Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

So yesterday Arsene Wenger locked the team in to tell them exactly what he thought of the performance on Wednesday night. Probably just the right thing to do, but he must of thought quite hard about how to play it with the next crucial game coming up so soon.

This is a big game now. If we hadn’t been so abysmal on Wednesday we might be discussing a relatively relaxed approach to the FA Cup, firmly of the view that the Premier and Champions League are what we are really about.

But that would be a dangerous approach now. At times like this it’s about momentum. As we found out too painfully last season, if you pick up too much speed running down hill it gets hard to stop. Barring a miracle we went out of the Champions League on Wednesday. Tomorrow we really need to stay in the FA Cup.

If we don’t, we will be in a very bad place mentally for the next game against the best Spurs side in twenty years – defending fourth spot. We are only in fourth on goals scored. Bloody hell this post is getting depressing.

Who should play then? Obviously Koscielny is out and Henry departed, but Gervinho has returned. Will he go straight back in. No-one who played on Wednesday really distinguished themselves although Van Persie saw so little of the ball the he had no real chance.

None of them could complain if they were dropped and some will be, but I’m not sure that this is the moment for wholesale change. It’s more a case of players going out there and restoring their professional reputation. Which is probably why Arsene Wenger decided that letting fly with both barrels was the way to go yesterday.

I’m guessing that Djourou will have to partner Vermaelen in the centre of defence rather than Squillaci or Miquel. The next most likely change is Gervinho for Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neither were great on Wednesday, but AOC probably showed the most grit of the two.

The other possible change I guess is to use Coquelin somewhere in midfield.

I not going to predict a team at this stage. This is mainly going to be about mental strength and what Arsene Wenger saw in each of their faces after he told them the facts of life in short easy to understand words.

Can’t help feeling that these next two games are our season now. Come on Arsenal!

Well that was rather depressing.  You can argue about the pitch, slips, offside and a well worked penalty etc but there’s no getting away from it – we were crap.  We really didn’t look like we knew our business at all.

Vermaelen had a complete mare.  Has he been out wide so long he’s forgotten what to do?  The midfield were ineffectual.  Did we make more than two forward passes in a row?  Van Persie had some decent efforts when he got the ball but that hardly every happened.

I really don’t get the tactics of the first half.  We seemed to play to their strengths.  Surely we needed to get at them with pace rather than play from side to side until someone got sold short on a pass and lost it.  Was the pitch so bad that we decided only a snail’s pace was possible?

We started the game with a sort of lopsided 4-4-2 formation with Rosicky out on the left.  Presumably this was to give Gibbs some protection on his first game in months.  But all it did was leave Rosicky stranded out where he doesn’t want to be and couldn’t contribute.  In the second half we adopted a different new formation with Henry as point man and Van Persie dropping off.  A positive response to the situation but it made no real difference because we were playing so badly.

Arsene Wenger said that was our worst performance in Europe.  He’s right.  I can’t remember a European game where Arsenal played with so little determination or skill.

Their first goal was a cracking finish, but Boateng shouldn’t have got the chance.  It was a poor Szczesny kick and no Arsenal midfielder responded to the danger.  For the second goal Ibrahimovic probably was marginally offside, but you can’t ease up on a close call like that and they over ran our slowly responding defenders.  A nightmare!

Before the game the pundits talked about Arsenal having their first choice central defender pairing for a change.  But I’m not sure that’s true.  Sure, Koscielny and Vermaelen are both individually good players (usually!), but they are too similar and this unbalances the defence.  With Mertsacker and one of the others, you have one to attack the ball and one to read the next danger and mop up.  With Koscielny and Vermaelen you get both attacking the ball or a hesitation while they work out who is doing what.

Anyway, I don’t want to pick on the defenders too much, because the whole team were so poor.  Barring the slimmest of chances were out of the Champions League now.  But the season doesn’t have to be over. The next two games are now huge though to prevent a collapse in morale.  On Saturday we have to stay in the cup, the week after we defend fourth spot on the table at home to Spurs.

Everything depends now on man-management between now and Saturday evening.  Will we stand up and take it out on Sunderland? Or will we fold?

So off we go to Milan in search of an away goal.  Arsene Wenger says we will be positive and go for that advantage.  Quite right, an away goal puts you in charge and stretches your opponents more – which plays into hands of a pacey team that can pass the ball.  But first we need to get that goal.

We are travelling in slightly better shape than we were in a month ago thanks to our last two wins, but we had to dig deep for the last one and we’ve picked up another defensive injury.  It’s not exactly clear yet how long Per Mertesacker will be out, but it’s not looking good at the moment.

What does this mean for the Arsenal back four tomorrow night?  It all depends on how match fit Kieran Gibbs is now really.  In Sunderland on Saturday he made the bench but not the pitch.  Is he ready for a start now?  If he is, then Vermaelen goes back to the day job partnering Koscielny.  If not I guess we will see the Belgium stay put at left back and Djourou in the middle.

In midfield Song and Arteta will be dead certs, with the choice being over Ramsey or Rosicky.  Tomas Rosicky had started the last two and done really well.  He won our man of the match poll. But will he start three in a row?  My hunch is that we will see Ramsey this time.  He’s had some critics recently but I’m not one of them other than to say he looked knackered before he was given a break.  I think the stats show that he makes a positive contribution.

Up front I don’t see any question over Walcott and Van Persie.  Walcott has his critics too, but his record bears scrutiny as well.  By next Saturday, Gervinho will be back in the equation and then it might get more testing for Theo.  Two from Walcott, AOC and Arshavin isn’t as challenging to Walcott as two from Walcott, Gervinho, AOC and Arshavin.  This is a good problem to have.

But who will start on the left?  Chamberlain had started the last two.  Is he there until he falters, or will he be rationed out a bit?  He will no doubt say he has no nerves about playing at the San Siro and his fearless displays to date support that view.

But this might be an occasion where Arsene Wenger opts for experience, despite his talk of being audacious in the away leg.  On the other hand, I think pace can the key to unsettling Italian sides.  Tricky decision.  I hope for a gamble on AOC, but suspect a start for Arshavin.

If that is the decision them I hope we’ll see the level of industry he’s shown more recently combined with the skill that saw him set up Thierry Henry’s winner through beating two defenders to make an inch-perfect cross.

Whichever one starts I expect we will see Thierry Henry one last time at some stage in the game.

There will be an update from Arsene Wenger later today I guess, but at the moment it’s looking like:
_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
____ Arteta _ Ramsey ___
Walcott __ RVP _ Arshavin

Well that feels a lot better of course, though the toothless Bolton game still does my head in.  Look where we could be!  Anyway, back to the good news.

After a run of Sunday games we were first up for a change with a lunchtime kick-off. Our rivals are all still to play.  What a game it was.  Same squad as Bolton but Coquelin and Rosicky started rather than Sagna and Ramsey.  Sensible changes.  Ramsey has looked jaded of late and Sagna is coming back from a long lay-off.  On Wednesday of course the whole team looked jaded.  Not yesterday.

In less than two minutes Walcott set up Van Persie for a tap-in.  Confidence flooding all around.  Arsenal in control, on a stroll, not going to blow this one!  But then Koscielny pulls down Modeste just outside the box.  Pedersen’s freekick was inch perfect and Blackburn were level.  Surely we weren’t going to blow it again?

Despite getting level, Blackburn just didn’t seem to have it in them to take advantage.  So Walcott and Van Persie went and did exactly the same. 2:1.

That was the game for Blackburn then.  They had nothing left and the stage was set for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League goal.  Set-up by Van Persie with a fantastic pass onto a clever run from Chamberlain.  With composure he took three touches to collect the ball, get some room and then score.  3:1

As Arsene Wenger said after the game, Chamberlain has made a very rapid transition from youth player to confident first-teamer.  I’m not always a big fan of Mark Lawrenson’s punditry, but he was spot-on last night about AOC: what marks him out already is that he has a bit of everything.

Explosive pace to lose opponents, head up early to read the game, intelligent runs, strength to stay on the ball under pressure, composure to finish.

We all rolled our eyes in the summer didn’t we?  There goes Arsenal blowing a thick wad on a teenager when we need maturity.  Well we were right but so was he! Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a major signing for Arsenal.  He’s currently leading our match poll.

Today the pace and movement of Ox and Walcott either side of the sublime Van Persie looked unstoppable.  OK, so we can’t play Blackburn every week, but it looked fresh and dangerous.  Running into the box scares the hell out of defenders good and bad.

Blackburn were dead now but not content to let Arsenal to do all the burying!  A desperate two-footed lunge from Givet on Van Persie earned him a straight red.  All this and the second half still to come.

The second half was more one-way traffic.  Arteta collected a loose ball from a corner and forced a goal through a deflection.  4:1

Then a great run from Walcott sets up AOC for his second.  5:1.

Another hat-trick for Robin Van Persie.  Very similar to the first two, but this time the pass came from Coquelin.  You could call them all tap-ins, but that takes something away from Van Persie.  He has that talent to check and dart that loses his markers and gives him space to receive the ball and score.  6:1

Now the most curious bit of the game.  We’re 6:1 up and RVP, without whom our season etc etc, has already suffered a couple of crunching tackles.  He can surely come off can’t he?  No he can’t!

Sagna, Henry and Benayoun come on, but Van Persie stays put.  Just how big a cushion is needed to let Park Ju-Young give Van Persie a early finish?  Clearly Arsene Wenger doesn’t rate him highly, but really, just how bad can he be?  If a five goal lead against ten isn’t safe enough, there have to be other players in the squad who can sit on the bench don’t there?

Anyway, the game was nearly done.  It just had enough in it to let Henry play one-two with Van Persie and score number seven.  Bit of a lucky defection true, but he worked hard to win the ball and get there so he deserved the goal.  7:1, majestic, emphatic, about time!

Now we can relax and watch our rivals play later.  Dream results would be losses for Chelsea and Newcastle against Man Utd and Aston Villa respectively.  Both possibilities!  Then tomorrow Tottenham play Liverpool.

So potential to improve our standing having finally got it right yesterday.  All good.

So, Thomas Eisfeld then?  Haven’t a clue to be honest.  I mean, we’d all learned up about Mario Gotze and it turns out we’re buying the other teenage attacking midfielder from Dortmund.  The one who isn’t tipped by all the big past stars of German football and isn’t called Super Mario.  Poor kid!

Not sure how much we’ll see of him this season.   He has played no first team games for Borussia Dortmund and Arsene Wenger has said that there will be a period of adaptation.  So I doubt that he will feature much before the autumn.  Which is a pity because the bad news of the day was confirmation that Jack Wilshere is unlikely to feature before next season as well.  So Gotze would have been just the job.

But the truth is that no ‘big name’ was likely to come in this January.  People can witter on all they like about Arsenal having plenty in the bank and that Arsenal have to buy, but you can only buy if people want to come.  What big star would commit to Arsenal in January when we are six points off a Champions League spot?  This may be unfamiliar territory for younger fans, but it’s where we are and we will only change it on the pitch with the player we have.

The news about Jack Wilshere is quite a blow as we could do with more midfield cover as the season goes on.  Arteta and Ramsey have both done a great job but Ramsey is looking a bit jaded and Arteta didn’t have the best of fitness records before joining Arsenal.  Rosicky is doing a great job at the moment bit you don’t see him starting many consecutive games.

Which brings us on to the team to face Bolton tonight.  Bolton are fourth from bottom but we haven’t let such things get in the way of an embarrassing slip-up before.  Laurent Koscielny is right to warn against any complacency.

Last night, Chelsea were kind enough to leave a couple of points in Swansea, so we need seize the opportunity.  Arteta, and Henry are apparently both good to start, but it is less likely for Sagna.  There are no additional injuries from the Villa game.

Our current league form is, of course, dire with three losses on the trot.  Bolton on the other hand have had a good month with victories over Everton and Liverpool and progress on the cup.  Losing at Old Trafford was their only problem in January.

So a strong team choice is order to ensure we get back to winning ways.  Only two real choices to makes I guess, Sagna v Coquelin/Djourou and Ox v Arshavin.  Bolton are not particularly pacey on the left so Djourou would be ok, but I would prefer Coquelin.  As for the other choice, Arsene Wenger has talked of a cautious development of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s career so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arshavin start with the younger player back on Saturday at Bolton.

So something like this:

______ Szczesny ______
Coq _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
________ Song _______
___ Arteta __ Ramsey __
Walcott _ RVP _ Arshavin

If ever there were a game of two halves….  Amazing turnaround yesterday to go through to the fourth round against Sunderland or Middlesborough.

January has been a crap month for us with three league games lost in a row and controversy over that substitution.  Put together with the likelihood that the temporary appearance of Thierry Henry will be the only form of reinforcement it was looking even more grim by half-time yesterday.

In the first half we watched that frustrating Arsenal that shows flashes of class but then sloppily squanders them.  Signs of superiority for a while, but without taking control.  It took Villa a little while to capitalise, but you feared it was coming.  Come it did, twice.  The second was a good finish from Bent on a very tight angle, but both were poor goals to succeed.

In the second half though, Arsenal were transformed.  Eager, faster and more direct.  Don’t know what Arsene Wenger said during the break but we were a different team.  All three Arsenal goals came as a result of strong runs into the box.  A bit of luck too, but the sort of luck that doesn’t come without pressurising your opponents.

Some really rate Richard Dunne and I’ve seen him put in some solid, professional performances.  But for Arsenal’s first goal he panicked big time.  Aaron Ramsey surged into the box but had probably pushed the ball a bit further ahead than he wanted.  He was certainly only evens with Given to collect first and odds against to score.  But before either could win that race, Dunne appeared on an unstoppable slide that cleaned Ramsey out.  Penalty, no question.

Nicely taken by Van Persie.  Given guessed right and was agile as ever, but the ball was beyond him.  Van Persie sprinted back to the centre spot with the ball, Arsenal were in with a shout.

Then we were level.  Again it came from a strong run with the ball into the box and a slice of luck.  Theo Walcott jinked his way in from the right, along the line, but there was no obvious pass on.  Another jink and a hopeful stab could have come to nothing but for the hapless Hutton stabbing the ball back into Walcott’s path for a rebound into the goal.  Another piece of well earned luck.  Alan Hutton you had that coming after your last appearance against Arsenal.

Same again for the third goal.  This time Koscielny surged forward, bursting through into the box.  Darren Bent had tracked most of his long run and I guess a sort of mental momentum took over.  He went for the tackle even though he was too late and too directly behind Koscielny.  On the ground he gestured hopefully that he’d got to the ball, but no chance.  He’d gone straight through Koscielny to get there and it was another straightforward penalty decision.

Given gambled on Robin Van Persie repeating the first one and went early to his right.  Robin went the other way and we were winning.  After that we weren’t going to throw it away.  Villa did have the odd attack, but Koscielny, Mertesacker and Fabianski dealt with them all.  Mainly it was more Arsenal pressure.

Henry, Arteta and Sagna came on as late subs to keep Villa exercised.  Good to see Bacary Sagna on his way back, because to be honest Francis Coquelin had a torrid old time against Agbonlahor.  Arteta though wasn’t so badly missed last night as Tomas Rosicky played an absolute blinder.

After the game, ESPN pundit Martin Keown was talking through the highlights.  With Laurent Koscielny onscreen he said that there were some real leaders beginning to emerge in this team.  He was certainly right about Koscielny.  He is a star and he is putting some backbone into Arsenal too.  He is the clear winner in our match poll despite strong support for Rosicky and Van Persie.

So, finally some cheer to end a dismal month.  Next up this week is a double helping in the league – Bolton on Wednesday, Blackburn Saturday.  The first half Arsenal will turn both into nail-biters, won or lost on a late, lonely goal.  Second half Arsenal will take six points with ease.

Come on you Gunners.

Apart from Thierry’s winner against Leeds United, January has been a thoroughly crap month. Let’s hope we can end it with a win against Villa tomorrow. I know the league is our main focus nut when you’re in a losing rut you just need any kind of win.

A big part of our problem has been injuries of course and the news there is good and bad. Arteta, Henry and Coquelin are likely to be available and Sagna could make the bench.

The news that Jack Wilshere has suffered a set-back this week is depressing. He’s said to be gifted and I’m sure he is. It’s frustrating for us as fans, must be so much worse for him.

Of the potential returnees, I think it’s Arteta we’ve missed the most. We’ve definitely lacked composure and possession whilst he’s been out so if just one of them is ready I hope it’s him. If there’s any doubt about Coquelin, I wouldn’t be disappointed to see Yennaris at fullback. He’s looked alright and it’s his position.

Last time we played Villa we won with a late Benayoun header. Since then they’ve added Keane on loan. He may not be quite the player he was, but he’s still a big threat. I think it could be a tough game.

Will Oxlade-Chamberlain get a start? I think he might just, although Arsene Wenger was on bit of a mission to fix Arshavin’s confidence yesterday. But form is the thing and managers earn their corn by being ruthless when required. So it would be good to see AOC, even if he doesn’t have the stamina for ninety minutes yet.

Course, if he can’t do ninety minutes, Arsene Wenger won’t relish repeating THAT substitution! But if Henry is fit he can be spared that option.

Maybe he’ll start them both and leave Theo sitting on the bench pondering where to pitch his contract bid.

Predicting a team line-up is difficult when so many players are on the cusp of match fitness, but how about something like this -

______ Szczesny ______
Yen _ Merte _ Kos _ Verm
_______ Song ________
__ Arteta ___ Ramsey __
Walcott __ RVP ___ AOC

Nervous? Yeah well, maybe a bit. But hopefully the team will go into tomorrow’s game with a positive attitude. Yes, Manchester United are well ahead of us, but they have shown a vulnerable side too this season so there is everything to play for.

And we do have to go for it. We’re four points behind Chelsea now and share the same points total as Newcastle. Lose further momentum now and we risk getting cut off from the top four.

Squad news is not encouraging. We are still without any proper fullbacks and Arteta. Henry and Vermaelen are both doubtful, but may have fitness tests today.

So I guess were looking at a similar line up to the Swansea game only with Rosicky starting instead of Benayoun. I’m guessing that Rosicky didn’t start the Swansea game because he was still recovering from illness. Once he did come on we recovered a bit of midfield composure as hum can hold the ball better than Benayoun and passes well. Benayoun isn’t a bad player but he isn’t as versatile across the while midfield role.

My guess is that we will line up like this:
_____ Szczesny _____
DJ _ Merte _ Kos _ Miq
_______ Song _______
__ Rosicky _ Ramsey __
Walcott _ RVP _ Arshavin

Hopefully the improved work rate that Arshavin has shown in the last two games will lead to some better form.

Meanwhile we have a passing interest in some of today’s games. All our immediate rivals are away today. Chelsea go to Norwich at lunchtime, Newcastle to Fulham at 3pm and Liverpool go to Bolton this evening. All of these have potential for upset so let’s hope we can have a lucky Saturday to buoy everyone up for tomorrow.

A lot of talk this week about what it would mean for Arsenal to finish outside the top four with an apparent rift between Manager and Chairman. Peter Hill-Wood is a long way from understanding public relations and how to avoid creating the wrong media story, but I think that he was essentially talking about club finances when he said it wouldn’t be a disaster.

When Arsenal were raising the finance to build the new stadium they produced financial models to show that they could survive a situation where they were outside the Champions League. When you are borrowing millions you have to show lenders that you have looked into all the potential risks and show that even in the worst case scenario the debt can be repaid. So there wasn’t really anything new there, just Peter Hill-Wood putting his foot in it. Again, nothing really new there.

As Arsene Wenger said later in the week though, it would be a disaster in footballing terms. Robin Van Persie would surely be tempted away from Europa League football and it would handicap the quest for quality new players. The football Arsenal play over the next three months is going to be the most critical stuff for some time.

Come on you Gunners!

Well that was a depressing end to the weekend!  It started so well too, with an excellent opener from Robin Van Persie after just a few minutes.  A well timed run to stay onside and a perfectly weighted pass slid in by Theo Walcott.  For a second it looked like RVP would run out of room, but he slipped it past Vorm to score.

We were on a roll.  What was that you said about Swansea’s home form?

Well, as they demonstrated next, their home reputation is well deserved and it shows why they’ve been clear of the drop-zone so far this season.  Once they got over the shock of our early goal they got their shape back and played some good fast attacking football down both sides.  Ignasi Miquel may be a good prospect as a central defender, but as a stand-in fullback he was soon struggling with Nathan Dyer.  On the other side, Djourou was coping slightly better with Sinclair but still not keeping him out.

Swansea were lucky with the penalty for the equaliser though.  Aaron Ramsey did make contact with Sinclair’s heal but only after Sinclair had crashed into his calf studs first.  It should have been a freekick to Arsenal and maybe a card for Sinclair, but that’s not how the referee saw it and so Swansea were back in the game with their tails up.

Szczesny went the right way for the penalty, but Dyer put it hard and low into the corner and scored.  Szczesny actually had a good game for a keeper conceding three.

But by then we weren’t having a good game elsewhere on the pitch and the combination of injury, sickness and the African Cup showed how shallow the squad is as Swansea completely dominated possession.

Djourou and Miquel are two players worth their place in the squad as alternate central defenders, but they are not proper fullbacks and against pacey traditional wingers it showed.  Walcott and Arshavin are not always that helpful to Sagna and Santos and the need for assistance was even greater yesterday.  Against Leeds and Swansea, Arshavin demonstrated that he has rediscovered energy, but sadly he hasn’t rediscovered form.

Benayoun ran himself ragged trying to fill midfield gaps but that has never really been his game and he wasn’t making much impact standing on for Arteta who was out with the same bug that hit Mertesacker and Rosicky earlier in the week.  Presumably Rosicky wasn’t feeling 100% as you would expect him to cover for Arteta – much better likeness than Benayoun who has a different sort of talent.  Whether Arteta’s presence would have changed the result, who knows.  There was only a goal in it.  But we were definitely missing him in the middle.

Swansea got the lead when Joe Allen dispossessed Ramsey and passed to Dyer.  Miquel was stranded well out of position and Dyer finished superbly.  After about an hour, Arsene Wenger replaced Arshavin and Benayoun with Henry and Rosicky.  For a while it looked to do the trick, more so because of Rosicky than Henry.  Straight away we were holding on to the ball longer and looking more organised.  Calm and order seemed to be restored and we got the equaliser.  Walcott surged forward and scored with a the sort of calm finish which, if he could do it consistently, would transform him into a top, top class player.

At that moment, any result was possible: win, loss or draw.  But we fell asleep at the restart and the ball was fed between Koscielny and Miquel to put Danny Graham one on one with Szczesny.  The game had been rescued and thrown again inside a minute.  After that we tried to pressurise, swapping Oxlade-Chamberlain for Mertesacker, but Swansea weren’t going to throw it away and held out to the end.

So we’ve dropped points, giving Chelsea a whole game’s cushion ahead of us.  Hard yards ahead.  We have shown that we can compete at the top, but with some key absentees we’re very vulnerable.  Get well soon Arteta, Sagna, Wilshere and Santos!  Hurry home Gervinho.

He may not be as fast as before and we will have to see what he’s got in the tank. But in twenty minutes he showed that he still has a level of movement off the ball, composure, skill and commitment that can change a game.

Thierry Henry, did I need to say who, was the inevitable winner of our match poll. He probably would have been so just for stepping onto the pitch, but scoring the winner made it a no contest. It changed the game too of course.

Arsenal dominated possession and created chances. Arshavin worked like never before. Arteta, Ramsey, Chamakh and Chamberlain attacked and attacked. But it was almost as if they were trying too hard. The final ball often faltered rather than found the target. By half-time we must have had about a dozen chances and only tested the Leeds keeper on a couple.

We never looked in danger but the longer it stayed goaless you began to worry about us losing to a sole Leeds strike on goal. To add to the anxiety we suffered another defensive injury. Sprinting down the right to overlap with Chamberlain, Coquelin pulled up and fell to the ground clutching his hamstring. I’m guessing that’s the last we’ll see of him for a few weeks and it adds impetus to the search for some loaned reinforcement at the back.

Some say that playing out of position adds to the risk of injury and you wonder how often Coquelin sprints like that in training. He was replaced by number fifty-something Nico Yennaris, who, apart from nervously conceding a couple of corners, did a good job.

But back to the story which is dominating all sports coverage this morning. When Henry came on he showed the difference between good endeavour and class. He got into dangerous positions, he found space where the others got lost in a crowd of Leeds defenders. For extra encouragement he also ran to block and cover when we didn’t have the ball.

The goal when it came was classic Henry. He drifted wide, pulling a defender with him but still getting a yard of space. Looking along the line of defenders, he timed his move to perfection. Song played the ball through the gap and Henry was there to collect it. As he made his first touch I smiled and thought: I know what he does from there. He opens his body up and with his second touch he strokes the ball across the keeper and into the far corner of the goal. Beautiful.

It was a fairy tale script made real. Good job too, because we were struggling to break through a Leeds defence that worked and concentrated hard throughout. They didn’t many chances because they played so deep. But they were keeping us out despite having little possession.

If Thierry Henry hadn’t been there, either Arshavin, Arteta or Ramsey would have been man of the match for their sheer industry. And you don’t get to say that about Arshavin often. But we would probably be facing an unwelcome replay at Elland Road.

Instead the substitutes Walcott and Henry did the trick. Walcott’s pace and Henry’s experience stretched the Leeds defence just a little bit more than it could take and the gaps and the goal came.

One-nil to the Arsenal and the return of the king instead of frustration.