Last season's Christmas trip to Bramall Lane was one of the poorest displays Arsenal put in last season. Losing 1-0 to a very mediocre side was bad enough, but the performance was what hurt the most - no spark or creativity, even when Jagielka went in goal for the last twenty minutes.

Tonight, revenge is on the cards, and before you think that's too aggressive a stance, consider Chris Morgan, who has decided to have a pop at the team, having clearly not watched us all season:

"You can't just be good technically with the ball, which they are."

"If they are going to win the Premier League, they've got to be prepared for the physical side as well."

"It's maybe something they don't come up against week in, week out"

Er, actually it is something we come up against week in, week out, and has been for some time now, after it became the 'way to play Arsenal'. Everyone goes for the physical approach, and part of the reason for this season's improvement is that we haven't backed down.

But then the Mirror slyly puts a sentence together which shows precisely why you shouldn't take the man seriously.

Morgan was banned for three games for punching Robin van Persie in the ribs during United's victory and he makes no apology for the Blades' physical approach.

Quite. There is nothing wrong with a physical approach, there is a lot wrong with going around punching people. In showing no understanding of that line, Morgan displays quite neatly the ability of his brain. Some people just shouldn't open their mouths.

Anyway, tonight is another welcome opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow, although with every year that passes the 'reserves' get stronger and these days, every face is a familiar one to most fans. The exception is Kieran Gibbs, who may fill in at left back as Traore is away with France. Diarra and Bendtner get the starts they desire, and Eduardo will have another taste of the English game.

The bench may contain some of the lesser known (at least to non-Arsenal fans), but prodigiously talented kids, such as Merida and Lansbury, so it'll be interesting to get a glimpse of them. Despite last season's result, the hungry players should have too much for Sheff Utd tonight.

Enjoy the game. Unless you're Chris Morgan, in which case I hope you get humiliated.

What more can you say about this man?

First came this incredible naivety:

"The European clubs who open training centres in Africa do it to further their own interests, not to help with the development of African football."

How dare a business look after its own interests by scouring the continent for talent? They should open training centres and fund them with no interest in reaping the rewards. Of course.

Never mind the fact that no one can deny that the African game has improved and thrived since the opening up of the European leagues to their players. I thought that was a good thing?

Now, Platini takes issue with Arsene Wenger:

"I do not like the system of Arsene Wenger.

"In France, Italy and Spain it is easy to buy with money the best players at 14, 15 or 16. I don't like that."

So, attracting some of the best young players in the world to an environment in which they can thrive, using the best available training facilities and greatest chance of playing top level football, is bad, is it, Michel?

This strikes me as an utterly ludicrous argument. If the scouting network is good enough to find these players, why shouldn't they move? They will only move if they want to, and who is Platini to insist that they don't follow their dreams? He goes on:

"If the best clubs buy the best 15 or 16 players that is finished for all the clubs in Europe."

"If my son is playing at Millwall and at 16 Manchester come in for this player then when will Millwall have a good team?"

When they achieve the rise like everyone else, not by holding back the development of a player who just happens to have been born in the area.

Should you force a player to stay at Millwall when he wants to move to a top club? No. If the player is good enough to make it at the top, he should have the chance. If he isn't, he'll find his level before too long.

All players dream of playing at the top. If Platini insists of restricting their possibilities then the game will take a massive backward step.

Think about it this way - a team like Arsenal have an incredible training setup, coaching personnel, and so on. And the biggest stage of a player's professional development occurs in their teens. Preventing the best players from having the best facilities available to them is ludicrous.

Say Cesc started at a third division Spanish club instead of Barcelona? How late in his development would Platini deem acceptable for him to leave? And how much further back would his career be now?

Blithering idiot.

Liverpool 1 (Gerrard 7)
Arsenal    1 (Fabregas 80)

Towards the end of the match yesterday, I was preparing to write a piece about how, despite a defeat, the performance showed that Arsenal are very much in this title race. But then Hleb played Fabregas through with a piece of exquisite skill, and the Spaniard scored his tenth goal of the season to share the points.

It was a game that truly could've gone either way. Early in the match, Cesc conceded a sloppy free kick on the edge of the box after miscontrolling. Alonso was certainly looking for the foul, but nevertheless contact was made. The real sin was Flamini breaking from the wall, with Gerrard firing powerfully into the gap he left behind to leave Almunia with no chance.

1-0 down at Anfield early in the game is not a position you ever want to find yourself in, and once again Wenger had cause to hope for his favourite trait, character. He got it in abundance.

Adebayor forced a decent save from Reina, and while the Togolese striker had something of an off day, you could never doubt his work rate. But his final touch was poor, once failing to find Rosicky with a flick, shortly after overcooking a simple return ball which would've sent Toure through.

But the quality of the football was outstanding, passing and moving around Liverpool with ease, but failing with the final ball. In fairness, their last line of defence was working exceptionally well, but for once, Jamie Redknapp made sense, saying that you just knew Arsenal had a goal in them.

Elsewhere, in the first half, Carragher put his elbow into Eboue's face, but once again he made an absolute meal of it, and while Carragher was certainly daft in risking the contact, Eboue's reputation was always going to make the referee's mind up for him. Wenger has warned him about it before, and his antics need to stop, and quickly.

The start of the second half should've seen an equaliser, Eboue showing the positive of his game by slamming a powerful shot on to the post, Cesc shanking the rebound wide of an empty goal. Many have commented that he had time to control and slide the ball in, but his belief in his one touch ability should not be underestimated, and he would expect to bury the chance nine times out of ten.

But for all our pressing and deserving of the leveller, you had a feeling that if Liverpool got a second the game would be all over. When Crouch came on for the ineffective and plainly unfit Torres, that outcome looked a realistic threat. The big man forced a couple of excellent saves from Almunia, probably to Lehmann's disgust, as Liverpool began to assert themselves for the first time in the match.

The game changed again with substitutions. Alonso went off, and Gilberto, Bendtner and Walcott replaced Clichy, Rosicky and Eboue. And it was then that Hleb worked his magic. Ignoring the first run of Adebayor, who was offside, and then Bendtner, who was borderline, he slipped Cesc through to toe poke past Reina before he was set. It was sublime skill, and it is astonishing to see his improvement on last season. He has been tremendous so far this term.

In the final moments the winner could've come from either team. Cesc hit the post with Bendtner ballooning the rebound over when he should've scored, while Gallas brilliantly blocked a seemingly goalbound shot at the other end.

But a draw was probably a fair result. The papers have gone mad this morning proclaiming how superior we were but I think this is overly one-sided. Our passing was sublime at times, and there is no doubt in my mind that we were the better team, but Liverpool are short of confidence having come back from a damaging loss in Turkey on Wednesday night. Their fighting spirit and dogged defending earned them the point they probably deserved, and lest it be forgotten, kept them domestically unbeaten.

I have to mention a few points. The Sky man of the match award to Carragher was a joke, bearing in mind he wasn't even the best defender on display, and for the second week running got away with a blatent drag down in the penalty area.

Eboue is doing my head in. He is so potent going forward, and outrageously gifted, but his play acting and theatrics are harming the team. It is so frustrating to watch his antics slow down a game in which we are pushing forward in earnest. Maddening.

Almunia was solid. Of the goals he has conceded in his now extended run in the team, you could only suggest that Sunderland's equaliser could've been prevented. Compare that to Lehmann's two shockers, and there is no doubt that he has earned his place. It seems to me that the German's whole argument is that Almunia has won nothing for the team. I suggest that he is worried that this season, that may change, and Arsenal will win trophies without him being required.

Don't be too disheartened this morning. Being disappointed with a draw at Anfield shows just how far this team have come.

So the prolonged exit finally came to a close last night, with Martin Jol being fired by Spurs. As with most things in their part of North London this season, it was a farce, with news leaking out at the start of their loss to Getafe that he had resigned, only for the sacking to be made clear later on.

The timing is, once again, pathetic, and catching Daniel Levy on camera smiling in justification as his own club went a goal down was nothing short of disgraceful. Martin Jol hasn't actually done that bad a job - he did well with limited resources, and then very poorly once he started to spend big. But two fifth place finishes in a row will be hard for a successor to match, given the state of their squad right now.

Incidentally, are Bolton now regretting their appointment of Gary Megson? Jol, a far superior manager, is now available. Not that I mind, because....

...looking back over the small bets I placed at the start of the season, I think this might actually be one of those rare things - a triumphant set of tips. In all, I tipped, and followed up on, four bets:

1) Bolton to go down at 6-1. The odds on that are now 7-5.

2) RVP to be Premiership top scorer at 12-1. Probably won't happen with him out for so long, but he'll be there or there abouts.

3) Man City to win the Premiership handicap, with a 40 point headstart. To put it another way, this is a question of 'who will outperform their predicted points tally by the most'. City were tipped to end 13th, on 44 points. Ha. At 7/1, this is practically a banker.

4) Arsenal to win the league if you remove United and Chelsea from it. Pre-season, Liverpool were the odds on favourite for this, while Arsenal were 15/8, and Spurs, laughably, 2/1. Our title odds including United and Chelsea are now not far off these.

Thank you Mr Bookie.

Coming on for your first Champions League appearance, having been playing in the Championship only last season, and scoring the final goal in a rampant seven goal rout that would see the world take notice of your team - you'd think that'd be the dream of any youngster, wouldn't you?

Well, it didn't seem to be enough to raise a smile on the face of our young Danish international, Nicklas Bendtner. While the team celebrated and enjoyed the end of a specatcular performance, Bendtner jogged away from goal, with not so much of the hint of happiness.

Why?

We all know Bendtner rates his own talent very highly. Nothing wrong with that, and although he has made a few comments to the media, there's nothing enormously controversial in there, especially when you compare it to, say, Jens Lehmann.

As a result of this confidence, he feels ready to play regularly for Arsenal. I'm sure he understands that he isn't first choice, but his eyes probably lit up when Van Persie picked up his injury. With Eduardo struggling to adapt to the pace of the Premiership, he probably thought this was his chance.

And it may yet be. But after Eduardo failed to make an impact against Bolton, what Bendtner probably didn't expect was to be upstaged last night by a man even younger than he is, who has only made cameo appearances on the wing this season.

But upstaged he was. He did make his point with the final goal, but his celebration was so muted that he looks decidedly grumpy alongside jubilant teammates.

Or maybe he just isn't the smiley type.

Arsenal          7 (Fabregas 5, 58, Hubacek og 24, Walcott 41, 55, Hleb 51, Bendtner 89)
Slavia Prague 0

You can tell a lot about a team, and a player, by their facial expressions just before and just after scoring goals. And last night's stunning performance was a demonstration of just that.

In only the fifth minute, Hleb tricked two defenders by the left corner flag before playing the right pass, inside to Fabregas, who, taking advantage of a defensive slip, stepped inside and curled a beauty into the corner.

But watch Cesc's face. Last season, he was bouncing around after each goal he scored at the end of the season. Understandable, given the drought he'd been through, but it was indicative of the relief and perhaps surprise he felt whenever his shots hit the back of the net. Now, the story is entirely different. He knew he was going to score, picked his spot, and wasn't at all surprised when the net bulged. His businesslike reaction, very much 'excellent, now let's get on with the rest of the game' summed it up. He has matured, and his composure in front of goal is spot on.

And when you were watching the match, and saw what he was about to do, how many of you doubted the outcome?

The second goal wasn't long in coming, a corner coming across from the right and evading everyone before Hleb hit a tame first time shot which was deflected in by Hubacek. Credit to the Belarussian, his willingness to take the shot with his first touch maintained the panic that had been created by the set piece - a couple of touches would've given the defence time to recover.

By half time it was 3-0. Theo Walcott, given a rare start after his explosive exploits as a substitute, had been quietly making space around the hard working Adebayor up front, and chased down a tricky, and pointless back pass from their left back. The keeper made a complete hash of clearing it, presenting Walcott with a chance, and he duly obliged, rounding him and slotting coolly into the net for his first home goal. Again, it was the composure with which the chance was taken that impressed the most.

Seconds later, the keeper nearly made another fatal error - Eboue delightfully flicking the ball over a defender before lashing a remarkable shot in from out on the right wing. The keeper retreated into his goal, confused, as the ball curled away at the last moment and flashed beyond the far post. It would have been an astonishing goal.

At the break, you began to wonder whether the team would continue to press, or sit back and conserve their energy for Anfield on Sunday. The answer was emphatically the former.

Hleb, having had his earlier effort ruled as an own goal, got his name on the scoresheet with a beauty - Cesc played him in down the left hand side, the defender anticipated a lashed left foot shot, but he cut inside and drilled the ball inside the near post with defender and keeper flailing the wrong way. It was clinical finishing from a man much maligned for exactly that. The impact his improvement has had on the team's fortunes this season should not be underestimated.

Walcott trebled his Arsenal career goal tally with his second of the night, a one touch move ending in Hleb slipping him through, where his burst of pace took him beyond the defender, before he opened his body and slid it beautifully across the keeper and in off the far post. Alan Smith, commentating, said during the replay that 'you won't see better'.

He was wrong, within minutes.

Before the hour mark, the goal of the night was scored. It was back to the old days, as seventeen seconds after Slavia took a corner, they were picking the ball out of their own net.

Cesc headed the ball out from the near post, and Hleb carried the ball at pace over the halfway line, before feeding Adebayor. The big man turned deftly, found Walcott, whose first time touch inside to Fabregas was perfect, as was the Spaniard's finish, hammering the ball into the bottom corner. The most incredible thing about the goal was Cesc's run - from getting his head to the ball defending a corner, to drilling the ball in at the other end, in a matter of seconds. The desire shown was incredible, with the side already 5-0 up.

Walcott then had a hattrick effort denied by a superb safe, with Rosicky just missing out on a goal that would've meant so much to him, hitting the post with the rebound.

But just when you thought the scoring was over, the ball was literally walked in for number seven at the end. An exquisite back heel flick from Eboue sent Bendtner away, and his first touch took the keeper out of the game before he bundled it over the line.

So 7-0 it was, equalling the biggest ever Champions League win, and our own European record, matching the 7-0 away triumph in Liege, when even Eddie McGoldrick scored. Both nights were remarkable.

Walcott and Fabregas get the obvious and deserved plaudits, and both were sensational, but they were far from alone - Hleb was outstanding and Eboue was inventive despite one more of his sprawling moments. Clichy worked his socks off while Sagna was inpregnable, and Adebayor, although not on the scoresheet, created space with intelligent running.

A quick word for Almunia at the back. With the match already won, Slavia created a few good chances, but he repelled everything they threw at him, including one excellent save low to his right. Another win, another clean sheet, and the rest of that story can wait for another post. The individual concerned frankly does not deserve a mention after such a glorious occasion.

Liverpool play away in Turkey tonight, and with only one point so far they need a result, so the pressure is on. Our lads, meanwhile, can put their feet up, relax, and prepare for Sunday.

What a time this is to be a Gooner.

The days of player power are getting absolutely ridiculous. The headline on this article is:

Rafa clears air with Gerrard.

Can someone enlighten me as to why a manager would ever feel the need to 'clear the air' and 'hold talks' with a player, after substituting him?

It's not like Gerrard was axed from the squad for a few weeks, or dragged off embarrassingly after a quarter of an hour. He wasn't even in that humiliating position where he was subbed off after being subbed on. He was taken off with twenty minutes to play, not an unusual time for a change, because Benitez wanted to alter the way his team were playing.

It was an entirely ordinary substitution, except of course for the fact that Gerrard seems to be bigger than Liverpool these days. So, when he talks in an interview about being hurt by the change, it actually gets newspaper columns as if it was a story.

The only story is the notion that Benitez should have to explain himself to Gerrard, the media, or anyone else.

And it is frankly ludicrous.

Ow.

Actually, ow doesn't quite cover it. Ow is a bit like saying Paul Robinson is a little bit rubbish. Ow is like suggesting that it wasn't the best display when Arsenal got thumped by Liverpool earlier this year. Ow is a bit like saying John Jensen wasn't really a goalscoring machine.

I need a word to describe the pain of seeing a thousand Ashley Coles threatening to tell you their whiny life histories while you are helplessly tied to a tree, watching re-runs of glorious Dwight Yorke, Peter Crouch and Mickey Quinn hattricks against us, and a slow motion replay of the whole 91 cup semi final. Then I might be able to describe the feeling in my arms and legs.

Suffice to say that I don't have a talent for surfing. Especially not solidly for three days straight, in particularly lively conditions in Ireland. I do have a talent for smashing headlong into rocks, however, along with an innate sense of exactly when my foot should rip along the sea bed through a neatly placed sharp bit of reef. I began the weekend as a clumsy novice, and nothing has changed.

I came home to find that the same was true of the football. With the proverbial 'big four' all claiming victories with varying levels of performance, and Man City continuing their impressive form with another win, the top of the table looks very familiar. At the other end, Fulham, Reading, Derby and Bolton are still pretty hopeless, while Spurs were saved further embarrassment by not actually playing.

Arsenal   2 (Toure 68, Rosicky 80)
Bolton     0

Having got back only late last night, I haven't seen any of the action at all, but from what I can gather, Bolton reverted to playing the sort of ugly non-football that was their penchant for years under Allardyce, without having the steel and ability to sustain it for ninety minutes.

Toure finally scored one of his free kicks, while Rosicky added the second with a lovely piece of skill, after good work from Walcott. After the game, Wenger suggested that Theo might get a start soon, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him start tomorrow night's game with Slavia Prague, instead of Eboue.

More fantastic news came earlier today - after brief fears that Van Persie's knee injury, sustained on international duty, affected his cruciate ligament, which would have seen him miss the majority of his season, it turns out that his medial ligament is damaged instead. He is still unlikely to return before December, but should be fit as the fixtures pile up towards Christmas. It is a massive relief.

As for tomorrow night, a mostly unchanged team is expected - Walcott and Rosicky may challenge for a place, while Eduardo should get a chance to play a European match from the start, the competition in which he has looked most comfortable so far. Lehmann won't play, and it is becoming increasingly likely that his time at the Emirates is ending.

Thirteen matches, twelve wins, one draw. Bolton bottom, Spurs in the relegation zone. Indeed it is a very happy 58th for Arsene Wenger.

It's AGM day at Arsenal, and with the football unfortunately taking second place to the drama that occurs at board level, the focus is today on the intentions of Red and White, Kroenke and of course the existing board members.

The latter have been first to make their intentions clear, with an announcement that the lockdown agreement, which prevented any of them from selling their shares this financial year, had been extended to a minimum of three years, when a termination clause kicks in.

“Under the new agreement, the Board members have agreed not to dispose of any of their interests in the Club before 18 April 2009, other than to certain permitted persons such as close family. After that date, for the remainder of the term of the agreement, they can only sell their shares to another person if the other parties to the agreement do not wish to buy them. The agreement is for five years (until 18 October 2012), although it can be terminated early by the parties on its third anniversary (18 October 2010).”

Looks like an excellent deal to me. None of the board members will now be able to sell to any hostile party until at least October 2010, two and a half years beyond the previous lockdown.

The April 2009 date interests me. It seems that although no-one will sell shares for the next 18 months, they could beyond that if they are in agreement over the buyer. While this undoubtedly rules out Usmanov, there is a possibility that if Kroenke would be welcomed into 'the team', he could benefit from this. He now has plenty of time to continue his meetings with the board before such a decision has to be made.

The other alternative, however, is simply that the board can transfer around shares in the case of one of the number cease to be on the board. They aren't getting any younger, after all, and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that one could call time. A consensus on the distribution of shares in that eventuality seems wise to me.

The wording also appears to suggest that the deal will actually run until 2012 unless a consensus agrees otherwise. So, in essence, a single shareholder cannot be 'turned' for five years.

If that isn't a statement of intent, I don't know what is.

They aren't very good.

Their European Championship qualifying group really isn't very hard. Croatia are average, Russia are fairly poor, and no-one else deserves a mention.

Yet after tonight's defeat in Russia, England will fail to qualify if the Russians beat Israel and Andorra in their final two matches.

The performance was poor, and uninventive. If England were to play in the Premiership, they would be mid table at best.

I'd take foreign talents for our club any day of the week.