So you remember football right? 22 men on a square patch of grass kicking a coloured sphere into nets while toga-clad spectators scream and bay for blood? Well apparently it's back, which is good news for everyone except Arsenal fans.

For those of us who are paid up members of Arsene Wenger's red and white army, it's been a mixed bag so far. First there was the disappointing and infuriating draw up in Newcastle, then the succesful but undeniably nervy win against Udinese, followed by last weekend's hard-luck loss to Liverpool. 1 scored, 2 conceded and 2 red cards. Hardly bursting out of the blocks are our lads from North London. Furthermore, we've seen the departure of one of the most creative and talented central midfielders in the league in Cesc Fabregas, and there remains the distinct possibility that one of last season's best players, Samir Nasri, will soon be off to Manchester City to join erstwhile first choice left back Gael Clichy. Who has arrived to replace two of the most important members of our squad (and Clichy) you ask? Why, 19 year old Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell of course, not to mention 18 year old winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and 19 year old right back Carl Jenkinson. The only summer signing thus far who is in a position to lay claim to a starting spot is Ivorian winger Gervinho, who arrived from French champions Lille for the princely sum of 12 million Euros.

What are the implications for the team of the loss of these high profile members from the squad? Well if the first few games are anything to go by, extensive. A midfield of Song, Ramsey and Rosicky (Wilshere is not yet fit to play) struggled to create anything at Newcastle, and the front three looked isolated. As the game progressed there was increasingly little movement in the centre of the field and players were consistently caught in possession simply because there was no one to pass to. Against Udinese it was much the same story: the same midfield started strongly but struggled to deal with a team who pressed them high up the pitch, and when Walcott scored after four minutes the game became an exercise in not conceding rather than adding to the lead.

In some respects the loss against Liverpool was actually the most promising. Defensively we were solid for most of the game, despite the youngster Jenkinson making his debut at right back while Sagna covered for the injured Gibbs on the left; Koscielny was also forced off with back spasms during the first half and was replaced by youngster Ignasi Miquel, but the Spaniard looked composed. Even more satisfyingly, Thomas Vermaelen, who might as well be a new signing considering the amount he played last season, had ponytailed ponce Andy Carroll safely tucked away in his pocket all game, dealing comfortably with countless balls played downfield or into the box. Excitable young midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who was deputising for Alex Song (retrospective 3 game ban for his stamp on Joey 'I'll stub a cigar out on a youth team player's eye but if slapped will roll around on the floor like someone's thrown acid in my face' Barton) looked like solid cover and was playing well until his deserved red card in the second half.

Even more pleasingly Wenger took a gamble on starting Samir Nasri and it paid off - the wantaway Frenchman showed real impetus and desire in taking the game to Liverpool and prior to Frimpong's second booking it was Arsenal who seemed the more likely to score. The red card was undeniably a game changer though, and a Liverpool goal seemed increasingly inevitable; in the end it was Aaron Ramsey who put the ball into the goal, albeit the wrong one, and the game was sewn up when Luis Suarez turned the ball into an unguarded net shortly afterwards.

It was a game which Arsenal probably didn't deserve to lose and while the pressure continues to mount on Wenger, we hope he'll feel buoyed by what he saw, and indeed heard; the only deregotory chant directed at him during the game was quickly drowned out by the rest of the stadium, and a few big signings before the transfer window snaps shut will at least convince doubters that the manager is doing everything he can to keep the team competitive. A creative central midfielder is a must, and whilst the central defensive pairing of Vermaelen and Koscielny looks solid, cover in the shape of the injured Djourou and the walking liability that is Sebastian Squirrelaci is insufficent, so a centre back should probably be on the shopping list. If Bendtner goes too then a decent striker (preferably one over 20 years old) will be needed. Above all Arsenal could use a player with a bit of experience in high-pressure situations, a calm head to counter balance the exuberance of youth.

Arsenal travel to Udinese on Wednesday to fight for their right to party in the premier European club competition this season; Gervinho and Song, both serving bans in domestic competitons will at least be fit, whilst Van Persie will return from his suspension left over from last season. The main point of interest will be Nasri; the way it's shaping up, if he plays, he's staying, no longer eligible to appear in Europe for his prospective pay-masters, Manchester City; if he's benched, the deal's probably still on. Watch this space.

As Arsene Wenger trudged across the desolate, trophyless wasteland of North London, he fondly recalled lifting the FA Cup some 6 years ago; how shiny it had looked, its weight in his hands, and how reflected in its surface was the beaming face of the Frenchman himself. Now the face that gazed back at him from the trophy's relfection was a mocking one, sneering at his own recent accomplishments, or lack thereof. In the distance however, there was a twinkling light - surely not the fabled Carling Cup, the holy grail of domestic competitions? Indeed it was, and what's more, only the brawny and witless players of Birmingham City lay between Arsene and glory.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the trophy proved naught more than a mirage: Arsenal succeeded only in maintaining their outstanding run of losing in finals (this was the third since 2005) and so we must wait at least another 3 months before ending this barren spell. That said, as disappointing as it was to lose another final, especially to those leg-breakers from the Midlands, is anyone really that bothered? It's always easy to say after going out of a competition that you weren't really that bothered about winning it anyway - fortunately, some of us have it in writing from before Arsenal even reached the final. Here's what I said on the 23rd of January:

'Frankly I'd prefer to finish second than win the Carling Cup, which is more joke than trophy.'

I meant that, and I still stand by it.

The one truly irritating aspect of the whole affair, putting to one side the media's obsession with being unable to talk about Arsenal without mentioning the '6 years without a trophy' thing, is that losing to Birmingham was another stark reminder of the Gunner's ridiculously poor mentality when it comes to big matches. Why are we so consistently fragile? Why is no one prepared to rally the troops and instill come confidence in everyone on the pitch when they need it most? With a few key exceptions (like the Barcelona game) watching Arsenal when the pressure's on is an unbelieveably trying experience, because it's begun to seem like an inevitability that the players will be unable to cope with it. This was the case again on Sunday when the vastly superior Arsenal players looked completely out of their depth against a distinctly average Birmingham side who they'd already beaten home and away in the league.

It should be noted that Wenger was without both Fabregas and Walcott for the tie, two players who could conceivably have made a world of difference; without Cesc, our talented midfield looks disjointed and short on ideas, in much the same way that our attack was blunted by the loss of Van Persie last season. Walcott's presence meanwhile would have forced the Birmingham back line to play deeper to prevent balls over the top, thus either forcing the entire team to play deeper, effectively nullifying the threat of man-mountain Nikola Zigic, or opening up a gap between defence and midfield which then could have been exploited by the Arsenal. That said, there should be enough talent in this squad to allow for injuries to key players, but it never quite works that way.

Equally frustrating to watch is our persistent inability to deal with big centre forwards, who continue to terrorise our defence week after week. Other teams seem to deal with them with consumate ease - Zigic, Carew, Sidibe - players like this rarely break into double figures for the season, largely because they're technically piss-poor, and they only really threaten from set-pieces. When Birmingham took the lead via the head of Zigic on Sunday, what could we do but shrug our shoulders and say: "Well that was always going to happen"? A corner to the edge of the area, headed back towards goal, then nodded over the helpless keeper by the 6ft 8" striker. Even the most talentless hack in all of North London could have written this script.

Arsenal's riposte was of course a thing of beauty: a swift counter-attack ended in a super strike from Wilshere which cannoned back off the bar. The ball eventually found it's way to Arshavin though, and after accelerating past a Birmingham defender he lofted the ball towards Van Persie who volleyed into the corner. Sublime stuff all round, but the striker, who was born of a Dutch mother and a sheet of glass, took a knock during the goal, and will now miss the Barca game. Brilliant. He lasted until half way through the second half, but without him or Fabregas, the creative spark was completely gone from the entire team. With only occasional flurries of attacking intent from Arsenal, and only hopeful balls downfield from Birmingham, the game seemed to be meandering towards extra-time. Surely only a monumental piece of skill, or an equally monumental cock-up from either defence would end this game during the regulation 90. Take a wild guess at which one happened. And which defence was involved. Yep and yep. Sczensy and Koscielny both went for the same ball, and with both trying to avoid getting in the other's way, the ball broke loose to Obefemi Martins to tap in. Maybe the most disappointing aspect of the whole afternoon was how unsurprised I was by how things had turned out. If Paul the psychic octopus had told me before the game that Birmingham were a dead cert to win it 2-1, I think I could probably have told you who was going to score, when they were going to score, and how they were going to score with near 100% accuracy.

Still, no use getting too glum over what is almost definitely the least respected piece of silverware anywhere in the world. Could the loss have long term implications for the rest of the season though? Well it could stiffen our lads' resolve to win something even bigger - the Champions League perhaps. Or maybe it'll destroy them mentally, and we'll be lucky to win a trophy ever again. Could go either way really.

The latest news on Van Persie is that he's out for at least three weeks, which means he'll miss the Barca game. What slim hope we had of progressing from that tie is all but extinguised. The good news (no, really, there's honestly some good news) is that Man Utd lost at Stamford Bridge tonight - should Arsenal win their next league game, they'll be just a point off the leaders. I've read the script though, and it looks like we're set to come agonisingly close to pipping Utd to the league title, only for Almunia to literally and inexplicably hurl the ball into his own net in the last game of the season, sealing a last minute loss and another trophyless season. Still...there's always next season...

Modern football is often derided as a soulless money-spinning venture, one which sucks money out of fans' pockets to line those of chairmen and players alike; this may be true, but when you've just watched your side come from behind to beat one of the best teams ever to play the game, well, you can't help but feel priviliged even to have been witness to the event. Wednesday night at the Emirates will live long in the memory as one of Arsenal's truly great European nights, up there with the Gunner's 1-0 win against Parma in the 1994 Cup Winner's Cup Final, or the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Villareal when Lehmann's penalty save minutes from the end ensured progression to the final.

Last year when the two teams met in the quarter-final, the game was billed as the definitive clash between the two greatest proponents of attacking football in modern European football, and whilst the game was certainly an exciting one, Arsenal didn't even come close to matching Barcelona in terms of skill, guile, movement and passing and were completely outplayed for the vast majority of the game. The Gunners had given Barca too much respect, it was said, and the game was too open. This is largely true, although somewhat overlooked was the fact that Arsenal were also suffering an injury crisis - only 4 players who started in last season's 2-2 draw would start last night's tie too. This season Wenger was simply able to choose a much better first XI.

Szczesny has rightly earned his place in goal with a string of confident performances, whilst Koscielny and Djourou look increasingly impressive as a centre defensive partnership in the continued absence of Thomas Vermaelen. Jack Wilshere, who this time least year was out on loan at Bolton has become an incredibly important player for Arsenal in the middle, and Wenger also had the luxury of starting Van Persie, who, following surgery to put him back together after his fall off that wall, has been in unbelievable form, and now has something like 12 goals in 10 games since his return. Fabregas, Song, Clichy, Eboue, Walcott and Nasri made up the rest of the team, so all in all, it was a much improved side which walked out onto the Emirates turf this time around.

The improvement in quality was instantly noticeable - Arsenal began pressing Barcelona high up the pitch, and were rewarded with several misplaced passes from the visitors. There was further encouragment when the first chance of the night fell to Van Persie. Walcott cut inside to find Fabregas on the edge of the area and his deft chip fell to the Dutchman, but his half volley was from a narrow angle and Victor Valdes was able to block it behind for a corner. There was to be no repeat of Barca's relentless onslaught last season that saw Manuel Almunia make more than a few spectacular saves in the early stages, but the visitors did carve out a great opportunity when Iniesta released Messi, the little Argentine waiting and waiting for the goalie to go to ground before dinking the ball over him, only to see it roll the wrong side of the post. Messi would try another audacious chip, this one falling well short of the target however, allowing Szczesny to safely gather before Arsenal broke at pace, Van Persie denied a free header from Fabregas' cross only by a diving intervention from Eric Abidal.

Like last year Barcelona would be the ones to take the lead however. David Villa, drafted in to replace the Milan bound Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was just onside when he ran onto Messi's through ball, and the Spaniard finished through the legs of Szczesny. Villa almost turned provider minutes later but Pedro could only shoot straight at the keeper from the striker's cross. Arsenal responded well though, and perhaps should have grabbed an equaliser when Van Persie received the ball just inside the box but, on his favoured left foot, he sliced his effort wide.

Messi would have a goal disallowed unfairly before half time but the sides went in at the break with Arsenal 1-0 down, both teams ruing several missed chances. The second half would start in much the same way that the first ended, with Barca on top but Arsenal always looking to break. Wilshere in particular was a vital presence in the centre of the pitch. The youngster always wanted the ball regardless of how tightly he was being marked, and rarely failed to pick out another Arsenal player when in possession.

Messi would again come close but could only fire into the side netting from a tight angle, but Arsenal increased their pressure at the other end with the introduction of Andrey Arshavin at the expense of Alex Song. Song played an extremely important role in restricting the freedom of the Barcelona midfielders, but the Cameroonian, already booked in the first half, looked like he might be heading for a second yellow. Fortunately his withdrawl coincided with that of David Villa, replaced by midfielder Seydou Keita, a change which suggested that Barca were happy to soak up pressure for the remainder of the game.

It was a tactic which allowed Arsenal to score twice late on in this fixture last season, and quite incredibly the same thing happened again. Firsy Clichy found Van Persie with a wonderfully weighted through ball, and with Valdes clearly expecting a cross to be driven across the six yard box, the striker fired in a shot between goalkeeper and post to level the scores. Five minutes later a Barcelona attack broke down when Koscielny tackled Messi on the edge of the area - the ball found its way to Bendtner who was able to find Wilshere in midfield, who quickly played it forward to Fabregas. The midfielder took a touch before pinging a ball beyond the defence for Nasri to race onto; the Frenchman looked certain to shoot, but he held the ball up just long enough for Arshavin to appear on the edge of the box, and the eponymous Russian made no mistake with Nasri's pullback, bending it beyond the wrong-footed Valdes. 5 passes, 17 seconds, 2-1 Arsenal.

The atmosphere inside the Emirates, which had been electric for most of the second half, reached fever pitch. It was a turnaround which far surpassed that of Newcastle; this was not 11 versus 10, there were no dodgy penalties, this was sheer determination and skill against the best team in the world, no less. This wasn't Arsenal beating Barca at their own game either, as some journalists have suggested - this was Arsenal playing the way they have done since 1996 when Arsene Wenger took charge. This is our game, and we're damn good at it - just ask Barcelona.

Arsenal must now travel to the Nou Camp knowing that their opponents can and will throw everything at them for ninety minutes. If the Gunners are to stand any chance of progression then they'll need to play as well if not better than they did at the Emirates. They should be buoyed by the knowledge that this Barcelona team is not invincible. Perhaps more importantly they will face a Barca side without their first choice central defensive partnership: Puyol looks set to miss out with injury, whilst Piqué picked up a booking that rules him out of the second leg.

A thrashing in the second leg might go some way to sullying the memory of last night's game, but a respectable defeat, or, however unlikely, a draw or victory, will ensure that the 2-1 win over Barcelona will be remembered fondly for some time to come. Truly one of the great European nights at the Arsenal.

Arsenal's record in their last seven games makes pretty good reading:

Played 6, won 6.

Simple as that. 3 league games, 2 FA cup games and 1 league cup game. The gunners remain the only team really between Man Utd and an outrageous 19th Premier League title, are through to the fifth round of the FA cup (when they'll meet Leyton Orient who are 54 places below them, all the way down in League 1) and will play Birmingham in the league cup final on the 27th February. Not bad, right? There's also the small matter of a last sixteen tie against Barcelona too.

In those six games, Arsenal have also scored an impressive 16 goals, whilst conceding just 3. Bizarrely, it's still difficult to think of this excellent series of results as putting a run together and buliding momentum because Arsenal have the capacity to implode at absolutely any point - it's this unpredictability and fragility that has really characterised our team in recent seasons. Is there more about us this season though? Well yeah, probably. If the last two games are anything to go by, then this team is pumped and ready to win some silverware. Twice the gunners have been up against it, and twice they've rallied to grab really important wins.

Wenger understandably decided to rest a couple of key players in the home tie against Huddersfield; none of Djourou, Sagna, Clichy, Fabregas, Wilshere, Van Persie or Song started, but it looked as though the gamble would pay off when Bendtner, with the help of a delflection, put Arsenal ahead after twenty two minutes. 1-0 up against lower league opposition at home - how were the gunners going to screw this up? Squillaci had the answer: get too square to a striker running at full pelt, be forced into pulling him over as he skipped past and through on goal and then get sent off. Text book stuff from the Frenchman.

Arsenal held on for twenty minutes after the restart but the pressure began to tell, and eventually someone (I won't pretend to remember who; I can't imagine he'll be seen at the Emirates ever again to be honest) got up well and planted a header past Almunia into the goal.

With the midfield looking sluggish and gifting possesion away it was up to Francesc Fabregas to sort things out, and he entered the fray shortly after the equaliser. The introduction of the Spaniard turned the game on its head once again. With a bit more composure in the middle of the park, Arsenal were able to push for a much needed winner (the possibility of a replay at Huddersfield now looming dangerously on the horizon). Bendtner conspired to squander several great chances, but the Dane made amends by tumbling under a challenge in the box to win a slightly soft penalty. Fabregas stepped up a dispatched it, and Arsenal held on to stay in the cup for another round. Inspiring stuff from the 10 men to retake the lead, and hold it, despite fielding largely a second string team.

Perhaps more important for the season was the performance against Everton at the Emirates earlier this week. A game fraught with controversy saw Arsenal go behind after 24 minutes to a goal from Louis Saha, despite the fact that the striker was comfortably a yard offside. No matter through, said the linesman, I thought he took it well, so the goal stands. Poor officiating all round, and the home side looked suitably shell shocked for the rest of the half.

A lively atmosphere helped the gunners raise their game in the second half however, and after 70 minutes a pass from Fabregas, via the head of an Everton player, found Arshavin, and the resurgent Russian volleyed in the equaliser. Arsenal didn't have long to wait for the 'go-ahead' goal either, Koscielny finding space in the box to head home a Van Persie corner. The Gunners then held on to take all three points and keep the pressure on Utd.

I feel suggesting that the kind of spirit on display is characteristic of title winners would make me sound like a bit of a broken record - comments of that nature in the past have usually been followed by a humilating defeat at the hands of a title rival or relegation candidate. So I won't say that this time - I'll merely remark that Arsenal look strong mentally at the moment. Which is good, obviously.

Two things have struck me this week:

1. A lot's been made of Fabregas' alleged comments to the officials at half time during the Everton match; the midfielder supposedly yelled something along the lines of "How much are you being paid?" in the direction of the referee. Everton manager Dasvid Moyes reckon Fabregas should have been sent off, and articles discussing the incident have also referenced past instances of petualnce on the part of Fabregas. Good I say. People are always saying we're a soft touch - maybe it's about time we had someone who'll manipulate referees and get in the opposition's face. Besides, where are the articles about Sir Wayne of Rooney screaming profanities in the faces of officials week in, week out? What do you mean there aren't any? Are you trying to suggest that the British press is a bit Xenophobic? And that if Fabregas was English, we'd just be hearing about his spirit and determination and Passion with a capital P? Yeah, I think I am.

2. When the press aren't criticising Arsenal for being sneaky foreign swine, they're saying that we're defensively inept. Our centrebacks are rubbish, and we can't deal with set pieces. Well maybe they're right, I mean, we have conceded 22 goals in 24 games. Meanwhile Manchester United have conceded 21. As have City. And Chelsea. Spurs have conceded 26 fer christs's sake. We've been missing our first choice centreback all season and we've still only conceded one more goal than the best defence(s) in the league, so cut us a break, won't you?

Newcastle away on the weekend, and Wenger will have to do without Samir Nasri. The influential Frenchman limped off against Huddersfield after chasing a through ball, and it looks like he's going to miss some key ties. Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Whisper it quietly, but it's beginning to look like Robin Van Persie might just be back to his best. I say whisper, because I suspect that even loud noises are enough to injure the delicate Dutchman. Good thing he plays at the Emirates, right?

This is especially good news, given that after Manchester City's loss to on Saturday, Arsenal are basically Manchester United's only challenger for the coveted premier league title. United lead Arsenal by two points with a game and hand, but lead City by 3 points with 2 games in hand and Chelsea by 10 points (with no games in hand). For the first time in years Arsenal are in the now slightly unfamilar territory of a two horse title race, as well as being the neutral's choice for the league by default, because no one wants to see Man U win another bloody championship, especially when they've been so distinctly average all season.

Arsenal's problem in providing an effective challenge to United this season has been rooted in the wild inconsistencies of the back four, but on Saturday, thankfully, the defence was given a rest by a unbelieveably unambitious Wigan team who seemed to have come to terms with being beaten before the match had even started. Having been accompanied by only a handful of fans (barely an exaggeration, really, there were about 60 of them) and knowing full well that they were up against an overwhelmingly superior footballing force, Wigan seemed happy to camp out in their own half - even after the first goal went in, some of the players will still time-wasting, presumably to stop themselves from being on the end of a thrashing.

Consequently, Arsenal were rather given free reign to attack for about %95 of the game, and it was Van Persie who best utilised this attacking freedom by scoring his first career hat-trick. He could have had more, as could the rest of the team were it not for the first half heroics of Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi, who made more than a few top notch saves to keep the score respectable.

The regularity with which Arsenal created chances was a joy to behold, their inability to convert them being the only troublesome aspect of the afternoon. Van Persie's sharpness in front of goal makes everything else pale in comparison though, as the striker is comfortably Arsenal's biggest threat up front when he's fully fit. His first goal was typical of the Dutchman, as he ran onto a through ball from Song and fired a first time shot past the keeper for the opener. The finish was pedestrian however, when compared to his second. A lofted Fabregas pass dropped just outside the six yard box, and Van Persie was on hand to volley into the net without breaking stride.

The hat-trick seemed an inevitability when Fabregas was felled in the box (for which centreback Gary Caldwell earned his marching orders) but the Dutchman, normally clincal from 12 yards, blasted his effort miles over the bar. Having obviously earmarked a spot for the match ball on his mantlepiece, he seemed determined to bag his third, and after first curling an effort onto the post, he was duly rewarded when Theo Walcott latched onto a through ball, holding the ball up until Van Persie was able to take it off his toe and smash the ball past the goalie.

He's going to need to stay sharp too, because after the cup tipes against Ipswich and Huddersfield, Arsenal have to play Everton, Newcastle, Wolves and Barcelona. Having scored six goals in his last three games however, the striker looks like he means business.

Ipswich tomorrow, and Arsenal need to overcome a one goal deficit if they're to win their first silveware in five years. That said, I'm not really sure how worried anyone actually is about the 'five years' thing outside of the media. As far as I can tell, most Arsenal fans are content that their team has remained competitive at the highest level of football despite the financial implications of building a huge stadium. Besides, when did a football fan's enjoyment depend entirely on material success? Can't we just be happy that we can watch our team play awesome football week in, week out in our enormous and highly lucrative new stadium? Frankly I'd prefer to finish second than win the Carling Cup, which is more joke than trophy.

Spurs are looking to move to new digs soon too - let's see if they can hold on to their champions league spot when they're pouring hundreds of millions into a new home. Besides, if they build their stadium anything like they play their football, it'll look plenty flash but lack solid foundations. Ha.

So 2010 is behind us, a year of few highs and a lot of lows, especially for Arsenal and England fans, and by way of a send off I think it proper to dish out some awards to the heroes and villains of the past year in what I like to call 'The Arshies'.

Best Arshavin: A hotly contested award, but there was one candidate who stood head and shoulders above the rest. Take a bow, Andrey.

Worst Arshavin: His lackadaisical performances on the pitch this season, as well as almost running over my feet in his car outside the Emirates that one time mean that Andrey runs out clear winner.

Most Improved Player: This one will need to be split in two, à la King Solomon, and half given to Gareth Bale and half to Samir Nasri. Both have looked pretty phenomenal this season.

Biggest Wanker: Lot of names to choose from for this award, but giving it collectively to everyone at FIFA seems fair (more on them later). Honourable mentions go to Phil Brown, Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis.

Best Signing: Slim pickings for this category: no one player has seemed like great business. Chamakh looks like a decent striker, but has struggled with form of late; David Silva looks like a good buy, but has hardly set the league alight. Sadly this award can only really go to Tottenham talisman Rafael van der Vaart.

Stupidest thing that Wayne Rooney did award: Hmmm, sleep with a prostitute, or prostitute himself to Man City to drive up his salary at Utd? He seems to have gotten away with both, so fair play to the lad.

Sorest losers: Barcelona, Champions League semi final, second leg. Mourinho prancing around the pitch looking super smug is enough to rile up even the most docile fan, but turning the sprinklers on them? Pretty crass Barca.

Best Supporting Actor: Chelsea's assistant manager Ray Wilkins picks up this award, as apparently, without his support Carlo Ancelotti and the rest of the cast of the Chelsea soap opera can't function properly.

Enough of that, and more on Arsenal, who despite having lost 5 games already this season are still within touching distance of the Premier League summit, thanks in part to the indifferent and downright pisspoor form of Man Utd and Chelsea respectively. Consequently this season is, at least at the moment, pretty exciting. Of course when Utd eventually and inevitably limp to the title unopposed everyone will tut and say: "Well who didn't see that one coming?" and they will decry the predictability and lack of competitiveness at the top end of the league. Well to those people I say shut up and remember that it could be worse: Spurs could have won the title. And then they will choke on their glass of merlot and think that maybe third place isn't so bad after all, as long as those brash upstarts from up the road don't finish above us.

Arsenal could win the title, they really could, and should they beat Manchester City tomorrow, then maybe we can start to believe again. The pessimist in me says that they probably won't do either of those things though. Second place is up for grabs however, as long as the Ray Wilkins-less Chelsea continue to struggle against teams like Villa, whose own troubles this season are of course well documented.

Alarmingly for the optimists among us, Man Utd are top, unbeaten, and have done all this playing pretty poorly. Rather ominously they have just recently started playing well, and look as if, like Chelsea last season, they will win the league almost by default. Plus ça change, right?

Meanwhile there has of course been the farcical proceedings over at FIFA headquarters where, as everyone knows, the delegates opted to hand over the World Cups of 2018 and 2022 to Russia and Qatar. There's been plenty said, most of it through gritted teeth and with clenched fists, and all of it reeking of sour grapes, but to my mind, far and away the most shocking aspect of the whole debacle was that people were even surprised. Surely anyone who knew anything about Blatter and his cronies could have foreseen what would happen? FIFA is a who's who of some of the richest, vilest most corruptible men in football, but apparantly everyone involved in the bids that wasn't from Russia and Qatar had no idea. Erm, hello? The writing's been on the wall from day one, and it said 'give us money'.

At the end of the day, when the dust has settled and all's said and done etc. Russia may be corrupt as hell and run by mafiosos, but it's still a big big country, and one that's dead keen on football, so I don't mind too much about them getting it. It's the decision to go with Qatar that's truly despicable. Does Qatar have a proud footballing heritage? No, the team has never even qualified for a World Cup. Is it a large country, or a well populated one? No and no, it's smaller than Wales and has a population of 1.6 million. Is it one which would allow daytime matches during the summer? Erm, no again, with temperatures soaring to a balmy 41 degress Celcius during June. Is Qatar a country where homosexuality is legal? Oh my no. So what is it that could have attracted FIFA to this incredibly wealthy country? Answers on a postcard please.

Man City tomorrow, fingers crossed for that one. News in is that Silva and super sulk, er super sub Mario Balotelli will both be out injured. Maybe Arsenal vanquished some demons against Chelsea which will allow them to play well against the big teams. Or maybe not. Probably the latter.

So another season draws to a close, one that promised little, then promised much, and then ended in routine disappointment. In a way things might have been easier if Arsenal had comfortably coasted through the season in third place without threatening to challenge for the title or drop out of the top four, but events conspired to give us a whiff of a first championship for six years. Our hopes were dashed quite expertly however, first by Spurs and then by Wigan, and in the absence of trophies we can reflect on the 2009-10 season without any great fondness.

Whilst results in March and April effectively prevented Arsenal from staying in the hunt for the title, it was an incident in November which did the most damage; whilst on international duty for the Netherlands, Robin Van Persie was injured by a reckless sliding challenge and the Gunners were deprived of their most effective attacking weapon. Prior to his injury Van Persie had been having far and away his best season in an Arsenal shirt. Leading the line in Wenger's 4-3-3 he was scoring and creating goals at will, and was the absolute lynchpin of the Arsenal offence. We were averaging over three goals a game with him in the side, and just over one and a half without.

Now I'm not saying that if VP (and indeed Fàbregas) had stayed fit for the whole season we'd have won the league, but it would have gone a long way towards helping us. Of course Man U had to deal with more than a few defenders being out at various points in the season, and Chelsea had to compensate for the lack of Michael Essien, but it just feels that when it comes to Arsenal and injuries, it's not just some of the time, it's all of the time. Someone important is always missing, and it's reaching the point where you have to wonder just how they're treating injured players. Aren't we as a club supposed to be at the forefront of sports science? Don't we have a billion trillion pound training facility to help combat fatigue and injury problems? Just what the hell are they up to?

Of course it didn't help our cause that we conceded a frankly embarrassing 41 goals. Several players can be held to account on this on this one: Vermaelen had a great début season, but a poor sense of positioning combined with overeagerness led to goals. Clichy and Sagna were exposed far too often for which we have to look at the players on the wing: Arshavin and Walcott both seemed either uninterested or simply not good enough at tracking back to help out, and crossing was far too easy for opposition wingers faced only by the fullback. Song showed great promise in his role as defensive midfielder but also displayed naivety and like Vermaelen was out of position far too often.

The goalkeeping problem deserves a paragraph of its own. Manuel Almunia, the Arsenal no. 1, was never a world-class keeper, but he was good, good enough for the premiership certainly. With Jens Lehmann glaring from the sidelines, Manuel demonstrated good shot-stopping skills and was at times only let down by his lack of assertiveness in the area. It's said that a good goalkeeper will save you ten points a season. By the same token a bad goalkeeper will cost you ten. Let's have a look at some Almunia stats:

2007 – Save Percentage 87.2%
2008 – Save Percentage – 75.7%
2009 – Save Percentage – 69.1%

A theme starts to develop. Obviously Manuel only got the starting berth in the 2008-9 season but it's plain to see that he's getting worse. The problem is compounded by the fact that his deputy, Lukasz Fabianski seems incapable of catching the ball, his most embarrassing moment coming in the away leg of the Champion's League tie against Porto. He first turned a harmless cross into his own net before picking up a Sol Campbell back pass and then handing the ball straight to the referee, allowing the opposition to take a quick free kick and score. Last week Blackburn went after poor Lukasz and Arsenal conceded two goals from two corners. In short, we need a keeper, one who can stop shots as well as command the area. Man City's Joe Hart has been linked with a move to Arsenal, and I think that would be a great signing. Wenger seems keen to remedy this problem ASAP, so expect someone new between the sticks next season.

In terms of bolstering our strike force, Marouane Chamakh seems almost certain to sign in the next couple of weeks, and he will be a welcome addition. William Gallas's contract is up this summer and from what he's been saying it's sounds like he wants to move on, so an experienced centre-back to partner (and perhaps tutor) Thomas Vermaelen seems more than necessary. A midfielder would also be nice; I like Denilson and I think he'd be a good player to keep in the squad, but we won't win the title with him starting every match, and to keep Fàbregas this summer I think we need to prove our intent by making a big signing to play alongside him in the middle. A winger might be nice too, as Walcott's development seems to have hit the buffers, and someone needs to challenge Arshavin's spot in the team, otherwise he'll continue to stroll around the pitch looking bored.

Whether we'll get the players we need is uncertain. That said, Wenger has made it clear that he intends to recruit at least a couple of new faces for next season, and it really feels as though that's all we need to take us to the next level and really start challenging for the league. Besides, Spurs need to be put in their place and resume their role as the butt of our jokes. It's really all they're good for.

I will be writing up stories for Group C this World Cup at www.soccerladuma.co.za so have a peek if you fancy.