In fact they wrote us off immediately Vieira left for Juventus, stating that we would collapse as an effective force if Wenger persists with his youngsters instead of buying experienced midfielders. It adds up to the old claim "YOU CAN’T WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS" But history clearly shows that you never write off Arsène; he has sold great players before, replaced them, and gone on to win trophies. I agree with Arsene, we are not a team in transition, we are fighting for first place.

After the 4:1 thrashing of Fulham, the dust should have settled, but some Arsenal fans may not so easily forget that the 10 years unbeaten Premiership run against Chelsea was ended by a blunt attack, and a fluke goal by Drogba. For football is about winning or losing, scoring goals and defending well. To achieve that consistently against oppositions one needs a psychological edge. Chelsea fans may well believe they now have the edge over us.

However, if there is a supposed psychological edge then surely the special one would have gloated in his usual arrogant way how his expensive, and multi-talented squad, demolished the Gunners.That he does not see us as title rivals any more. But he has been cautious in the wake of his victories over Arsenal. To be blunt playing at home putting 10 men in the box, when you’re supposed to have the best defense, and using the long ball, is not the most convincing way to demonstrate your superiority.

Looking back at our games before our unbeaten run, and to our performances in Europe, I feel Arsenal have one major problem to address, and once it’s solved teams who have taken advantage of it will have to come up with different tactic to stop us. That problem is beating an opposition with ten men behind the ball. The truth is that we still have not found a permanent solution to a 4-5-1 formation or frankly a 9-0-1 formation. We often find it hard to score, and give away easy goals (Bayern Munich last season is a good example).

Our response tends to be to over elaborate our passes, and when it works it’s brilliant, but when it doesn’t we are frustrated and fail to get a result. Some teams defend so deep that we are often forced to pass crossways, as we predictably keep passing to score the perfect goal (as we did at Chelsea). Every team will be encouraged to play us this way, and even Chelsea who were rudely reminded in the 2:2 draw at Highbury last season that you can’t match Arsenal’s panache in attacking football, have joined the band wagon of parking a bus in front of their goal.

Every team has a right to play how they choose, so it’s up to Wenger to find a solution. We can’t expect teams to stop using these tactics because it cripples the beauty of the game. Not as long as they know it’s the best way to play us; especially when they have a chance of stealing victory, or a draw, by catching us on a counter attack, and not conceding a goal. It is well known that if you choose to play football against Arsenal you will be trounced.