By now, most Arsenal fans will have read William Gallas' rant concerning his team mates' on-pitch squabbling and dressing room confrontations.

Why would Gallas make these comments? Because he doesn't want to be Arsenal captain anymore and wants to leave the club. He's 31 and probably has one move left in him and doesn't want to spend the remainder of his days at a kindergarten full of squabbling children.

First of all, I don't agree with what Gallas has done. A team captain simply cannot come out in the press and throw accusations at players and reveal inner dressing room turmoil. How can the players trust him now? How can they confide in him?

Gallas must have known this - he must have. So to me, it's a clear signal he is fed up at Arsenal and wants out.

Playing for Arsenal has not been a happy experience for William Gallas. He arrived from a hugely successful title-winning Chelsea side, and therefore the Arsenal supporters have never truly been on his side; often throwing unwarranted blame on his shoulders rather than the guiltier culprits surrounding him.

Gallas arrival coincided with Arsene Wenger's youth experiment, which has lead to a physically flakey team. Night and day compared to what Gallas was used to at Chelsea.

At Chelsea he had the mighty Peter Cech behind him, and played next to strong, never-say-die warriors such as John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. He had men in front of him, fighters - Makalele, Essien, Lampard, Ballack.

At Arsenal, he has the indecisive Almunia behind him, 'Calamity Clichy' on the left, panicking Toure on his 'right' and powder puff tacklers Walcott, Denilson, Nasri and Fabregas in front of him.

Wenger's solution? Bring in a French faded ex-Man Utd defender to placate him. After 3 years, Gallas must still be wondering what he's walked into.

However, if Wenger does not strip Gallas of his captaincy, it would be utterly farcical. You cannot have a captain come out in the press and betraying his team mates by criticising them and revealing their dressing room disharmony. Even Roy Keane didn't get away with it.

But this represents another huge headache for Wenger, because love him or hate him, Gallas is Arsenal's best center back. He has made mistakes, no doubt, but any top class center back would make mistakes having been so continually exposed by this current Arsenal team. He has also scored a lot of important goals - he's scored more goals than Hleb.

I do have sympathy for Gallas, he is far from a perfect captain - but he was not asked to be made captain and is, or was, the best captain Arsenal have. This season, Gallas has - for the most part - played like a captain, even if he's not a natural leader and does not cajole the players nearly enough on the pitch.

Looking around the squad, who else can realistically captain Arsenal? There is hardly anyone suitable. Silvestre? No thanks. Toure? No chance. Fabregas? Bad idea. Clichy? Don't think so.

In my opinion, the only suitable captain is Arsenal's most consistent player - the quiet man, Bacary Sagna. Although knowing Wenger, he will either hand it to Almunia or conjure up an excuse about how Gallas was misquoted and just leave him to get on with it. We'll find out in 24 hours.

Unfortunately, Arsenal are in a bad way right now both on the pitch and off the pitch. You can criticise Gallas for making such comments but you cannot ignore them, and rest assured he's not giving us the full picture. He's almost certainly watering down a worse scenario.

Arsenal is a team full of spoilt brats paid far too much money for achieving precisely nothing. Part of the reason they are spoilt brats is because Wenger is giving them too much rope. No matter how ineptly they perform, Wenger never criticises them, he just continually mollycoddles them. He talks them up so much to the press that his words eventually become transparent and meaningless.

Too many of these players are strolling around Arsenal, in their own little world. We've had the embarrassing Eboue rolling all over the pitch for three years - clearly without a word said against him (he is likely the player Gallas was directing his ire at), you have in-fighting between the egomanical Adebayor and the arrogant Bendtner, and you have the petulant Van Persie shoving players to the ground, getting himself sent off - then being publicly defended rather than admonished by the manager.

Then you have nobodies like Alex Song strolling on the pitch laughing his head off and high fiving all his teammates shortly before Arsenal collapsed in the last 2 minutes to Spurs.

Where is the discipline, where is the professionalism?

Gallas is 100% right in everything he says, even if he should have kept his mouth shut. There is no fight on the pitch - unless it's a glamour game with a worldwide audience, too many players are grossly overpaid and believe they've 'arrived' based purely on salary rather than achievement, and worst of all, they're squabbling with each other like children.

Wenger needs to get tough, because not only his team not good enough, but squad mentality is falling apart due to lack of guidance, monitoring and discipline. Perhaps another indication that Wenger has too much on his plate.

Evidently, Wenger and Rice need to call a team meeting sharpish. They need to get to the bottom of more than a few things and firmly ensure the players know exactly what is expected of them.

Arsenal is an institution, not the scouts, and Wenger has to do a lot more than print off motivational team sheets and hand it to the players on the team bus for them to ignore whilst listening to their iPods. He also has a big decision to make regarding William Gallas.

Theo Walcott's probable 3 month lay-off, having dislocated his right shoulder during a training session for England on Tuesday evening, represents a big headache for Arsene Wenger but an even bigger one for Arsenal fans.

First off, make no mistake that a dislocated shoulder is a potentially serious injury for any player, even more so a player who has a genetic predisposition to getting injured in that joint area.

Walcott's left shoulder was pinned together in 2007, and as we saw several weeks ago when the player was carted off against Stoke, it only takes the slightest fall to aggravate the area and sideline the player for several weeks.

Anyone who has had a dislocated shoulder will know that surgery takes a long time to recover from and the operation is not fail safe. Make no mistake, there is a very real chance that injuries to Walcott's flawed upper body will haunt him throughout his career.

Why does this represent a bigger problem for Arsenal fans than Arsene Wenger? Because Wenger has a history of muddling on, hoping for the best. On top of that, an already physically-weak midfield has now been robbed of all of its pace - and the only player capable of playing in Walcott's position is the wretched Emanuelle Eboue.

Once again, Arsenal's squad depth has been cruelly exposed.

I would suggest Wenger gets serious about buying a right-sided midfielder either in January or in the summer, as continually weakening team performances by playing already inept central midfielders out wide - or Emanuelle Eboue - will only cause the team long term damage.

On Saturday, Arsenal travel to  Manchester City for their 14th Premier League game of the season. Manchester City are on a dire run of form. They have won only 1 of their last 7, including 3 defeats in their last four games agaist Middlesbrough, Bolton and Tottenham.

Manager Mark Hughes, or "dead man walking" as I prefer to call him, is struggling to gel the belated gifts that his mega-rich Arab owners bought for him in the summer.

He also has defensive problems. Richard Dunne, voted City's player of the season three years running is going through the worst period of his career - making colossal mistakes on a weekly basis. And England's bright young defensive starlet Micah Richards career has also taken a sharp downturn; the player is unrecognisable from the one we saw lording it in the England team last season.

As we know, any team that is able to get organised and defend in numbers can beat Arsenal - and any team that doesn't open themselves up to a beating. Can Manchester get organised and defend in numbers? They're no Aston Villa that's for sure. In midfield and up front they simply do not possess the type of  players who will show unbounding commitment to playing a high tempo pressing game - Elano, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Jo, Robinho, Petrov. Only Fernandes Gelson will get stuck in, or Dietmar Hamann, perhaps, but he's 35 and way past his best.

This will be a very interesting game if only to see what dead man walking has the balls to do in front of his impatient Arab superiors watching in the stands - make no mistake, they will be using this game as a barometer - to measure their manager.

At the moment, Man City are going for it and conceding two in every match. Theoretically, Hughes should play 4-5-1 and drop Robinho or Jo, although whether he has the guts to do that is another thing. Like Arsenal I can't see them doing anything but go for it, which means Arsenal have a great chance of pulling off a result. One thing's for sure, if a team with as many attacking players as Man City can manage to play 4-5-1 and STILL negate Arsenal, then you can start worrying about whether the Gunners are capable of achieving a UEFA Cup spot.

What will Arsenal's line up be? Well, losing Walcott weakens the team slightly - particularly as a counter-attacking force on the road. Wenger received criticism for submitting a 4-5-1 formation at home to Aston Villa last weekend, but this current team is so exposed in midfield that I can't see Wenger playing any other system in Manchester.

Expect to see Adebayor playing the lone role up front, with a midfield five of Eboue, Denilson, Song (replacing the suspended Fabregas), Diaby and Nasri. Djourou might come in for Silvestre - as Wenger has been bigging the youngster up on Arsenal's official site this week. Toure will come in as a straight replacement for Sagna.

I can see Arsenal vs Manchester City being a Fenerbahce-type away game. End to end, both teams a defensive shambles, with whoever finishes the most clinically stealing the points.

Go down the bookies and put a bet on at least 3 goals, although the odds are unlikely to be too generous.

 

At the moment, fans are terribly confused, miserable, doubting. They've waited four years for Wenger's master plan to evolve, and yet Arsenal is at a new low under the Frenchman - further away from achieving success than four years ago and nowhere near title challengers.

Supporters have so many questions, but so few answers are forthcoming.

Some of the questions read like this:

Are Arsenal really unable to spend big or does Wenger merely choose not to?

Are the board only interested in the financial fruits of Champions League qualification until the Highbury redevelopment is complete?

If it's all about money, why was Adebayor not sold?

Why is Arsenal's wage bill so massive, 18-24 year-olds being rewarded for failure?

Why is Arsenal's youth team so strong, at the expense of the first team?

Why are there no leaders on the pitch?

Mikael Silvestre - what was all that about?

Why the stockpiling of all this youth, so many players (un)able to play in the same two positions? Wilshere, Bischoff, Fabregas, Denilson, Song, Diaby, Ramsey - 7 central midfielders, only one of which is good enough to cement a first team place.

Why did Wenger spend £18m on Ramsey and Nasri in the summer? Were they really a necessity? Surely the team is weaker in other positions?

The stadium, the finances, Wenger's weird buys and nonsensical post-match comments, record ticket prices, divided supporter opinion. A lot of turmoil.

The great Arsenal mystery - it would make a great play, a great movie, you could invent so much crap about what's going on behind the scenes. The madness of Arsene Wenger, a football manager given unrivalled control, unrivalled power - so much so that he's turned into a spendthrift egomaniac.

Surfing the various blogs etc. supporters are completely at a loss to understand what direction the club is going in, what Arsene Wenger is doing, or thinks he is doing, who he should play and where they should play. All we can do is take it match by match, result by result. Good results no longer lead to optimism, they just throw us into more confusion. Perversely, bad results seems to make things a little bit clearer.

Hand on heart, have you ever wanted Arsenal to lose?

I bet a few fans want Arsenal to lose to Man City and Chelsea, just to force Wenger's hand - to clear the air. What could Wenger realistically say after losing to Man City and Chelsea? The team was tired? The linesman did it? A pigeon flew across Bendtner's horizon as he was about to shoot?

Every time Arsenal win, Wenger avoids having to admit the team's fundamental weaknesses.

Would defeat not force Wenger into saying something meaningful, to admit to something, lead to clarity? Continued defeat usually leads to change - don't we need change? Change of philosophy, direction - what will be the catalyst for that?

Have I ever want to Arsenal to lose? No, but at the moment I'll concede there's an upside to losing - and I know that some fans want Arsenal to lose, because they've told me. They're that frustrated with Wenger's policy - they've lost confidence in it and want a new policy.

Writing a blog and trying to make sense of it all has never been harder either.

 

I went to the Emirates yesterday, and it wasn't good. In fact, in terms of performance it was one of the worst I've ever seen from an Arsene Wenger team.

Unfortunately, my seat wasn't the best, fairly central - behind the goal - and around 13 rows from the front - it's hard to give adequate player assessments from such a horizontal view.

So what did I learn from watching the game:

1. Arsenal supporters hate Mike Riley, rarely have I seen a referee given so much abuse. The supporters are full of excuses, Riley only made one bad decision - of which I agree with the majority that Vela was fouled prior to Aston Villa's second goal.

2. Nicklas Bendtner is not Arsenal quality and should be sold fairly quickly to make room for Vela. We've had a good look at Bendtner now. He's talented but slow, he's fairly clumsy at times, but worst of all - he's often lazy. He's like Berbatov - same stinky attitude, but with 30% of the talent.

3. Not only are Arsenal too young, they're too small. In the flesh, the midfield  look like a bunch of little boys running around - and yesterday was boys against men, it really was. How could Wenger get it so wrong? How could he imagine this lack of physicality would ever hack it?

4. The lack of fight in many of the players is all too evident - they look like they want help. At 2-0 down, some of them were on the verge of giving up - particularly Fabregas. His body language was a clarion call to Arsene Wenger: "for God sake, put some men around me - help me!! I can't do this on my own anymore." He looked mentally tired, and he looked physically abused. At this rate, Fabregas will be destroyed by the time he's 25.

The first 5 minutes, Arsenal looked up for it - a couple of mazy runs from Walcott ended with half-decent crosses that no Arsenal player could get on the end of because none of them were in the box. That's because nobody wants to take responsibility, they're afraid of running out of position and getting blamed for it.

I noticed some things that were not quite right with team morale. A Fabregas corner that Sagna came short for - Fabregas said go back and Sagna gestured his reprehension. Then Fabregas rebuffed him. This happened a couple of times with Walcott too - eyes drilling into the back of his head after a poor pass, a poor decision.

For me, the atmosphere between the players is not right. Raised voices in the dressing room following the Tottenham debacle may well have left a negative imprint in the minds of some. When things aren't going well, players look to blame each other for fear of being blamed themselves - especially young players.

Also, there's no communication on the pitch, and as we already know - there's no leader on the pitch. Only Sagna leads by example.

Arsenal somehow made it to half-time thanks to a penalty save from Manuel Almunia. But Aston Villa were bossing the game. They were extrememly well organised, and very patient. They had a game plan, could see it working after 10 minutes and knew they could sew the game up in the second half if they did more or less the same thing. Arsenal had no answer to Aston Villa's organisational qualities. Had Manchester United not been so arrogant and played a more defensive-minded game last weekend, they would have beaten Arsenal too.

The first goal arrived on 70. How Arsenal were still in the game by then was a mystery, but Sagna stumbled awkwardly on his weak ankle, Ashley Young streaked forward and crossed for Gabriel Abonglahor, but "Calamity Clichy" as I now call him headed into his own net. Clichy was under significant pressure, but most half decent defenders would have just headed it over the bar, it wasn't that difficult.

On 80, Vela was sliced down outside the box and Villa hacked the ball away under duress, the long punt finding Abonglahor one on one with Gallas. Youth beat experience, but Abonglahor's strike could have been saved by Almunia had he got his angles right. Fabianski would have saved that - but I still think Almunia is more convincing than Fabianski - which tells you Arsenal have a goalkeeping problem.

Post-match, Wenger came out with the usual tripe about sharpness, tiredness, blah blah blah. There has to come a time when he tells it like it is - that Arsenal are relatively crap compared to Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

Maybe another two defeats will put Wenger in such a weak position that only the bare naked truth will suffice - those defeats might well come in Arsenal's next two Premiership games; Man City and Chelsea.

Wenger could certainly do worse than give Djourou, Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela their chance now. With them in the team Arsenal are just as likely to make the top four as they are fielding Denilson, Diaby, Bendtner, Silvestre  - who by the way, is beginning to look like a last-minute mistake signed out of sheer desperation rather than necessity.

I don't get down to the Emirates very often, but I'm going tomorrow and can't wait.

A victory against Aston Villa is particularly important, as the West Midlands club is seen as the only realistic challenger to the Premiership's top 4 tier - and at present Arsenal are still the most vulnerable to dropping out of that elite club.

Can Arsenal push on from last week and beat Villa? Yes, of course. The Villa players will be riddled with self-doubt having lost recent games to Newcastle and Middlesbrough, and if my memory serves me well, Villa have not beaten Arsenal in the Premiership for a decade, and not beaten Arsenal at their home ground for 15 years.

That might change Martin O' Neil's team talk and approach to the game, but either way the Villa players will know the stats and will arrive at the Emirates with a sense of trepidation.

Villa's defence has been leaking goals recently, 2 in each of their last 3 matches, but Petrov, Young and Carew may all return tomorrow - boosting their attacking options considerably and giving the whole squad a lift.

6 ft 4 in Carew can punish Arsenal more than anyone - for obvious reasons.

As for Arsenal, we all know they can beat teams who play an open, attacking game - and Villa are not typically a side who string out two banks of four at the back and try to squeeze out a result. However, O'Neill is a good tactician, if anyone is capable of exploiting Arsena'ls flaws - he can.

The big question, is what will Arsenal's line-up be? Well, Van Persie is suspended, Adebayor is unlikely to be match fit and Vela played the full 90 minutes midweek. I therefore expect Wenger to play the same team formation that beat Manchester United 2-1 last Saturday.

Arsenal can put their season back on track if they beat Villa tomorrow. Upcoming games against Manchester City and Chelsea also look difficult on paper, but it's becoming clear that these are the sort of games Arsenal can profit from - even if victory in all three seems improbable.

It's the teams that get behind the ball for 90 minutes and look to score goals from set-pieces that really hurt Arsenal, and that's the connundrum that Wenger has to figure out - what formations to play, what players to pick, and what tactics to employ to open up those defensive teams that Arsenal clearly struggle against. And Wenger should be doing better on that front, but as I've said many times - tactics are not his strong point and never have been.

What I would like to see from the first team, however, is similar effort to what they produced at home to Man Utd least weekend, and in that respect they could learn a thing or two from the reserve side that played against Wigan midweek in the Carling Cup. Those kids were full of hunger, full of desire and full of passion to win those second balls in midfield.

Until last week, Arsenal's first team has not been doing that regularly enough this season; they have been lazy and arrogant at times, not wanting to get their shorts muddy. Walcott, Nasri, Fabregas and Denilson need to WANT to scrap - not just learn to scrap. Are they willing to hurt themselves to get a result? Without that passion and commitment; the common basic necessity that every team that is successful needs to possess, they will never win anything - and they will also be cheating fans who are paying through the nose to watch them.

In other news, Arsenal striker Eduardo is nearing a return to the first team having re-joined his team mates in training. He will of course require several reserve games to fully test his newly-functioning limbs - therefore, presuming there are no setbacks, we can expect to see Eduardo back out on the green green grass in January.

As for Thomas Rosicky, the club has thrown some light on his injury problems and further insist the player will return to full action within 6-8 weeks. It appears that the formation of scar tissue was the primary setback to Rosicky's recovery.

There has been a lot of confusion regarding Rosicky's injury, some fans stating they never expect to see the player pull on an Arsenal shirt again, however, there is some ignorance attached to those comments. Basically, everybody heals differently from an operation, and scar tissue formation is often an unpredictable and unkown quantity. It can take time to build at an injury site, and if an excessive amount has built up it can reduce flexibility in the muscle, reducing blood circulation and sensation.

This leads to a weakened muscle and continued problems, especially for top level athletes. Deep massage is one techique to reduce scar tissue or attempt to prevent its formation, but in Rosicky's case it appears that a secondary operation was required to scrape off the excess tissue in order to solve the problem. Hopefully, if successful, and all indications post-op have been that the operation was a success,  then Rosicky's return to duty in 6-8 weeks is not over-optimistic. In fact, there should be optimism that scar tissue was the cause of the secondary operation and not failure to repair the initial underlying problem.

Arsenal's young lions put in another very impressive performance at the Emirates last night to see off Premiership opponents Wigan 3-0. It was especially satisfying considering Wigan manager Steve Bruce picked his strongest available team.

Arsenal fielded a squad, average age 19 - the oldest player being 23-year-old goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski.

In fact, the game nearly started badly for Fabianski, when he made a hash of coming out for a long Wigan throw. On 6 minutes, another long throw, this time Fabianski stays on his line - but in all honesty, Wigan's tactics were a poor imitation of Stoke.

On 11, another Fabianski mistake when he comes for an outswinging corner and gets nowhere near it. The Polish goalkeeper is assertive, but making the wrong choices.

On 13, the first clear chance of the game when Vela races clean through. He tries to round Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland, but an outstretched arm pokes the ball from Vela's feet. He should have done better - like square it for Jay Simpson who might have poked the ball into an empty net. However, Wigan make a hash of the clearance, and the ball does drop to Simpson, who turns neatly and strikes a rising shot off the top of the bar.

On 15, Vela is involved again, threading a wonderful reverse through ball to left-back Kieran Gibbs who strikes staight at Kirkland - again Simpson was standing in acres of space but didn't receive the square pass. Arsenal's kids showing a touch of naivity.

The game is see-sawing, like most Arsenal games have this season. On 16, a Daniel De Ridder strike forces a good stop from Fabianski. De Ridder is causing plenty of problems down Arsenal's left-side, with converted full back Gibbs struggling to cope. Meanwhile, two further observations - Mark Randall gives the ball away too much, and Jack Wilshere is phenomenal wriggling out of tight spaces - he is Paul Scholes mark II.

On 20, an Aaron Ramsey free-kick forces a quality save from Kirkland, who appears to have injured his back in the process.

Arsenal's kids look sharper and quicker to second balls, which is making the difference. On 22 Vela finds himself right of centre, takes a touch inside and hits a fantastic curling shot that Kirkland does very well to tip around the post.

Up the other end, Wigan continue to cause Arsenal problems down the right flank, particularly Valencia on Gibbs. Fran Merida is giving Gibbs no back up whatsoever, and thankfully Wigan's crossing is abysmal - Djourou and Song clearing almost everything with ease.

With the half petering out, Wilshere collects in midfield - being pressed from behind he turns neatly and threads a great through ball into an ocean of space between the Wigan centre backs. Simpson is on hand to run into the gap, advancing on goal he slides the ball under Kirkland. 1-0 Arsenal. Great turn, and great vision by Wilshere!

As expected, Wigan raise the tempo for the second half. An early throw into Arsenal's half sees Djourou jump with arm raised. The ball flicks off his hand. Should have been a penalty, but for some reason the ref doesn't see it despite standing 15 yards away. Arsenal counter, Gibbs to Merida who crosses for Simpson, his header rising just over Kirkland's bar.

On 54, Song makes a magnificent strong challenge in midfield. Wigan have raised their game, but Arsenal have matched that by raising their commitment. On 56, a long range effort from Merida is smartly stopped by Kirkland, again, this follows good work from midfield maestro Wilshere.

Two minutes later and Bruce changes Wigan's shape to 4-4-2, bring Henri Camara on to partner the so-far unimpressive Amr Zaki. This gives Ramsey and Wilshere more room in the middle, and Ramsey plays Gibbs in beautifully for a strike at goal.

Then on 65, Vela counter-attacks, showing great pace - one-on-one with Kirkland he looks up and plays the ball across goal for Simpson who slots home from 10 yards. 2-0 Arsenal. Game over.

Five minutes later, Vela takes a Djourou through-ball on the outside of his left foot and away from Bramble. Vela tussles with Bramble to the edge of the box then somehow chips miraculously over Kirklands head. 3-0 - a wonder goal!

Vela earns the Emirates crowd's Mexican wave - done in typically shoddy English fashion it has to be said.

Wigan hunt for a consollation. On 87, De Ridder does some great work on Arsenal's right, beating several players, his strike is well parried by Fabianski but drops straight to Zaki in the box. Zaki's strike is then tipped on to the bar superly by the ultra-mobile Fabianski. That made his night!

So Arsenal saunter into the quarter final. On this evidence, if the draw is kind they have a good chance of making it to the final - and then anything can happen. Once again, a highly impressive performance from Wenger's second string - a joy to watch. The first team - many of which were present last night - could certainly learn a thing or two about collective commitment.

Fabiasnki (7)
Still making some dodgy decisions on crosses, but excelled on shot stopping.
Hoyte (7)
Wasn't too troubled on the night; most of Wigan's attacks were initiated down the opposite side - but still performed well.
Song (8)
Played very well in the center of defence, making numerous clearances.
Djourou (7)
Strong game by the centre-back, was authorative aerially and played in Vela for his third goal. Did make a silly mistake with the handball, but got away with it. Otherwise as good as Song.
Gibbs (7)
Had a torrid time in the first half up against De Ridder and Valencia. Played much better in the second with a little more help from Merida.
Ramsey (8)
Another fine game from the Welsh lad. Always comfortable on the ball and dangerous in the final third with his vision and set pieces.
Wilshere (9) STAR MAN
A teenage sensation. A very different player to Fabregas, but equally as talented. Quick, mobile, strong in the tackle, fabulous ball control in tight spaces, and creative too. He has the lot.
Randall (7)
Passing was  bit sloppy a times, but always wanted the ball and worked extremely hard.
Merida (6)
Probably the least effective of Arsenal's midfield. Did not work hard enough in the first half - improved in the second. Often appears to be waiting for something to happen rather than initiating it.
Vela (8)
Had some quiet spells throughout the game, but when he gets in threatening positions can be devastating. On this evidence, should be ahead of Bendtner for a first team place.
Simpson (8)
Impressed by the youngster's calm finishing and work rate.

Substitutes

Bischoff (5)
Didn't see much of him when he came on.
Lansbury (5)
Didn't see much of him when he came on.
Fonte (5)
Only given 6 minutes.

A week is a long time in football and Arsenal's destiny is not only shaped by their own performances. Arsenal play Aston Villa twice before Christmas - a Villa team that is currently making a right royal mess of breaking into the top four, and therefore Arsene Wenger's life a lot easier.

Miserable defeats to Newcastle and Middlesbrough, yesterday, keep them 3pts behind the Gunners; so two Arsenal victories against Villa throughout the remainder of 2008 could be enough to secure the North London club's fourth place position for another season. No other team has the potential to break into the top four.

More outlandish remarks by Wenger this morning. Apparently the rest of the league has improved, and therefore the top 4 will lose more games - like Arsenal have - and it will be a much closer division this season.

Twaddle. A quarter of the way through the season, and Liverpool and Chelsea are riding high with only 1 defeat each - and 2 draws each. Man Utd have dropped the majority of their points away from home to Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

From the top tier, it's only Arsenal who are struggling against teams between 5th and 20th; Arsenal have lowered themselves to the rest of the league's standard, not the other way around.

Arsenal Truth took a battering on Sunday, from Arsenal supporters infuriated by my Gael Clichy player rating. I like to think I'm big enough to admit when I've got something wrong, so I will. I should have given Clichy 5 out of 10, not 3 - that was silly.

I still think Clichy was awful on Saturday; it doesn' t matter  if he's up against Ronaldo or Andy Reid, the same lapses in concentration are hurting the team.

A lot of people point to Clichy's attacking attributes, as if they somehow make up for his defensive inadequacies. But I don't see enough end product from Clichy coming forward to justify that; a few good crosses every now and then, but he is no Roberto Carlos - 69 domestic goals, and counting. If Clichy was THAT good I might forgive him.

Clichy was not punished for his mistakes against Manchester United, so my criticisms are made to look redundant. Had his daft handball been a penalty, had his clumsy header not missed the far post by an inch, had Ronaldo ghosted in unchallenge and put away the easiest of chances, and had Ronaldo's two completely unchallenged crosses for Rooney been converted, things would have been very different. It could have been 2-6 United. Instead, Clichy had God on his side and it was 2-1 Arsenal.

Believe it or not, I am on Clichy's side. Love his enthusiasm, his heart - and I know he has all the attributes to be a world class left back, but defence is Arsenal's major weakness right now, so it seems sensible to me that Arsenal should shore it up where possible. I want what all Arsenal fans want, results, not to beat up on players who are underperforming. But thanks for your comments, apart from those accusing me of incest etc.

Tomorrow evening, Arsenal's young guns play Wigan in the Carling Cup. Arsenal will be up for the game, but I'm not sure Wigan will be. In the past, the smaller Premiership teams have seen the competition as a road to glory - but not so much now. If Wigan won the Carling Cup and played in Europe next season, the price to pay could be domestic relegation.

The UEFA Cup is a competition that Wigan are ill-equipped to take part in it, so Wigan boss Steve Bruce might semi-drop the competition and drop some players too. Domestcially, he has to weigh up the psychological effect of his first team losing to Arsenal's babies - and that will dictate who he puts out. We already know that Emile Heskey is missing. 

As for Arsenal, it should be another fun night. I can't wait to see Vela up against Titus Bramble. When Bramble is bad, he's very very bad.
 

It didn't start well. In the first minute, ex-Man Utd defender Mikael Silvestre gave Almunia a sloppy backpass, and Almunia lost his head and picked the ball up 15 yards from goal. The resulting free-kick led to a Carrick strike inches past Almunia's left post - he should have scored.

By the 7th minute, more concern. Despite Wenger's 4-5-1 set-up (as predicted), Park and Rooney were finding too much space between Arsenal's back four and midfield four. But at least Arsenal were functioning smoothly going forward. On 10, an Arsenal half-chance when a cross from Clichy was slightly too high for Bendtner to get on the end of.

On 11, Utd's turn, a week Silvestre header falling to Rooney who really should have done better from 20 yards out.

Back to Arsenal, on 13 Nasri turned Neville inside out and crossed a great ball into the heart of Utd's defence, it looped over Ferdinand and the incoming Diaby, but Bendtner saw it late and couldn't reach it. Someone like Shearer would have gobbled that chance up - maybe even Adebayor.

One minute later, and Fabregas puts in another great cross, Van Der Sar fluffs his punch and the ball falls to Diaby who swings his foot at it but can't find the net.

Arsenal's crossing unusually precise, Man Utd defending of crosses unusually slack.

On 17, a great Utd passing move ends up with Ronaldo completely free on the right. Where was Clichy? Standing centrally 4 yards away from Silvestre instead of where he should have been - closing down Ronaldo. Ronaldo takes advantage and crosses to Rooney on the edge of the box who fortunately lashes over, another bad miss from Rooney.

A bit like watching table tennis, now it was Arsenal's turn to attack. Fabregas' cross is headed out by Berbatov straight to Nasri. Nasri controls and hits a good strike at goal, deflecting off Gary Neville and into the net. 1-0 Arsenal!

Man Utd then began to focus better, increasing possession and pressuring Arsenal's defence more consistently. On 27, Ronaldo swings a dangerous cross in from the left, and Clichy stretches to header - the ball flying inches past his own post. Again, Clichy too easily sucked into the middle and nearly makes another disastrous gaffe.

On 33, Park is again given the freedom of the park in front of Arsenal's rearguard, his low strike is palmed away well by Almunia.

Arsenal stream forward on the counter attack, Diaby is fouled from behind after a great run, but the referee Howard Webb gives nothing. Then Silvestre ventures forward and almost pokes one in past Van der Sar.

It's a blood and thunder game, but a fair game.

Suicidal defending by both teams, although Arsenal have been worse, particularly the god awful Gael Clichy - constantly vacating his left back position. On 45 he gets sucked into the middle yet again, and decides to stick his hand in the way of Utd cross from wide right. Somehow Clichy gets away with what was a clear Utd penalty.

Half-time, and time for a breather. It's been absolutely marvellous entertainment - all you could want from a football match, but Wenger has been going bananas on the touchline, a clear indication of the pressure he's been under.

As the second half kicks off, Arsenal immediately go on the front foot - a great 16 touch passing move ends up with Fabregas roaming outside the area. He turns on a sixpence and puts through Nasri. Walcott runs wide, taking his marker with him, and Nasri is left in space, slamming his shot sweetly past Van der Sar. 2-0 Arsenal - great move. Nasri has so far been a sensation.

But can Arsenal hold on? On 48, Clichy, for the umpteenth time, goes completely missing from his left-back slot. Park crosses to the free running Ronaldo coming in from the right, but he shins the ball past Almunia's right hand post. A real let-off.

Then Arsenal counter, as Clichy magically appears in a forward position. Walcott is in acres of space  forward right, but Clichy gives the ball straight back to Utd. Utd then counter, so Clichy races back and takes out Ronaldo with a crude challenge. Yellow card. Clichy could lose Arsenal this game single-handed - it's the worst peformance I've seen from a left-back since..... well, almost ever. Arsenal have traditionally always had great left backs.

Fortunately, for Arsenal, Utd struggle to make their possession count for the next 10-15 minutes - Neville, Rooney and Anderson all shooting wildly from distance.

On 65, Almunia drops a corner and scrambles for the loose ball, getting a kick in the face from Carrick for his troubles. Almunia looks very groggy - the physio should have taken him off there and then.

As Utd continue to push forward, Arsenal find more room to counter. On 74, Nasri breaks free and tussles with Vidic who is clearly pulling the Arsenal man's shirt in the box. Fortunately for Utd, Webb's view of the incident is obscured.

On 77, Song replaces Walcot. On 78, Fabianski replaces the ailing Almunia. Can Arsenal wise-up and see out the game through possession football? No. On 80, Arsenal are attacking like maniacs with 5 men galloping forward against Utd's back 3. They predictably lose the ball, but Utd fluff up their counter-counter-attack.

Arsenal fare better as Utd tire, but on 89 the predictable happens. A cross is meekly headed out of defence from Clichy, but  Rafael sends an excellent strike past Fabiasnki for 2-1. It's groundhog day, Jenas and Tottenham springing to mind.

There's 6 minutes of extra time and anything could happen. To be fair, Arsenal try to retain possession, but Utd are tigrish ball winners when they want to be. Still, Bendtner had two very good chances in the final 2 minutes, but he was clearly knackered. Regardless, Arsenal see the game out, winning 2-1.

What does this tell result us? Not a lot. The performance tells us more. Arsenal are a god awful mess at the back, chiefly because - as well all know - Arsenal badly need a defensive midfielder, but also Gael Clichy is an absolute joke of a defender at the moment and Arsenal will never win anything with him playing this badly. Someone needs a real kick up the arse on the training ground, because, apart from his moments of sheer madness (the penalty that never was), from a positional perspective every week is a bad week for Clichy.

However, any team that tries to play Arsenal at their own see-saw game is capable of losing out - like Fenerbahce did 5-2. Likewise, any team capable of defending in numbers adequately can gain a result from Arsenal. Perhaps Wenger should rethink his strategy against lower side clubs, encouraging them to come out and play, much like Chelsea did under Mourinho. Although, this does require a more solid defence, but there needs to be a compromise.

Nothing about today's performance convinced me that Arsenal will be doing anything other than struggling for fourth place this season. But I could change my mind if Arsenal do well at Villa, Man City and Chelsea, and if Gael Clichy is dropped. Wenger made a big clanger not buying a centre-back, a bigger clanger not buying a defensive midfielder, and he will be making clanger number three if he persists with Clichy at left back when he could now string Toure, Gallas and Silvestre along his backline.

When all is said and done, however, I am a football purist - and this was absolutely wonderful entertainment. I am also a fervent Gooner, so when Nasri put the Gunners two up I was off my seat screaming in celebration.

Beating Man Utd is never a bad thing no matter what the situation, and I'm glad Wenger has had some pressure eased off him, because however disenchanted I am with certain aspects of his youth policy, I want him to go home, put his feet up and enjoy a glass - like I'm sure many Arsenal supporters will be tonight.

Almunia (6)
Made a couple of good saves, and was very brave collecting his spill at the feet of the incoming Carrick. Still ahead of Fabianski for me.
Sagna (7)
Very solid right back performance.
Gallas (8)
Played like a captain today; at last he seems to be settling into the role. He had a very good game at Tottenham and again today.
Silvestre (7)
Raised his game against his former club, a poke in the eye for Ferguson - could have been Senderos playing.
Clichy (3)
Some people can see no wrong in Clichy, but they're ignorant. In the first half alone he made a catalogue of errors. He somewhat salvaged his performance in the second half, but for me Clichy causes big big defensive problems nearly everytime he plays. Would like to see him dropped.
Denilson (7)
Decent performance going forward but defensive duties were again mostly ignored.
Fabregas (7)
Some of his passing was a bit off, but perserved and set up Nasri beautifully for the second. Worked like a lion.
Diaby (8)
Is so much more effective in the centre - just behind the front man, would like to see him play there a lot more.
Walcott (7)
Didn't see much off the ball in the first half, but generally did OK.
Nasri (9) STAR MAN
Sensational performance. To think he could perform like this every week when he settles in. To play like that so early in his stop-start Arsenal career, and against United was remarkable. Every aspect of his game was spot on - the finishing a huge and deserved cherry on his cake.
Bendtner (6)
Did reasonably well playing the lone striker role, but should have converted at least one of his two headed chances. Still struggling a little to impose himself on defenders, but played better than of late.

Substitutes

Song (6)
Did OK when he came on, mopping up in front of the back four.
Fabiasnki (6)
Showed good composure under pressure when replacing Almunia.
Toure (5)
Not sure where he was playing when he came on; didn't really have much effect either offensively or defensively.