SPOTY Contenders

I’ve been planning for a while on going slightly off-piste, and writing a non Arsenal related blog. Given that the ten nominees for Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) are announced tomorrow night, this seemed like something decent for me to have a go at. Tragically, it happens to be the same day that we mourn the death of Gary Speed, a true personality of British football. As Dan Walker wrote in his incredibly moving blog, now is not the time to discuss the reasons behind Gary’s death, but to remember the life that he lived.

A fantastic footballer, including spells at Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers, and the first Premier League player to reach 500 appearances in the Division. Also the most capped outfield player for Wales, representing his country 85 times, 44 of which as Captain. He was a player who everyone respected, clearly loved by his fellow professionals, and boasted a career that any youngster would aspire to emulate.

As a Manager, Gary managed Sheffield United for a few months before landing the role as Wales boss in December 2010. Despite inheriting a squad that subsequently fell to a record low position of 117^th in the FIFA Rankings, he turned it around fantastically and Wales found themselves ranked 45^th in the rankings in October this year.

It’s always horrible when a talented life is ended early. It’s been incredible to see the tributes pour in for him, and it shows just how many people he has touched during his career and what a fantastic community football can be when it’s brought together. I’m so sorry for this family and his friends, and hope they are allowed to grieve in privacy. Rest In Peace, Gary.

The aim of this blog is to look at the lead contenders (in my opinion!) of the main categories for SPOTY, what they’ve achieved, and why they are in with a chance of landing the much coveted end of year award for British sportsmen/women. Hope you enjoy!

Sports Personality Of The Year contenders

Mark Cavendish

In my eyes, the favourite. I’m not a big follower of cycling, but it’s been hard to avoid the year that Mark Cavendish has had. He became the first British winner of the Tour de France Green Jersey (the sprint competition), winning five of the 21 stages. As if that wasn’t enough, he became only the second Brit to win the World Championship road race in Copenhagen in September. He has his eyes firmly set on 2012 now; the Olympics, and racing for Team Sky (plus the birth of his first child). But if you are truly going to award the main prize at SPOTY to the most successful British sportsman of the year, look no further than Mark Cavendish.

Rory McIlroy

After all the expectation, 2011 has finally been the year that Rory McIlroy truly marked his stamp on the world of golf. Despite throwing away a four shot lead on the final day at the Masters in the opening Major of the year, he put it immaculately right at the US Open where he destroyed the field to win his first Major by eight shots. He became the youngster Major winner since Tiger Woods in 1997, and the youngest US Open winner since 1923. Despite struggling in the remaining two Major Championships, he hit some sensational form at the end of the season, and now finds himself a career high second in the world rankings. It’s not far-fetched to suggest he’ll be one better this time next year. He’s had a brilliant year, but I think he’ll have to wait until he lands the main gong at SPOTY.

Darren Clarke

Who’d have thought at the beginning of the year, that Darren Clarke would be a serious challenger for SPOTY? The 43-year-old Northern Irishman won his first Major at the British Open in July, after a weather affected four days at Royal St George’s. A true personality of the world of golf, and much loved amongst British sports fans, Clarke has already come close to the prize after he came in second after his Ryder Cup heroics in 2006. No doubt his final chance to win the main prize, and I’m sure he’ll get a large portion of the public vote. Top three definite. Possible winner.

Luke Donald

It’s really been a great year for British golf! Luke Donald should also be seriously considered, for his incredible consistency throughout the year, and his rise to world number one in the world of golf. Winner of the BMW PGA Championship, Scottish Open, WGC Matchplay Championship, top ten finishes in two Majors, and third place in the FedEx Cup. Not to mention becoming the first ever golfer to finish top of the PGA and European Tour Money Lists, it’s been an incredible year for Luke. Can’t help but feel his success is more appreciated in America than in Britain, and the lack of a Major trophy will ultimately cost him a real shot at winning the award, but he should be a nominee for sure.

Alastair Cook

It seems like an age ago that we won The Ashes in Australia, but Alastair Cook’s form in that series, as well as the rest of the year, makes him another serious contender for SPOTY. He was the best player down under by a country mile, amassing 766 runs in the five test series, and becoming the second highest English run scorer in Ashes history. Not to mention picking up the Man Of The Series award. He wasn’t done there either, scoring a further three centuries against Sri Lanka and India respectively in the summer. Currently ranked third in the Test Batsman rankings, and probably the most likely of the cricketers to win (or get a place) in the awards.

Mo Farah

Not only is he a Gooner, but he’s a pretty decent runner too. After a fantastic 2010, Mo Farah was at it again during 2011. He became the first British winner of a long distance event at the World Championships, winning the 5,000m in South Korea. And was also impressive on his way to silver in the 10,000m. Also winning the 3,000m gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships, Mo is a popular guy in British sport, and worthy of his place as an expected nominee for SPOTY.

International Sport Personality Of The Year

Sebastian Vettel

One of the most dominant performances during a Formula One season that you’ll ever see. From the first race in Australia, it was clear that Sebastian Vettel meant serious business, and the title was pretty much decided by the time he’d won the eighth race of the season (his sixth) in Valencia. Sebastian ended the season with a record 15 pole positions, and 11 wins. A huge 122 points ahead of second place Jenson Button in the Driver Standings. Given the serious amount of driving talent in the field this season, including four other former World Champions, it was total annihilation. And this, his second World Championship, is highly unlikely to be his last either. My personal favourite for the International SPOTY award. But the next bloke might be close…

Novak Djokovic

Much like Vettel, Novak Djokovic has too enjoyed a year of substantial domination in his sport. Winner of ten tournaments in 2011, including three of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and he set a new record for winning the most amount of prize money in a season on the ATP World Tour. He went 43 matches unbeaten (including two matches in 2010), and surged his way to World Number One. Fatigue clearly got the better of him at the end of the season, but ending the year with 70 wins and only six losses is worthy of serious praise. Especially as it occurred during the period of the highest ever standard of men’s tennis, as Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are still very much at the top of their game.

Team Of The Year

England Test Cricket

What a year for the English Test cricket team. I don’t care what anyone says, but Test cricket is still very much the premier format of the game, and it is a brilliant achievement that we currently sit proudly top of the Test World Rankings. This was achieved after several years of hard work, but finally confirmed on the back of our first series win in Australia for 24 years, the summer series wins over Sri Lanka, and whitewashing then number one ranked side India. There are arguments that the standard of International Test cricket has dropped, but that doesn’t matter. The fact remains the same though, and England will probably win the Team Of The Year award because of the unbeaten year, and surge to becoming the best Test team in the world.

Young Sport Personality Of The Year

It’ll probably be Tom Daley. But Liam Broady deserves a decent shout. Runner up in the Boys’ Singles at Wimbledon this year, after a really decent final. One to look out for. I don’t really know much else about any possible Young SPOTY contenders, hence the small paragraph!

There you go then. My very quick look into the big event, which takes place on Thursday 22^nd December. It’s always a fun and interesting night, to review the year that British sport has endured. And from this blog, hopefully it has shed some light on some of the leading contenders (at least in my eyes) in some of the categories. The nominees for the main award are announced tomorrow, Monday 28^th November, during The One Show.

Let me know what you think. Thoughts on those that I’ve suggested, or recommendations for those I’ve left out. It’s impossible to include everyone (I didn’t want to write a novel), but it’s been another fantastic year for British sport, and I’m already looking forward to the big night, and James Corden’s inevitable love making scene with David Beckham.

Progress Halted

ARSENAL 1 - FULHAM 1

Back to frustration then. Today’s result was hardly a disaster, more of a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do, and we can’t take anything for granted in the wide race that’s emerging for Champions League spots next year.

I’m always frustrated and annoyed when we drop points. In my mind, we are good enough to beat absolutely anyone. So it’s unsatisfying when we fail to pick up three points in the league, whether it’s away against the Champions, or at home to a newly promoted team. Or even at home against a solid mid table side like Fulham.

I actually like Fulham as a team, and as a club. And it was clear even before the game that they’d be difficult to break down. They produced a starting XI with far more attacking options than I thought they would, including all of Dempsey, Dembele, Ruiz and Zamora. A lot of who would get in most Premier League teams.

So it was unsurprising to see Fulham counter attack with purpose and ambition, and get into more than one area of concern for the Arsenal defence, even though there were only a couple of times that Szezesny was forced to make a save. It was very disciplined from Fulham, and from a neutral point of view you’d probably be fair to say that they deserved their point.

But I’m not a neutral. As a Gooner, my frustration was growing as the minutes passed.

Especially after Andrei Arshavin had an early goal disallowed (correctly) for offside, it showed that we looked like we meant business. That we had that clinical edge to our attack, which we’d been lacking in recent years.

But apparently not.

The only other real first half chances came through Aaron Ramsey, who was below par compared to his recent high level of performances. Ramsey forced an excellent save from the brilliant Mark Schwarzer, and then skied a Theo Walcott pull back high over the bar. Rambo has been incredible as of late; he wasn’t terrible today. In fact, he was making a lot of ground up on the left, where the lost and hopeless Arshavin should have been. But Ramsey’s passing was sometimes too ambitious, and slow. This won’t be damaging on his progress, but he needs to re-watch his game today, and learn from his mistakes. He’ll become a better player from it.

Schwarzer is no stranger to making incredible streaks of saves against us. He was at it again today, and forced a brilliant save from a Johan Djourou header off a corner, and that horrible feeling of it “not being our day” was growing in my mind. Even captain fantastic Robin van Persie seemed not at his best. Tired maybe. The one time he did beat Schwarzer in the Fulham goal saw a well positioned Chris Baird clear off the line. It just wasn’t going to go in, was it?

And then our worst fears were realised. Calamity in the back line struck, as Andre Santos dicked around clearing the ball, it fell back to Fulham in the middle of our half, and the ball was floated in, bounced around, and eventually rolled in to our net courtesy of a tragic attempted clearance by Thomas Vermaelen. Boom. 1-0 to Fulham, and silence amongst the home fans.

This prompted some intriguing substitutions from Arsene Wenger that perhaps should have happened earlier in the half, or even at half time itself. Gervinho replaced Ramsey, and Abou Diaby marked his Premier League return (to the surprise of myself) by replacing Per Mertesacker. Alex Song moved to CB, Diaby into midfield, Gervinho out wide, and I’ve no idea where Arshavin went. Until he got replaced eight minutes later by Marouane Chamakh. Desperate, right?

My immediate response was why, oh why, has Diaby, a player just returning from a series of injuries, very much lacking match practise or sharpness, been brought on when we are chasing the game? When someone like Yossi Benayoun remains on the bench? And push Song, arguably our best midfielder this year, back into defence? Diaby made some neat movements, but tried too many high balls into the box for my liking. And given Fulham’s defence, that was the worst possible tactic. I mean, we had 13 corners in the game, and only one actually ended with an attempt on goal.

Gervinho was the difference though. For all his faults in front of goal (and there are a lot, which I’m planning on doing a separate blog about), he is a dribbling master. He creates things out of nothing, and often requires two or even three defenders on him, freeing up space for others to exploit. He was excellent once he came on. Really upped the tempo, made some great breaks, and we actually looked like a team too.

And we eventually got the equaliser. Vermaelen making up for his unfortunate own goal, soared forward and headed home a cross by the ever impressive Walcott.

We had time to find a winner, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Points shared, and time for reflection on what could have been.

Today wasn’t a disaster, but definitely a big missed opportunity. Man United were held at home, Chelsea are back to winning ways, Sp*rs keep marching on. Winning was as important as ever, to keep the run going, and keep the pressure up on those around us.

It’s always difficult going from the high intensity of the Champions League on a Wednesday, back to an important game in the Premier League on a Saturday. We’ve suffered in the past, and we’ve lost points again today. But it’s a problem for Wenger, who wants to always play our best team in both competitions.

Was it more important to get the win on Wednesday and top our Champions League group with a game to spare? Or win today, get the extra two points, and have to field a full strength team away at Olympiacos? Probably better as it is. We have plenty of time to make up the lost two points today, whereas if we needed a result in Athens and screwed it, we could have been in the same boat as last season. Drawn against Barcelona, or Real Madrid in the first round knock out. And faced with another swift exit in Europe’s premier competition.

One thing I would now beg to Wenger should I get the opportunity (probably not). Put out the Reserves against Man City on Tuesday night.

It’s clear that some of our key players are already struggling with fatigue, so it would be almost criminal to put a strong side out in the Mickey Mouse competition, against the best team in the country (at present).

Bollocks to the Carling Cup, give the kids some experience, and who knows, should they spring a surprise result and beat what will probably be a pretty strong Citeh team anyway (welcome back $amir), it would be hilarious. And give us a genuine shot at winning the trophy we should be defending this year.

So despite the initial disappointment at only drawing today, there’s no reason to panic because of it. More of our progress being halted, than anything else. We must also respect the opposition, and give them credit for their performance, which was admirable at the very least.

Our next league game is away at struggling Wigan, whilst Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United all have trickier away games at which they might drop points. It’s amazing how quickly a couple of dropped points can be forgotten, and replaced in this division.

We must stay strong, and believe. It’s the Arsenal way.

My Wish List for Arsene Wenger

I don’t know about you, but I’m still buzzing after our 5-3 win against Chelsea yesterday. With the exception of Stoke v Newcastle tomorrow, after the rest of the weekend’s fixtures we find ourselves 7th in the league, sitting on 16 points. That’s three points off third place, even though Newcastle and Sp*rs currently have a game in hand. And even though we’ve taken a battering from most neutrals and voices of the media, we have the same number of points now that we gained from equivalent fixtures last season (thanks to @MickTheGooner for that stat).

Even though we’re on pretty good form right now, I’m sure most Gooners will still admit to being concerned with several areas of our squad.  We’re not the complete package yet, but there are things we can do to improve. Well, things that Arsene Wenger can do. Here’s a short wish list of what I think are the most important things he can do in the short-term future:

1) Defensive Coach

Yep, we’re still all over the place at the back. Three out of four of our arguably first choice back line were absent at Stamford Bridge, yet the four that started all had well over 100 international caps between them. So they should have been solid right? Well they weren’t. And it wasn’t because any of them are bad players.

There’s just something not quite happening with our defence. Per Mertesacker and Andre Santos are new signings, still adapting to the increased intensity and pace of the English game. Carl Jenkinson is young, and has been thrown into the deep end much earlier than Wenger would have liked. Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and Kieran Gibbs have all had injury problems, as has Laurent Koscielny. Johan Djourou is spending more time playing out of position at right back, than his favoured central spot.

So that gives you a kind of idea as to why we might be struggling at the back. But even when we have first choice defenders playing, there’s still the same sense of unease and fear. And we are often subject to criminal like performances at the back. What can we do to correct this?

For months and months, the suggestion of bringing in a defensive coach has been circulating pretty much everywhere in Gooner talk. It’s such a simple solution too. It’s not really going to damage our wage structure, it wouldn’t affect squad harmony (I’ll explain below) and it would deeply satisfy the fans that have been desperate for this to happen, as I say, for ages.

Why not bring in someone like Martin Keown? Nigel Winterburn? I’m sure Wenger could even tempt Tony Adams back to England for a specialist role at the club. These guys are Arsenal legends (hence the not affecting squad harmony), would command the respect of every single defender at the club, and provide exceptional experience and advice to cement the gaps so often exploited at the back.

Wenger’s usual reply to this suggestion is that he, and his staff, has the necessary experience to train the defence. Very true, and no one would suggest they are unfit in the roles they have. But we need some fresh blood in our coaching ranks – something that hasn’t happened for too long. Someone to give new ideas, and hopefully spark something, anything that can sure up the defensive ranks.

Worst-case scenario, someone new comes in, nothing changes and it proves Wenger was right all the long and we don’t question his coaching decisions again. Best-case scenario, someone new comes in, and our defence becomes tighter and stronger and we concede less goals. So it’s win-win for Wenger, isn’t it?

For something that would be such little hassle, but could solve so much, I have no idea why it hasn’t happened yet. My only hope is that it will. And fast.

2) Transfer Activity

Everyone loves pointing out that having £50m in the bank won’t keep clean sheets, or score us goals. Wenger built his strongest teams on the same policy he still uses today, but the difference is that our rivals didn’t have the financial muscle they possess today. Man City and Chelsea, bankrolled by money that’s come from means I probably don’t want to know, Man United and Liverpool, funded by wealthy Americans, and Sp*rs, financed by ‘Arry’s brainwashing techniques on Daniel Levy, have all spent big in the transfer window in recent years.

Since 2003, these sides have all had net spends in excess of £100m in the transfer market. Ours is a profit of £5m. I’m proud of our financially policy, we do it the way it’s supposed to be done. But the rules have been re-written since Wenger’s last great team. Everyone is spending except us. Yeah, we’ll always be up there or there abouts. But if we want to be challenging for major honours every year (which we do) then we need to alter our policy, and use the money we’ve generated through our prudent approach.

I’m not talking crazy spending. But there’s £50m in the bank for this season, so why not make use of it?

For the first time in a long while, I’m very happy with our GK situation. No need to spend there. Defensively, we have a set of very good players as I mentioned previously, and when they are all fit there’s plenty to choose from. Maybe another addition for added cover? I’ve seen us linked to Ajax and Belgium international Jan Vertonghen, a typical Wenger-like signing who can play at CB, LB or even fill in in midfield. Reports say he would cost around £8-10m? OK, we’re down to £40m.

Midfield is solid. New signing Mikel Arteta has done a good job in filling a huge hole left by the Fabregas and Nasri departures. Aaron Ramsey has improved incredibly and Alex Song is as solid as ever. If you count in Jack Wilshere coming back from injury, as well as Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun, and then throw in youngsters Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin, that’s a good set of players to fill three spots. If there’s money to spend though, someone like Xherdan Shaqiri (a popular recommendation from several Arsenal fans) would be a promising addition, for a cost probably less than £15m. He’s young, already experienced in Europe and Internationally, and another Wenger type buy. Let’s say £15m actual cost? Great, £25m left to spend on attack.

I think our attack is, on paper, the weakest area of the squad. This is assuming everyone is fully fit (before you say “what about our defence?”). Obviously, Robin van Persie is a world class striker. One of the best out there in fact. Gervinho is a new signing still finding his feet, but becoming more and more consistent each week. Theo Walcott was exceptional against Chelsea, but he lacks consistency and his decision-making is usually awful. Andrei Arshavin is lovable, yet not really performing as a starter. Marouane Chamakh is just really off his game. No doubting his talent, but he just hasn’t even got close to finding it in the past year. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has huge potential as a RW, and is pushing Walcott very hard for a spot. Park Chu-Young is also adapting, but showed what he’s capable of in the Carling Cup and will hopefully get a chance in the Premier League too.

My problem with the attack is there’s only one out and out goal scorer. I don’t need to say who. RVP will surely go on to get 30+ goals this season assuming he stays fit (maybe even 40). But what if he doesn’t stay fit? Who will score our goals? I honestly don’t think any of the others will get more than 15 goals individually this season. This could be a big, big problem. I’m not saying we’re a “one-man” team. God no. But there’s one man who will score the majority of our goals. We need to sign someone who can support that by chipping in with some of their own. To take the pressure off RVP, and also mean we aren’t royally screwed if he gets injured (which isn’t impossible to image).

I don’t have anyone in mind as particular that I do for defence and midfield. But with £25m left in the bank, there would be several quality players we could bring in. We wouldn’t even have to spend the whole lot. But I’m looking for someone who can stay in the box, and get a foot on all those chances we create and there’s no one ever there. You know the ones I mean. Hey, it could be that Park is that player. Or Chamakh finds his form somehow. I don’t know. But it’s something we desperately need. A Ruud van Nistelrooy type player. An Alan Shearer. A proper Striker, which in turn could free up RVP to play more of the Dennis Bergkamp role, which the great man himself suggested RVP was destined to do.

3) RVP's Contract

This is an easy one. Just give him a blank piece of paper, and ask him to write on it the amount he wants to be paid. He’s not a greedy player, so it won’t be a colossal £200k+ wage we see the likes of Rooney and Torres pick up.

We need to keep him, quite simply. Pay him what he wants, tie him up till he’s well into his 30s, and let’s turn him into the Arsenal legend that Fabregas could have been. The one that Thierry Henry, Ian Wright, Cliff Bastin and co are. It’s very possible, IF he signs the dotted line to extend his years.

Wenger has the resources at his disposal to make all of what I’ve discussed possible. Whether or not he does anything about it is a different matter. I live in hope that at least one of them will have happened by the end of the calendar year. Is that too optimistic? Possibly. But we Gooners don’t ask for too much from our great manager. We were spoilt to a fantastic score line yesterday, let’s hope he spoils us to more joy in the future, both on and off the pitch.

Crisis? What crisis?!

CHELSEA 3 – ARSENAL 5

Well that went well, didn’t it?

The perfect way to end a week which has been dominated by the pretty poor performance of the speakers at the AGM (with the exception of Arsene Wenger). And a reminder to those who had forgotten just what Arsenal are capable of. Throw in the obvious satisfaction of beating one of our fiercest rivals, and you reach the sum of a lot of delighted Gooners tonight.

It didn’t always appear it was going to be like that though. At half time I was nervous, edgy, annoyed and braced for another half of exceptionally average defending, more Chelsea goals, and another away defeat. Luckily, I was wrong.

The second half performance was one of the best halves of football I’ve seen us play in recent years. OK yes, there are still a lot of areas to work on (mainly the defence), but everything seemed to click going forward.

Theo Walcott was particularly impressive; I thought it was his best game of the season by far. In the first half he created two golden opportunities, both of which were squandered by Gervinho and Robin van Persie respectfully, but it took nothing away from the vision and execution Walcott provided. He was on the ball, keen and eager. And best of all, his decision-making was a lot better than what we’ve previously seen this season. His goal was exceptionally well taken too, if a little fortunate, but the finish was fantastic. Beating Petr Cech at his near post is not an easy achievement.

Our midfield trio of Mikel Arteta, Alex Song and Aaron Ramsey were also outstanding today. Arteta at times was unnoticeable, but that’s not always a bad thing. His passing rate was excellent (94%), and he’s growing into a similar role that Luka Modric possesses at Sp*rs – not going to get huge figures in the goals and assists column, but provides the basis on which we can build attacks. He can hold when he needs to, and can push forward equally. He’s a very good technical player, and is doing a great job in the team.

Aaron Ramsey was one of the stars of the show. He’s seriously improved over the recent weeks, and now looks very comfortable in the dreaded “Cesc role”. The pass for the first goal was fantastic and clinical. The latter being an element he is really emphasising in his play right now. He’s assisting, and he’s scoring as well. Wenger kept faith with him, when a lot of people wrote him off. With no Jack Wilshere, and with the loss of Fabregas and Nasri over the summer, someone had to step up. Ramsey has stepped up, and he’s getting better and better every week.

With all these positives though, I do need to take a quick step back and lower the mood somewhat. As, once again, we had a shocker defensively. Inside the opening minutes, both our flanks were exploited leading to great chances for Chelsea’s attack. Fair enough, Johan Djourou is playing out of position, and Andre Santos is still adapting to the English game (and looking a little unfit). But there were holes there, and both first half goals conceded were very avoidable. Per Mertesacker looked very uncomfortable, and particularly with The Racist’s goal, he should have done a lot better job with his marking. 

Santos improved admirably in the second half. In the first half his tackling was dreadful, but it was a lot better after the break and he made some crucial tackles on the left which often turned defence into attack within seconds. His goal was well taken too. Maybe Cech should have done better yes, but it was a composed finish from a player still new to the surroundings he’s playing in. He’s clearly a talented footballer, although slightly concerned about his defensive ideals…

The stand out defender though was Laurent Koscielny. His game has improved leaps and bounds lately, and he’s established himself as Arsenal’s first choice centre back in my opinion this season (although that’s largely due to Thomas Vermaelen’s injury too). He made a couple of incredibly crucial blocks in the area, interceptions, clearances and was a commanding presence in an obvious fragile back four. Surely he will be paired with Vermaelen once he’s fully fit again, and that will be a very good centre back pairing. Per is a good player, but he is still adapting to the pace of the English game, with his low mobility an obvious hindrance.

Save the best till last though. Once again, the man of the moment was Robin van Persie. Not only is he an exceptionally talented footballer, but his leadership skills are also more and more noticeable these days. He leads by example, speaks exceptionally well, and is a brilliant role model. He’s inspirational, and he’s ours. Whatever he wants, we should give it to him. Losing Cesc was devastating. Losing RVP, would be worse. 

It was a hat trick of the highest class. The first was a simple tap in, after some great work by Ramsey and Gervinho, and it was a classic Arsenal goal. The Racist brilliantly assisted the second, after he graciously assumed his usual position of on all fours and allowed RVP through, to coolly round Cech and pass the ball into an empty net. It was exceptional composure in a big, big moment. The third goal was a standard counter attack, but the finish again was a great strike. Cech probably could have done more for this one too (common theme here), but I’m not complaining.

All in all, it was a brilliant second half team performance. The serious doubts at the interval were quickly abolished. Chelsea had never conceded five goals at Stamford Bridge in their eight year history. They have now. Their lovable chairman Bruce Buck called for them to “beat the crap” out of us. They didn’t. I don’t like Chelsea at all. They have gained success purely out of having dirty financial muscle. I respect Man United, I respect Liverpool. I even respect Sp*rs more than I do Chelsea. So stuffing them at their place was all the more enjoyable for the reasons above.

It was the perfect place to provide Wenger his 500^th win, too. Are we now capable of going on and challenging for the title? Maybe a little unlikely, but I’m sure Wenger will state the belief is there that it’s possible. It certainly throws open the race for third, as well as fourth. Using true Wenger-like language, I believe we have what it takes to make the Champions League again next year. The squad have shown real improvements over the past few weeks, and they should be confident of inflicting further defeats on other clubs. I know I am.

Roll on Marseille on Tuesday.