’m still baffled though, by the Arsenal fans (actually – Arsenal customers) who decided that they’re not going to support their team to the end. They clearly don’t have faith in the team to complete a job, and perhaps they should go and support another team and give the opportunity of a seat in the stadium to more worthy fans.

I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again. This team deserves better support than the fair weather plastics who can’t be bothered to wait for the final whistle.

Over to Saloner.

“1-0 to the Arsenal” rarely felt as sweet:

Virtually all the dailies this morning are reporting statistics that should hearten all Arsenal fans: We are unbeaten in the last 8 league games, seven of them wins; We have scored goals in the last 10 minutes in nine consecutive games now; We have scored the decisive goal in stoppage time in three of our last six games.

In the aftermath of our losses to Man United and Chelsea, speculation was rife about our ability to bounce back. Those statistics represent a decisive answer.

Given that injuries have left us short of full strength virtually throughout the season, and that key players – Eduardo, Rosicky, and Vela most importantly – are yet to find form, those statistics become the more impressive.

Whatever our shortcomings, character we possess aplenty. For a young team maturing painfully from adolescence into adulthood, that’s a good place to begin from.

The match, for all practical purposes, turned out to be Hahnemann Vs. the Arsenal, and that’s not to deride the rest of the Wolves’ squad. But for him, we should have been out of sight thirty minutes into the game, perhaps 5 goals to the good.

Eduardo not yet being at his best didn’t aid the cause either, though it is heartening we can yet throw in Nasri and Bendtner and hope to snatch games late in the day. Player availability, and our fixture list, being what they are, we really can’t be choosers.

When earlier this season, we held our nerve in the aftermath of Ramsey’s injury to win at Stoke, quite a few voices suggested the result was a decisive one in our title chase. We at SCA, by contrast, have opined that every game post Chelsea was equally important to our quest.

But last night I genuinely felt that the team turned a decisive corner in the title race. Something about the reactions of the team, Wenger, and the entire coaching staff suggested that now they genuinely believed – When was the last time one saw Wenger run to Pat Rice and embrace him?

Well aware that a draw would mark the funeral of our aspirations, we refused to give up in the face of Hahnemann’s obduracy and the near extinction of our hopes well into stoppage time.

Dear readers, I think we are home to a team of champions. Yes, there are lots of aspects that need addressing before we become the finished article; but spirit isn’t something you can coach – teams, and players, either have it or they don’t.

We can agree, I hope, that this team has the commodity in truckloads, and that’s 90% of the job done.

I must digress to thank one of our older readers who alerted us to this team’s potential while I, at least, was ambivalent about their prospects.

Flint McCullough, who has followed the Arsenal longer than I’ve been alive (I’m 36, for perspective), was way ahead of the pack when he quite firmly maintained, often in the face of frustration, that we were indeed witness to a champion team developing at the Arsenal.

I decisively came around to his view last night. I owe you one Flint; your loyalty and perspective set an example for us younger fans. Thank you.

Looking ahead, we play Barcelona without Arshavin, Fabregas and Gallas. If Diaby, Rosicky, and Song raise their games – and I’d be surprised if the team haven’t been hard at work on these in training – I think we can, against the odds admittedly, do the job at the Camp Nou.

There seems to be a lot of talk about starting with Vela and Walcott as pacy wingers, but Vela has yet to find his feet, and I favour starting with Rosicky, off his best though he is, for his experience.

As with the first leg, we, as underdogs, have little to lose. The fact that we braved a terrifying assault and snatched a draw suggests it isn’t a lost cause by any means either. I hope the side go out on the day and give it their all; I, personally, won’t ask for more.

We know well, especially with this team, that it isn’t over till the Fat Lady packs her case up and leaves. Here’s to more of the same spirit come Tuesday.

If there’s two things this Arsenal team are guilty of, it’s the fact that this season, they don’t know how to lie down and die; and secondly, they have perfected the art of inducing heart attacks amongst the supporters.

I don’t think there’s a script at London Colney that encourages the team to do anything the easy way, and it has to be said, it ain’t good for the heart. I wouldn’t have it any other way though – it’s beautiful.

Last night was one of the most entertaining matches I’ve ever watched. Don’t get me wrong, as an Arsenal fan, it was bloody uncomfortable at least in the first half, but Barcelona came to play, and play they did.

The Catalans produced a master class in possession football that totally starved the Arsenal, a situation that I honestly don’t remember us ever being in.

I guess we were all feeling the same way other teams feel when we run riot all over the Premiership with our possession football. Nothing wrong with occasionally getting a dose of your own medicine.

Once Arsenal had jolted themselves out of the self inflicted stage fright, I was reminded about why I love this team so much. This season, we’ve risen from the dead more times than Lazarus or any phoenix, and the fighting spirit, courage, tenacity and character of the team makes me so proud.

Even so, the match last night was filled with irony from every corner.

The irony that Almunia is the only reason Arsenal are still in with a chance to upset the apple cart, yet a few days ago, he was the Anti-Christ if you believed what you read on the internet.

The irony that Barcelona were guilty of everything Arsenal have been accused of for years – playing pretty and majestic football yet failing to kill off teams that are screaming to be executed and buried. How many times have we been told that the only statistic that counts is the one on the scoreboard?

The irony that despite being kept under unimaginable pressure, Arsenal knuckled down, fought like mad and took their chances. How many times have we been hit hard by teams who are ruthlessly efficient despite our dominance in possession?

The irony that Arsenal’s ’scapegoats du jour’ – Denilson, Walcott and Bendtner – played out of their skins and were the players who totally changed the game for Arsenal. How many times have these characters been bashed beyond recognition and charged with the crime of being unfit to wear the Arsenal shirt?

The irony that despite risking Fabregas, the Arsenal captain has already done enough to leave his mark by opening the door for his team-mates to finish a job at the Camp Nou. How many inspirational leaders on the pitch give you an equalizer, and takes out two key players (Pique and Puyol) from the next tie?

I can just picture Cesc cursing “If I ain’t playing next week then these 2 bastards ain’t playing either”. Getting two players suspended and burying a penalty for good measure is a job well done for the captain.

The irony that Leonel Messi (was he really playing last night?) was sacrificed when they went down to 10 men to give him a breather after spending most of the game in Denilson’s pocket.

The irony that Barcelona are shit scared of Theo Walcott (who totally made Maxwell his bitch), yet they refused to give Arsenal the ball and bullied us all over the park in the first half.

In truth, we started the game really badly and froze, but the spirited return and strong finish will do our confidence the world of good. It was evident that the key to Barca’s game is working harder without the ball than they do with the ball.

They showed they can’t sustain that tempo for the whole game, and Arsenal’s propensity to be anal with fitness and our ’never say die’ spirit became their worst nightmare.

The match wouldn’t be the match without the roller coaster reactions all over the web and all over news columns and air waves. Reading some of the comments on the Arsenal boards during the game, I must say that I thought I was in a psychiatric ward with schizophrenics running the show.

There is the mother of all ironies there when you see Arsenal fans spew so much garbage and show their total lack of belief in this Arsenal team, and their total lack of fighting spirit as Arsenal fans.

How is it that Arsenal supporters expect their team to fight to the death (and believe me – this team has fought admirably to the death all season), yet at the small experience of adversity, these same so called fans whimper away and hide behind the sofa.

Get a frigging spine I say to all those who still have the audacity to question the resolve and determination of this team. Yes, you may question tactics and individual or collective team performances, but it’s unacceptable to question this teams resolve.

If you want to understand what type of fans I’m talking about, check out our definitive anatomy of an Arsenal doom and gloom merchant.

Also, if you think Arsenal fans were pissed off, try checking out how Barca fans feel for throwing the game away.

And of course, the equation wouldn’t be complete without the hypocrisy of the media. I found it painful to listen to the ITV commentary, even when we had the comeback on and were giving Barca grief in the last half an hour.

I switched over to Radio 5 live only to find Alan Green reading out Arsenal’s obituary.

If Manchester United had fought back the way we did and clawed back an impossible 2 nil deficit – they would be waxing lyrical about Man United. Nobody remembered that United were totally bitch-slapped by Bayern Munich for 88 minutes in May 1999 before they smuggled the European cup from the Camp Nou to the horror of the Bavarians.

If Liverpool had fought back the way we did and got the 2 goals back, the media will be waxing lyrical about the invincibility of Gerrard and Torez. Nobody remembered that Liverpool were totally bitch-slapped by AC Milan in Istanbul in May 2005 before they too smuggled the European cup from under the jaws of the Italians.

When is it that this Arsenal team will get the respect its due – instead of the snide and contemptuous remarks about Arsenal getting away with murder?

The media didn’t give us a chance in hell to even make it to the 4th place champions league spot, let alone challenge for both the EPL and Champions League titles. What hypocrisy the show for applying selective amnesia to the mental strength of the teams they favour, yet the evidence is all there that Arsenal have time and time shown that despite adversity, they have formidable mental strength.

They point out that we can’t do it in 5 days time because – wait for this, we have key players out with injury.

So what’s new? Arsenal is still here and we refuse to go away.

Who said ugly stuff can’t be beautiful?

I’ve got to tell you, heart attacks don’t come any easier than when the Gunners decide to toy around with their duty of care towards their fans well-being.

Last time I contemplated taking pills to calm my nerves in the dying stages of a game was when Everton parked a HGV truck in front of our goal when they visited in early January. The ’never say die’ spirit and tenacity shown in that game was admirable as Little Mozart got Arsenal out of a sticky situation with a last minute leveller.

Perhaps it was a bit naive not to expect Hull City to unleash the customary brand of insalubrious football that we’ve come to expect. They didn’t disappoint at all as their game plan was dirtier than the local land fill site in Humberside.

Forget the heart attacks – and incidentally, Wenger also confessed that his team could have given him a heart attack too. The best part of the game for me was that Arsenal won ugly.

From the fading white lines on the pitch, I wasn’t sure whether the Gunners were playing Hull City football club or whether it was Hull Kingston Rovers rugby club. George Boateng, a serial violent offender against Arsenal was more dangerous than an armed robber lurking the streets of the underworld.

That the Hull captain didn’t knee cap Bacary Sagna is both a miracle and a mystery in equal measure. He got away with murder for his attempt to gouge out Bendy’s eye – so let’s just be thankful we still have the players we went to Hull with.

I was talking to a friend last night discussing the match and both of us concurred that we were elated with the win, regardless of the fact that it came ugly. Arsenal is so often accused of not knowing how to be pragmatic and not willing to compromise to reach our goals.

The funny thing also is that when Arsenal actually win ugly, we’re so often accused of not playing well, and not dictating the game as champions-elect would.

Yet when Chelsea or Manchester United win ugly and grind out a result – they are hailed as true champions material and their ability to play really badly yet come out with a result is seen as the stuff champions are made of.

Well, yesterday, I was so proud of this team for defying conventional wisdom and showing that they will fight tooth and nail until the last minute of every game. It’s nice to know that when it comes to goals scored in the last 10 minutes of matches, we’re at the top of the league with 15 goals.

You’d think that with that record, ’squeaky bum time’ would be something we’re used to. I think what’s different here is that the EPL title is actually up for grabs, and that alone, makes these late goals a cause for concern for my fragile heart.

I wouldn’t change it for the world though – this roller coaster of a ride will make any title we clinch the sweetest title I’ve ever experienced.

Most of all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Phil Brown bitch about Sol Campbell still being on the pitch. He got a free penalty and he should just be thankful to the gods of the Humber bridge and shut his trap.

He was jumping up and down in excitement every time there was a 50-50 tackle hoping to will their players to ’take out’ more of us, but when it turns out that we too can roll up our sleeves and get out our knuckle dusters, then the whole world is unfair.

I was also very happy for Denilson, who despite his critics, was the architect of Nicklas Bendtner’s goal.

Nicklas Bendtner has scored 6 times in 5 Premier league appearances since his return from injury. I dare anyone to tell me a striker Arsenal could have bought in January for under £15 million who could have given you that return. A new cliché is out in town suggesting that Arsenal don’t have a recognized striker. Who actually defines what a recognized striker is? Because they clearly haven’t been watching the Great Dane.

When referring to Bendtner’s impact in this team, I hear a lot of people say ”he’s one for the future” or “he’s got really great potential”, etc.

Bendtner is here and he’s doing the job he’s paid to do. Those who have an in-built prejudice are finding it hard to remove the log in their eye that’s stopping them from seeing that Arsenal’s Great Dane is on fire.

Just like he did last season in big games by scoring the winning or match changing goals, yesterday Bendtner stamped his authority as an attack dog not to be ignored in this title race.

And as his new agent Stan Collymore says ”he’s one ‘ell of a massive unit up front”

8 to go in the cup final series. How’s your heart doing?

There are few nights that would rival the sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that Arsenal supporters around the world experienced last night. Yet it wasn’t for the fact that the Gunners secured a quarter final spot in the Champions League.

In a lot of ways, the display of total football last night, and the panache and arrogance it was delivered with clouds the significance of moving to the next stage of the competition.

It’s because of matches like last night’s that we all stand up and applaud the work of art that is Wengerball. It’s because of last night that we are reminded why we so love this game of football and why we swear by it.

It’s because of last night that we recognize how privileged we are to be able to witness before our very own eyes, the development of a group of players who together, are destined to become the best generation of Arsenal players that this club has ever seen.

Yet all around the Oscar winning performance that was the Samir Nasri show, the wretched voices of hackery and punditry defecated the air waves with pathetic attempts to belittle what was a master class in football.

They spewed their verbal diarrhoea and negativity in the commentary as they shamelessly looked for excuses to find fault with Arsenal’s game. They suffocated the pre and post match commentary with tired clichés and diatribe about Arsenal’s perceived weaknesses.

They jostled and positioned themselves – buttocks firmly planted on the fence hoping to pounce if Arsenal failed, and pretending to laud the Gunners when we went through.

The disappointment in their faces and voices were louder than a thousand words. Through gritted teeth, they tried to garner the courage to set aside their prejudice and contempt of Arsenal and do the right thing of clapping their hands and stamping their feet in recognition of what was without a doubt, one of the best football matches we have ever witnessed.

Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Graham Souness, Mr. Ruud Gullit, most definitely Mr. Tony Adams (legend you are, but you need to get your snout out of the pigs trough and get some fresh air away from the bile that is tabloid punditry; being an Arsenal legend doesn’t give you the licence to unleash your negative diatribe to get a pay cheque from these cretins).

Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Stan Collymore, Mr. Alan Brazil – and you know what – every miserable piece of anti-Arsenal &^&! Who works for Talk Shite radio. Yes I’m talking to you Mr. Alan Green and Mr. Mike Ingam and Mr. Graham Taylor as you try to lace your supposed love for Arsenal football with constant perceived negativity as if as insurance just in case Arsenal fall apart.

Last night was a night to stand up and bow to the privilege of being witnesses to a work of art. It wasn’t a night to pull out the ’Arsenal don’t have it in ‘em, especially without Cesc Fabregas’ nonsense of a script.

And all this without 3 of the best Arsenal players in William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. Clearly someone didn’t give Samir Nasri the memo that dictated that Arsenal would struggle without our talismanic Captain Fabulous. If you believed everything you read in the papers, you’d think Arsenal were doomed to struggle following Fabregas’s injury over the weekend.

Take nothing away from a collective team performance that oozed class and professionalism. Take nothing away from the individual brilliance and magic from Samir Nasri that suggested Arsene Wenger might have just invested in Bobby Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Alex Hleb all rolled in one.

The last time I saw a goal like that was when a certain Diego Armando Maradona waltz through the entire England team and scored what in my view is the best individual goal I have ever witnessed – well, maybe until Nasri’s goal last night. Are you watching Maradona? Or was it ’Are you watching Stan Collymore?’

What about our very own B52 bomber. It was only yesterday that I said I was quite content and happy to live with Bendtner’s transgressions for the simple reason that he shamelessly put himself about and got into scoring positions despite his nightmare at the weekend.

For that effort and courage alone, you have to admire the kid. Last night’s hat-trick couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. If it’s any compliment, the Sun newspaper rarely issues a full hearted apology to anybody, let alone a 21 year old kid from Denmark.

What a way to stick two fingers up to all the critics of the weekend past and ram their criticism down their throats. This is not the first time Bendtner has produced match winning performances for Arsenal, and you really have to be a hater to think Bendy won’t be up there with the best.

And I haven’t even mentioned Arsenal’s ’Goal machine’ – Stand up and be counted Mr. Emmanuel Eboue. I would argue that Eboue is one of the most valuable players in the Premier league. Not in monetary terms per se – for player prices are just stupidly inflated.

Emmanuel Eboue is the most dependable versatile player there is in town. He can play left back, right back, left midfield, right midfield, central midfield and even as a relief striker if he needed to. Hell – if you gave Eboue the gloves, he’d stand between the sticks and do a job.

He’s not flashy and is not a ’champagne’ player – but he is dependable when doing the job asked of him and a manager can never ask for more than that from a player.

It’s a trip to Hull on Saturday evening, but for now, we must and we should get drunk in the enjoyment of the pure entertainment and total football that has reminded us all why we love and support the best football club in the world.

Three points were a must and we got them; so far so good.

While Fabregas’s injury is a worry, we aren’t exactly impoverished for creative players who can run the show from midfield, so it’s not worth losing sleep over his injury just yet.

Tomorrow’s game against Porto is crucial, and Fabregas has been a captain by appointment and performance. It isn’t to undermine either fact when I think that between Rosicky, Nasri and, in a pinch, Arshavin, the creative core is in competent hands.

Samir Nasri, evidently the man of the match on Saturday seems to be regaining his vim and that bodes well for the games ahead. What a lovely tango that was between Fabregas and he to open our scoring. Marvellous stuff.

Further up the field we continue to indulge in that familiar vice; profligacy in front of goal. I have previously observed that we need Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela and Walcott to find their feet to better negotiate the games ahead and so far only Walcott has shown signs of dusting away the cobwebs.

Whilst it wasn’t a sterling performance I’m delighted at the goal Theo got and the effort he put in as both his physique and confidence would benefit. Nicklas Bendtner, on the other hand, blows hot and cold. Just one of those days? I hope he doesn’t have many more such through the remainder of the season.

Fingers crossed for Eduardo and Vela of course.

As for the goal we conceded, you have to ask why Bendtner wasn’t challenging for the cleared ball in the center circle. And did the defence simply assume the clearance meant the job was done? Why wasn’t there anyone sticking to Nugent like a burr? We have to address this aspect of our game seriously and urgently.

I have high hopes for Denilson, but he seems to be on a poor run currently. Nothing – Judgement, touch, positioning – seems to be in gear at the moment and it underlines the critical importance of having Song available right down to the wire.

Neither Denilson or Diaby seem, yet, to be acceptable substitutes in a crunch.

I hope we’ll likewise have Campbell, Gallas and Vermaelen on hand going forward as Mikhael Sylvestre only inspires unease in me.

Insurance purchases against ridicule should this Arsenal side win the title have begun.

Expect the queue at the counter for those purchasing the anti-humble pie alternative to lengthen with every three point haul hereon. Equally, one slip up, even a draw, and a chorus of “we told you they don’t have it in them” should fill the air; just symptoms that our wonderful free and fair press is alive and kicking.

Since free speech is still a privilege we plebeians are kindly allowed, perhaps I should point out the fact that a league topper is, quite simply, one who amasses the most points over the 38 games: a straightforward concept if ever there was one.

To those who whinge about “imperfect” methods of league topping, I point to the statistical implausibility of the “Invincibles” phenomenon – just twice in history to date; and even then, presumably, you can moan about the excessive number of draws. You can’t satisfy prejudice.

I throw out that accusation unhesitatingly as nowhere do I see a sober assessment of the balls we’ve juggled over the past 5 seasons. I’ll say it once again: Build a new stadium, consistently draw the paying public in, maintain Champions’ League revenues, report healthy finances year after year, and, to top it all stay in contention for the league title despite a season plagued by injury woes; Why? seems a report card deserving of at least respect if not praise.

I’m not claiming we’ve been perfect; far from it. But any assessment that shies away from the context and pretends that we’ll only top the league as beneficiaries of charity from our “betters” is worthy only of contempt.

On a related matter, we’ve been reading that Gallas is likely to leave for Roma and that Carragher’s contract extension doesn’t seem to be a given, with him making noises about being prepared to move elsewhere.

While fully cognizant of the fact these remain speculations, and are the usual noises associated with negotiations, I’m tempted to ask our readers if they think there’s something to the Carragher story and if he’d be worth making a move for should the opportunity arise.

Porto ahead. Team news and speculations tomorrow.

Arsenal midfielder, Aaron Ramsey

Aaron Ramsey didn’t suffer an accident last evening at the Britannia stadium. He was the victim of the consequences of a dangerous delusion, unrestrained by the deterrent of severe penalty, that’s abroad in English football.

The young Welsh rising star wasn’t the first to suffer, neither will he be the last – unless the authorities stand up to common sense and show that they’re not straw men.

That delusion is the celebration of the “physical nature” of the English game by the media. The portrayal of this physicality is presented as representative of the spirit and endeavour of noble, brave, poorer underdogs against their monetarily and technically richer cousins.

Any complaints by the victims, moreover, is put down to cowardice with the usual lines about “lacking stomach for a scrap” & “being soft” doing their tired lines.

Couple these misguided notions with the lack of severe penalties for transgressions, and thuggery disguised as application is the natural consequence. Several teams have resorted to this license to do anything and everything to salvage games.

The evidence couldn’t be clearer: Three players in 5 seasons having their legs smashed to pulp; and quotations from the revolting Ricardo Fuller:

The Britannia, it’s like a fortress, and if we do play to our strengths I don’t think Arsenal can deal with the aggressive play.

It’s been proved in the past that Chelsea and Bolton have roughed them up and tried to bully them.

We can also be rough and aggressive when we need to, but we have quality too, and so we can mix it up.

When such premeditated intent isn’t restrained by fear of punishment, the victim should consider himself lucky to escape only with a broken leg.

This is the equivalent of handing out clubs to the poorer and allowing them a free for all, under reassurance of light punishment, against the richer to equalize wealth distribution for the underdogs.

it is absolute nonsense; it is dangerous; and it has to stop now.

The English FA isn’t famous for competence, but it is time they show they are at least capable of decency. They have to initiate efforts to invoke punishments that are proportional to the offence in question.

There are “red card” offences, and there are “RED CARD” offences. We all know the difference, and it is time they’re treated differently too.

Coming to the game itself, Arsenal did wonderfully to take three points in the aftermath of such a dispiriting event. It was a clear statement that we’ve evolved from our capitulation after the freakishly similar incident at St. Andrews almost 2 years to the day.

The performance by the Gunners sent a message about our determination to keep this title chase up in the face of anything thrown at us. Wonderful!

We pared away 11 points to Chelsea earlier this season, and we’ve now wiped off 6 out of a deficit of 9 in less than 3 weeks. It says quite a bit about the team’s character, maturity and resolve.

However, each of the remaining 10 games on this home stretch is equally important, and I hope we keep relentlessly to the chase.

Stoke’s first goal was Déjà Vu. If the team had worked on it in training, there certainly wasn’t evidence at crunch time. The fact that few teams have worked out how to deal with Stoke’s ’throwball’ is small comfort.

We are chasing the title, not the other teams, but we’re done with Stoke for this season, and it’s time to look ahead.

Just last week, I made a reference to us lacking a player, such as Wayne Rooney, who single handedly carries United’s fortunes on his shoulders. My reference was to the number of goals he’d scored, apart from his presence and performance, enabling United to get away lightly for their mistakes and bad fortune.

Fabregas yesterday reminded me that we have just such a player in attitude and influence. Young as he is, he’s shaping up to be a fine captain, and I hope we keep this team together for at least a few more years enabling this project to come to fruition.

Special mentions to Eboue and Vermaelen for their endeavour too.

Looking ahead, we need Bendtner – who scored a fine headed goal- Eduardo, Vela and Walcott to find their feet quickly. We need all of them in reasonable form to handle the coming stretch of games better.

Make no mistake about it: The title race is wide open. With a bit of luck, and sustained effort, this could still be the year we end that infamous “title drought”. A season that sees our boys veritably become men.

To add onto Saloner’s thoughts above, it’s time to stop pussy-footing around this issue and call a spade a spade.

Once is a misfortune, twice a coincidence, but 3rd time around for such a horrific injury is just bang out of order.

The FA are a disgrace for not addressing the real issue here – and that is the acceptance by the establishment that the only way to ’deal with Arsenal is to kick them off the field.

The papers and news wires today are littered with supportive reactions by apologists and sympathizers of Ryan Shawcross with the predictable ”He would never go out to harm a fly” or ”he’s just not that sort of bloke”.

The apologists are quick to cite the lack of intent or malice as if they were qualified to get into Shawcross’s head and determine the veracity of any attempt at malice.

Referees have by their inaction encouraged systematic fouling of Arsenal players as if in agreement with the misguided mantra bandied about that Arsenal are ’soft brittle foreigners’ who can’t stand the heat in the EPL.

The Arsenal team and supporters are seen as whingers who just wine and moan rather than get stuck in it.

The media hacks and pundits continue to act like irresponsible and reckless cheer leaders, goading Arsenal for supposedly being too weak – and encouraging other teams to ’kick’ Arsenal off the park.

For too long, this nonsense of physicality and the much publicized ’grit and steel’ has been used as an excuse to justify what less technically gifted players are resorting to for the simple reason that they can’t cope with Arsenal’s technically superior players.

In the real world outside football, the actions and in-actions of the football establishment, the media hacks and pundits, as well as dodgy teams who use physicality to justify their thuggery would qualify as crimes punishable within the criminal justice system.

The fact that opposing team players are allowed to preach in the media of their intent to get aggressive and physical towards Arsenal is a crime of conspiracy to commit actual and grievous bodily harm.

The fact that Arsenal players’ careers are subsequently endangered because of the recklessness of players like Dan Smith, Martin Taylor and Ryan Shawcross – makes it a crime of violence based on depraved indifference.

All these players and teams that they played for systematically adopted a strategy of fouling Arsenal players as a means to stopping the Gunners from playing. For this reason, they are actually culpable through depraved indifference.

Intent doesn’t come into it. There is always going to be the risk that they will cause serious and perhaps career threatening injuries because of their actions – whether the intent was to injure them or not.

And as for those suggesting that the problem is that Arsenal players ala Eduardo, Ramsey and Diaby are too quick for their opponents and that’s why the tackle (referred to as clumsy) happens – they seriously need a good hiding.

It’s like suggesting that it’s OK to rape a girl because she looks beautiful or she was wearing a short skirt.

As I threw my hands up in exasperation last night, the question about when a hill of beans becomes a mountain lingered in my head. That was me just pissed off at our breath-taking propensity to engineer individual moments of madness that pretty much unravels the collective team effort.

After being scraped off the ceiling, I had a beer and watched a classic stand up comedy routine from 1981 by Richard Pryor. Of late, movies seem to do the trick for me, especially to inject a dose of reason and perspective with the elapsing time.

So what really pissed me off? Probably the fact that I don’t like losing, but I guess one team inevitably loses in a game of this type. I think it was more the individual mistakes that led to the goal, but just for the record – I came off the ceiling and can happily look at this in the cold light of day.

Firstly, it was a great match for most part. Any neutral would have loved watching last night’s game as it ebbed and flowed. Believe it or not, there was not one offside decision and I can’t ever recall a match going all the way without an offside decision being given.

I didn’t want to leave the room lest I missed a counter attack. Apart from the errors that led to the goals against us, Arsenal played relatively well for a visiting team to the Estadio do Dragão.

It seems the lessons from recent defeats about keeping our shape and dealing with counter attacks have been learnt. I don’t recall a time when I thought we were in imminent danger of conceding a goal from a counter attack.

In respect of a free flowing attacking game, both teams have to be given credit for making it a great game of football to watch. Not that there weren’t sloppy and lethargic spells during the game, but the two teams applied themselves well.

From Arsenal’s point of view, it was great to see Bendtner getting into the attacking flow of things. We eventually scored from a corner resulting from Bendy’s deflected shot, and in all honesty, Bendy had started to celebrate for the ball was enroute into the net when it was deflected.

The look on Bendtner’s face with his hands behind his head pretty much said ”how the hell didn’t that ball go into the net”.

Porto had clearly been studying our games against Man United and Chelsea. They targeted Clichy’s left flank in what the industry now considers Arsenal’s defensive Achilles heel. I recently wrote about the mental fortitude and discipline Arsenal needs to make the system we play a success. There was a classic lapse of this for Porto’s first goal.

Silvestre Varela should have never been given the freedom of the park to bomb down our left flank, and the sequence of individual lapses that amount to a hill of beans that I talk about played right in front of our eyes. Nasri didn’t track quick enough, Clichy didn’t deal with Varela well enough (and he really should have), and Fabianski became the second Arsenal goal keeper to score a goal in less than 3 weeks – albeit at the wrong end of the pitch.

Watch The Goals And Highlights

Fabianski’s judgement could have been spot on as he moved to anticipate Varela’s cross, and I guess you can argue all day whether it was a really bad shot from the Porto player that went the wrong side of Wookash. Varela probably couldn’t care less, and why should he.

For the second goal, I can live with the first mistake made when Wookash picked up the back pass. However, his judgement to give a demanding referee the ball will probably haunt him for a long time to come. This was one of them cases where Wookash should have taken one for the team and refused to give the ball to the referee until Arsenal had regrouped.

It most definitely would have cost him a yellow card, but it would have been one card that the Arsenal players and supporters celebrated.

Campbell should have punched the referee out of the way for blocking his run towards Falcao and taken a yellow or red card for ‘dealing’ with foreign objects obstructing access to the ball. If the referee had any conscience, he’d have had Porto retake the free kick because his positioning blocked Campbell.

Denilson, who in recent times has become the doom and gloom brigade’s ’scapegoat du jour’ had a shaky start but he settled down and I feel he had a good enough game. Like with AC Milan and Man United the previous evening, both Arsenal and Porto went through a spell of giving the ball away like they were being paid to do it.

Porto also employed the unsavoury tactic of rotational fouling targeting Cesc Fabregas. This cowardly and irritating strategy not only broke Arsenal’s flow, but it’s that cumulative tackling that ends up causing niggly injuries that will affect our players as the season goes on.

Martin Hansson (of the France-Irish World cup qualifier fame) should have handed over more yellow cards to Porto players for this rotational fowling was a deliberate well thought out strategy that had intent written all over it.

Part of the reason I was pissed off after that second goal was this. The referee made a technically correct decision to give the indirect free kick to Porto, but having done that – it was totally unfair for him not to allow Arsenal the right to defend it.

Considering the drama this referee is capable of, I concluded that there’s absolutely no point in expecting any less from him. My exasperation then moved to Campbell and Fabianski for giving the referee the opportunity to gift Porto an open net – and also for not taking a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the stadium to stop the free kick being taken until Arsenal were ready.

All in all, the minimum we can now demand from this team is the right to sing ’One nil to the Arsenal’ on March 9th. Any win will do, but if Porto score twice at the Emirates, we have to win with a 2 goal margin because of the away goal rule.

I don’t think Arsenal is out of the tie and I believe we have a great home advantage. This habit of the Gunners doing things the hard way is what’s making my doctor contemplate referring me to a shrink.

That’s 1 down and 12 to go. One game at a time and the home stretch doesn’t look as daunting as it did for the last fortnight.

This was a week where everyone was taking pot shots at Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal charges. From Fleet Street hacks to despondent Arsenal ’customers’, from opposing team’s players to the tea lady at Stamford Bridge – criticism of the Arsenal team has been dished out in plenty from all corners.

Wenger observed that it was funny how Arsenal’s qualities are lauded when the team is winning by playing champagne football, yet quickly identified as the team’s Achilles heel when the Gunners hit a difficult patch.

It was never going to be a straight forward game last night. The air of doom and gloom around the Gooner nation, coupled with the collective naval gazing and low spirits that haunted the environs of London Colney, made last night’s task an arduous affair.

If there’s one thing that stood out most, it’s the sheer determination of the Arsenal players to put things right. It was the way they each played for one another and took responsibility for their individual and collective roles.

In the last two defeats, the way Arsenal gave away the counter attacking goals was as painful to the players as it was to supporters. There were already signs during the Chelsea game that some work had gone into the collective team effort, especially in the second half of the game at Stamford Bridge.

There was more evidence yesterday of the teams determination to fight. Liverpool gave a fistful as they sought to take advantage of what was comically described by a certain player as a one dimensional Arsenal style.

One dimensional it wasn’t for Arsenal most definitely mixed it and rightfully gained a result for the spirited effort.

If you believe everything you read, you would have got the impression that there was a runaway train with the title contenders sitting above Arsenal in the league table.

Perhaps what made the victory against Liverpool sweeter was the fact that elsewhere, other teams who recently accused Arsenal of being predictable were themselves employing predictable one dimensional tactics in trying to retrieve a sticky situation at the hands of the Toffees.

The Arsenal players will have drawn encouragement from the fact that their endeavour was also supported by the loss of 3 and 2 points for Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.

The title challenge that seemed to have slipped their grip was tilted back in the Gunner’s direction by a twist of fate that smiled kindly. All Arsenal can do is take a game at a time and ensure that they aim for maximum points.

Man United and Chelsea still have more points to drop and it’s paramount that Arsenal focus on doing what is in their control – and that is fighting tooth and nail for every point they can get in the last 12 games.

The spirit and work rate that the Gunners employed last night will have earned them the belief and confidence needed to approach the next stage of the campaign. The most impressive aspect for me last night was the way the players defended as a team. I would have been happy with a draw simply based on the shift that the team put in – but of course, I’m ecstatic about the win.

A classic example of how this team ethic was supplemented by individual responsibility was shown by William Gallas. The veteran defender literally took no prisoners when a through ball acquainted David N’gog with the whites of Almunia’s eyes.

Gallas appeared from nowhere just as the Liverpool striker was about to pull the trigger and executed the text book definition of a world class tackle. That single incident alone was enough to galvanize players and supporters alike.

It was also heart warming and kind of amusing to note that for a change, very few if any Arsenal fans left the stadium before Howard Webb blew the final whistle. In fairness though, the Arsenal crowd did stand up to be counted, despite a slow start.

All in all, it is a brighter day in the Gooner nation, if only to return to our world famous refrain of ’One nil to the Arsenal’.

I’ll confess, I was in two minds about how to approach my reflection of yesterday’s game against Chelsea. I wasn’t actually as disappointed as I was last weekend after the loss to Man United – the reason being that I felt the team in general played much better than we did last week.

The statistic that counts though, is the one on the scoreboard so it’s still hard to swallow the defeat. Even my wife who is an ardent Chelsea fan berated Arsenal for going missing at the far post in the 8th minute gifting Drogba an open net. He was never going to miss from there.

I also thought of talking about the fact that I’d prefer that Andrey Arshavin shuts up and stops talking willy nilly to the media. He should focus on converting the guilt edged chances he has on the pitch for that is what he’s paid to do.

Most of all, I also thought of venting my anger at Manuel Almunia for ball watching as Drogba’s free kick cannoned off the woodwork. His ”Oh my God!” face as he stood there as a spectator for some reason really really pissed me off.

Instead, I caught up with a movie I’ve always wanted to watch since it was released but I hadn’t had the chance. It was The Taking Of Pelham 123.

Great movie except for the stupid girlfriend of one of the hostages (George I think it was) insisting on the webcam that he tells her “I love you”, even though he risked an encounter with the business end of a machine gun. What an idiot of a girlfriend.

It was then that I thought of a Stone Cold Friday post that I wrote in early December 2009 following the first defeat to Chelsea. I think it was during a scene in the movie with a ridiculous traffic jam on a bridge that made me think of a dodgy Stamford bridge.

When I re-read the December post that I called Unite and Win, Divide and Fail, it occurred to me that the post is actually very relevant right here and right now.

I figured my gripe and disappointment isn’t with the team – it’s actually with our doom and gloom merchants. I can live with the teams short-comings so long as they show visible improvement and fight hard when the chips are down.

In my book, the team performed much better than they did against Man United, and I’ll take that for now and I look forward to a more positive result against Liverpool on Wednesday.

As for the doomers, I’d do an injustice to my December post (originally published on ACLF) by not publishing it here in its entirety. Enjoy:

If I were an analyst working for an industrial espionage outfit commissioned to carry out a destructive interference programme on Arsenal, I’d be looking forward to filing my November report with the dubious committee set up to oversee the capitulation of the club. The committee sits late every Friday night guided by the silhouette of a hangman and his noose perched above their heads.

The executive summary of my report would go something like this:

The past fortnight has been a watershed for our Arsenal destruction programme. Contrary to our initial belief that this team will capitulate by mid February, I am pleased to confirm that we are seeing the signs of their demise much faster than we expected.

Our campaign to spread poison and conspiracy theories about how the team can never hack it and why Arsenal receives an extraordinary proportion of injuries during international breaks is well on target. We have received a boost from two unexpected sources.

Firstly, 11 months ago we recruited a sleeper agent in the suburbs of Belgrade. An unlicensed quack masquerading as a miracle healer of sorts, our handlers ensured she had a dodgy tax record to support plausible deniability.

Our Belgrade asset was called to action a few weeks ago. She did an effective job in providing false hope to their talisman and the entire gooner nation. By the time they realised what the deal was, their chap was pretty much confirmed as out cold for the season, a situation that has clearly unsettled them.

The second and the most important catalyst to the destruction of Arsenal are the forces within. We always felt that the work their manager had done over the years stood on very firm ground. Our media allies and pundits have ensured that our anti-Arsenal message continues unabated. We needed their support to sow the seeds of doubt amongst their weak and fickle glory hunting fans; to convince them that they can never win something unless they buy players with inflated price tags.

In the last 2 or 3 weeks, this group of fair-weather plastic fans has unleashed a venomous tirade as they spit fire and brimstone on the internet and airwaves. The voices of reason of the realistic and level minded supporters will soon be drowned out if we maintain the current pace of interference.

Some of these fickle Arsenal fans don’t even realise what they have. The club is one of the best managed elite clubs in world football who are financially solvent and only have a mortgage for their magnificent stadium as debt owed. They don’t realise they have one of the best managers in the world who has the courage and vision to set a path and a future for the club that will stand them in good stead for decades to come. They don’t realise that they have a great talented squad that just needs a tweak or two to click into place.

Impatient for success, our friends in the media have drummed it into their heads that they are weak and useless, that there is no place for beautiful football in the game as we want it. Former Arsenal players in particular have been doing a brilliant job at confusing and annoying with their public utterances of our messages.

With the events of the last two weeks, particularly their losses to Sunderland and Chelsea, there is a danger that they will regroup and get reinforcements. It is not in our interest if they succeed in this and we must continue to run interference for the rest of the campaign if we are to achieve our goal of keeping them divided and bringing them down at the end of the season.

They have a very intelligent manager and intelligent players who have the desire to be champions. The players know that they aren’t there yet; that they have to iron out a few defensive issues and build up their mental strength and character.

Every competent observer we talk to convinces us that this team will only get better as the season goes on. Luckily they are getting their customary dip in form that every team has at this point. Our fear is that they will peak at just about the right time to grab all the honours and I can’t stress enough why we cannot let this happen.

They have a good number of bloggers who unwittingly do our job for us. You should seriously take the time to read the blogs of such negative anti-Arsenalists who call themselves fans and slate their own team left right and centre. Most fans around the world would trade an arm and a leg for their team to play the Arsenal brand of football, but some of these folks are so spoilt they don’t even realise the joy that their football team brings to true footballing fans around the world.

I’m confident that the media and pundits will continue with our strategic anti-Arsenal diatribe as the season goes on. Our hope is that their fans will follow this nonsense instead of getting right behind their team and becoming the 12th man if you will.

One of our worst nightmares is if the Arsenal crowd ever gets behind the team at their stadium in particular. A strong crowd that gives belief to this team up till the 96th minute of any game, in combination with a team this talented and this motivated will be explosive. You can see why we cannot let that happen.

Luckily for us, strategic interference has convinced the fans who attend match days that it’s not worth staying for the whole match. Their lack of belief in the team will hopefully start trickling down to the team itself and the players will realise that they have fake fans who are only interested when they bang 8 goals in without reply.

In conclusion, I must say that if we continue with our path, we will certainly be on our way to making the Arsenal the most lucrative proposition for an enticing hostile takeover. It is not in our interest to let all the ingredients of success come to fruition at this club despite the fact that success is nigh for them.

Our worst fear is that it’s only a matter of time before the team gets the benefits of constant defensive drilling and discipline, and that the supporters get behind their team and push them over the winning line.

We just have to make sure we divide and rule this club because the only obstacle to our intentions is that the team and the fans unite as one to unleash their magic on us.

…And by the way, I watched the whole game with the volume turned down to avoid the commentary or the pre and post match diatribe. It’s liberating, you should try it.

It’s mornings like this that many Arsenal fans have to decide how to swallow the bitter pill that results from losing your bragging rights. It’s not just the fact that we lost to the old enemy – it’s the ’how’ that makes it a very bitter pill.

It comes in 3 doses:

• 20 mg – for those philosophical supporters who conclude that it was really a bad day at the office but we’ll live
• 80 mg – for those supporters who can’t cope with the humiliation of facing family, friends and colleagues to explain yet again – why this also-rans team have fallen short
• 800 mg – special industrial strength dosage for the anally retentive fickle glory hunting plastic fan who only supports Arsenal when they’re winning and playing champagne football.

Let’s face it – Man United got their tactics spot on. Flood the Arsenal midfield, hunt down their playmakers like a pack of wolves, and hit them on the counter attack.

Other teams have tried this tactic with mixed results. The only difference is that aside from Arsenal, Man United are the only other team in the EPL that can hit you that devastatingly on a counter attack finished with clinical precision.

I guess once in a while, it’s normal that we will experience the pain of the counter attack treatment that we so often devastatingly unleash on unsuspecting teams.

The game was still up for grabs at the break, and it was inevitable that the team that scored the next goal would claim the bragging rights or have a chance of making it even. In truth, Arsenal only have themselves to blame for 2 aspects of the defeat.

Firstly, for gifting United 2 goals. Nani and Park should have never scored the goals they did.

Secondly, for not converting the chances we had. Unfortunately when playing quality teams, you more than likely rue any chances you don’t convert.

There’s not much we could have done about the Rooney goal. At first I was pissed off that when Rooney pinged the ball to Nani and started his 40 yard run towards our goal, we had 4 players goal side and he beat all those 4 players to the ball.

But it would be unfair for me as a lover of total football to take away the quality of the goal from Rooney and attribute that to our naive defending. As much as it pains me to say, Rooney’s goal was ecstatic. I can only imagine how it was for those that watched it in 3D.

Naturally, the mantra of ”Oh Arsenal’s pygmies can’t cope in the EPL anymore” is already being peddled. Frankly speaking, it’s absolute nonsense. The height of Arsenal’s players had little to do with yesterday’s defeat, and only those who are devoid of analytical acumen and want to collect a pay cheque as a band-wagon pundit will resort to that refrain.

Yesterday’s game was lost on tactics –until Walcott and Eboue came on, we never seemed like getting behind. Walcott didn’t even have to do anything magical. He just had to run at them and that would inevitably create panic. It was then that Arsenal started getting behind winning more corners.

I haven’t done the kamikaze thing and tried to drudge through the thousands of negative match reports and analysis about the game. I guess this is one week that the doom and gloom merchants and trolls get to enjoy as they crawl from under their rocks for some air time.

I also haven’t bothered trying to listen to any mainstream sports news just for the sake of managing my health and well-being. Self inflicted pain is not something that tickles my fancy.

In isolation, this can look like a very bad result – especially in the sequence of the ’fixtures of death’. I said before the game against Villa, that 9 out of 12 points in the 4 games was an excellent return.

2 games in, and Arsenal have 1 out of 6 points. There’s still the opportunity to make it 7 out of 12, which is still a bloody good return.

For that to happen though – Arsenal have to be clinical at finishing their chances. We had several clear cut chances yesterday, but it seemed like everyone left their shooting boots at home.

It’s not impossible to beat Chelsea and Liverpool, but in our high risk game, they’re the two teams that will convert any counter attacking chances against us. That’s why it’s important that we put our chances away.

The issue is not about the fact that we don’t have a striker to replace Van Persie. The Dutchman couldn’t have stopped Man United from scoring the goals that they did. ON the other hand, we needed different options to get around the wall of black – and we had the personnel to do it. We just didn’t do it well.

The title challenge is by no means over. All we lost yesterday was the opportunity to overhaul our immediate challengers. The end result is that we don’t get to control our own destiny with our closest rivals.

Our game now has to be focussed on the mathematical poker of ensuring that we win the games we need to win against lower league opposition. Losing against the other big teams doesn’t rule you out of the title race. It just batters your psychological advantage.