On Saturday, 23 February 2008, Arsenal's title challenge was derailed after Eduardo suffered a shocking injury at the hands of Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor. The Croatian striker's ankle was broken by a mistimed challenge and with Birmingham grabbing a late equaliser, Manchester United cut Arsenal's lead at the top of the Premiership to three points.

Fast forward to Saturday, 27 February 2010: Arsenal trail league leaders Chelsea by six points, but in the day's early kick off, Manchester City take all three points at Stamford Bridge as two Chelsea players are sent off. The Gunners travel to Stoke knowing a win would cut the their rival's lead to just three points. After an even first half which sees a sublime Bendtner header cancel out Stoke's opener (which dishearteningly comes about through a Delap long throw), Aaron Ramsey's leg is broken by a mistimed challenege from the Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross.

This time however, the Arsenal players are not going to let a horrific injury to a team-mate be the defining moment of their season. Instead it becomes the moment that allows them to go on and win the game. Instead of falling out of the title race, Arsenal have somehow managed to fall back into it. If Ramsey's broken leg can serve one purpose, maybe it's that it can be the inspiration for a monumental push towards the Premier League Summit, and finally Arsenal can be rewarded with the league title that they should have had two years ago.

Arsenal have released the following statement regarding Ramsey: “During yesterday’s match against Stoke City, Aaron Ramsey sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg. Yesterday evening he underwent surgery.

"The operation successfully reduced the fractures and whilst it is too soon to state an exact timescale for recovery, Aaron will certainly miss the remainder of this season. Our thoughts are with Aaron at this time and everyone at the Club wishes him all the best in making as speedy a return to action as possible.”

At least the words 'career threatening' haven't been used. There was a genuine fear that Eduardo would never play again, and whilst he still hasn't quite recaptured the form that made his injury in 2008 such a devastating loss to his team, we should be happy that he's able to run, let alone play football. The sad thing for Aaron is that, at just nineteen, he needs to be playing and developing, not enduring surgery and physiotherapy. His seemingly good natured demeanour accompanies a precocious talent, and not only will he be missed on the pitch, no doubt he will be missed in the dressing room too. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn't wish him a speedy recovery.

Having examined the incident, most people have come to the conclusion that there was no malice or intent in the challenge. They're probably right. It happens very quickly, and seems more like a coming together than anything else. Shawcross is visibly shaken and leaves the field in tears, and whilst his intention may have been to go in hard, it seems unlikely that he had any intention of injuring anyone. Stoke team-mates have spoken out in his defence with the usual fluff: "He's an honest guy"... "He's not got a bad bone in his body"... "I'd trust him over John Terry any day". That settles it then.

Well actually it doesn't. Shawcross has previous. He injured erstwhile Gunner and fox-in-the-box Francis Jeffers (after he had left Arsenal); Jeffers suffered ligament damage and was out for some time. In last season's fixture at Stoke, it was Shawcross who stood on Adebayor's ankle, seemingly in retaliation for an earlier challenge, and it was some time before the Togolese striker played again. I'll reiterate my belief that the Stoke defender did not go into the challenge with the intention of hurting anyone, but this kind of incident is symptomatic of the way that teams try play against Arsenal these days.

It is a widely held belief amongst fans, the media, players and managers that Arsenal 'don't like it up 'em'. If your team consists of eleven men who have more in common genetically with a gorilla than homo sapiens, then to take points off Arsenal you'll need to kick them off the park. That's great, football is a physical game, but if teams keep adopting this overly physical approach then someone will get badly hurt. People wonder why Arsenal seem to suffer a perennial injury crisis. Maybe it's because every other game they play involves getting the crap kicked out of them. Ramsey is the third player in recent memory to suffer a major leg break. There was the aforementioned Eduardo incident, as well as Diaby against Sunderland, in a meaningless end of season match (a fact that did not stop a Sunderland player from lunging in wildly on Diaby's ankle). Wenger said in his post-match interview that he does not believe in coincidences. Could there be a link between the number of bad injuries that Arsenal suffer and the way that the media and managers egg teams on to combat Arsenal's passing and movement with a tactic of playing the man first, then the ball? Obviously no one wants to see referees blowing up every 30 seconds, but there has to be a happy middle ground where fouls are punished appropriately and above all, consistently.

The game itself kind of rather paled into insignificance, but when the dust settles, Arsenal will be happy with the three points. Bendtner took his goal well, and Fàbregas grabbed two assists and a goal to further cement his claim for best midfielder in the premiership this season. Eboué put in a decent shift on the wing, and after the shambolic defending in the first ten minutes, Campbell and Vermaelen were hardly troubled.

What was really encouraging though was the spirit shown by the players in the wake of Ramsey's injury. The sense of determination and passion was palpable, and the celebrations that followed the two goals that sealed the victory demonstrated the kind of unity that you need to win a title. The post match huddle was a tradition during Arsenal's unbeaten season, and it was in evidence again on Saturday. There will be a real sense of belief amongst these players that this can be their year, and with Birmingham the highest placed amongst their next five opponents, why shouldn't there be?

After initially feeling shocked and upset by poor Ramsey's terrible injury, these emotions were replaced by one I've not experienced in a long time: pride. I know, I was surprised too, but there was no mistaking it. With pride comes hope. Arsenal have to kick on and win some games, or all this endeavour will have been for nought. Aaron deserves better than that.

It's easy to get carried away with excitement this season; the media have billed this year's league as the most open in living memory, although those of us who aren't obligated to sensationalise everything can still recall a time when it was entirely possible that more than two teams might win the title. The appeal lies perhaps in the fact that whilst it's more than likely that the Premiership crown will go to Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge, there is less of a sense of the inevitable about everything: Arsenal have an outside chance of upsetting the odds and winning their first title since 2004 and the elusive fourth spot that brings Champion's league riches is still being contested by four teams. All this means of course is that when Chelsea win the league and Liverpool finish fourth, the sense of disappointment will be even greater. Still, best to enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Arsenal have been dropping in and out of the title race for the entire season. Every victory vindicates Wenger's faith in youth, every defeat brings his team closer to the scrap for fourth place. On Saturday the Gunners faced off against an out of sorts Sunderland team at the Emirates, and despite taking taking all three points, they made heavy weather of it.

Having conceded three against Manchester United followed by two against Chelsea, not to mention the farce in Portugal, the Arsenal defence has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Against Sunderland however, it was the the lack of cutting edge up front that caused problems. It was a game that may have recalled for many the type of football on display during Arsenal's first season at the Emirates. The home team dominated the possession and shooting but with no reward, whilst allowing their opposition chances through rubbish defending. The major difference between events on Saturday and home games from several years ago was that Emmanuel Eboué was the stand out player of the afternoon; whilst his team-mates showed no real inclination to attack the game, Eboué was more than happy to run at opponents, getting in behind defenders and causing problems with low balls across the box. It was his run and cross/shot that created the first goal; the Ivorian found some space on the edge of the Sunderland area which he gleefully exploited, and when he was finally closed down on the edge of the six yard box, he dug out a ball to the far post which Bendtner turned in.

Sadly no one could match Eboué's drive, so Arsenal fans had to wait until injury time in the second half before the points were made secure. Ramsey, Nasri and Walcott all spurned decent chances, whilst at the other end Kenwyne Jones shot wide when through on goal and Silvestre was lucky that Darren Bent stayed on his feet after being grabbed from behind in the penalty area. Eboué's performance was probably the biggest positive to come out of the game, and will give Wenger pause for thought in terms of selecting his right back in weeks to come. Walcott looked more confident after turning in some absolutely terrible performances. He seemed happier to run with the ball and use his pace to beat players, but he still crosses as if he's scared he might hit someone. Promising though. An improved Walcott could pep up the offence no end.

This brings us on to the weekend's big negative. The most interesting statistic to have emerged recently came in the form of the revelation that Arsenal have averaged 3.2 goals per league game with Robin van Persie in their side this season but only 1.6 without him, which says it all really. Arshavin has tried his best, but he's not a number nine. Bendtner is useful but has had to recover from injuries, and isn't as effective at bringing other players into the attack as the RVP is. Rumours had suggested that the flying Dutchman would only be grounded until March, and could even return for the Champion's league quarters (assuming they are reached), but Arsenal have just released a statement which suggests we'll be lucky to see him back before the end of April. With any luck Walcott's resurgence will continue and we can look to Nick 'B-52' Bendtner to lead the line effectively, but on current form I'm not holding my breath.

With United dropping more points on the weekend against Everton and Chelsea beating Wolves in a particularly unconvincing fashion, Arsenal gained a little bit of ground on the league leaders; physically, in the form of points, and mentally, in the form of confidence. The Gunners remain rank outsiders, but when you consider that their eleven match run-in features games against only two of the top eight teams in the league, you may start to wonder for the umpteenth time this season whether it's just possible. If we can stay in the hunt until April third, when Chelsea play United at Old Trafford, then we'll take it from there. Otherwise, it looks to be game over.

Talk about the Champion's League fourth spot has thrown up an interesting debate in recent days. The premier league is considering the notion of a play-off between 4th, 5h, 6th, and 7th places to decide who gets the final spot in Europe's most illustrious club competition. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but there already exists a play-off. It takes place over 38 games, each team plays all the others twice, and the final league standings reflect the successes and failures of the competitors. Seems fair to me.