The replay of this 4th Round FA Cup tie on Tuesday week is counted on the season tickets. I predict a record number of empty seats when Cardiff come to town. The stadium will look like an unglamorous Champions League match with Arsenal three up in injury time after the mass exodus of early leavers. I will be surprised if the club manage to shift all of the seats available to non-season ticket holders to boot.

And part of the reason for this is the way the team are performing these days. How many real quality performances have they put in so far this season? Not many. It’s pleasing that they seem to have found the habit of avoiding defeat, but when Cardiff flagged so badly in the second half, Arsenal’s own mediocrity ensured there was no breakthrough.

The suspicion is that Wenger might field a pure Carling Cup team for the replay. That might be a good decision, as the hunger of the senior players doesn’t really seem to be there and the playing surface at home has brought out the best of Wenger’s youths on the two occasions they have played there this season.

What is a little depressing about Arsenal in 2008/09 is the evident drop in quality. It’s painful to watch the number of misplaced passes, the poor first touches, the lack of imagination or pace in the build-up. In a sense we have been spoilt by years of quality displays by quality players. It’s the famous sausages and caviar phenomenon that Wenger quoted before the turn of the millennium. What we’d give for some of the players producing that so-called sausage football now! I guess watching Arsenal these days is something like the comedown after taking heroin, although I can only go on the accounts of others. We want to experience the highs again, and crave them watching turgid displays on such a frequent basis.

In fairness to Arsene Wenger, you can see why he doesn’t start Aaron Ramsey frequently, and sticks with Denilson. The Welshman is only just 18, and at times, he plays like it. If he played week-in, week-out, his potential could be ruined. Some teenagers are ready young, some aren’t. Sometimes, who is playing alongside them can make a difference too. Being positioned between Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue is not going to do any promising player many favours.

The Eboue mystery continues. A player lacking form, confidence and basic ability, the manager continues to start him. It is an indication of how threadbare the squad has become. The Eboue of 2008/09 will go down in Arsenal myth for all the wrong reasons. The fear is that he symbolizes the end of the Wenger era in the way we don’t want it to finish. He takes up positions which make it impossible for him to be found with a pass. Hiding on the pitch is a classic tactic of a player lacking faith in their own ability. He hasn’t got over being booed when removed at the Wigan game, and I don’t think he ever will as long as he remains at the club. Wenger should put him out of his misery rather than try and prove a point.

The lack of transfer activity so far this month gives a clear indication that the club is saving its money to pay off the Highbury Square construction loans, so it’s make do and mend with the current crop. I never thought I’d see the day when I was desperate for the return to fitness of Theo Walcott, but that day has now come.

Arsenal are still in the cup, with the carrot of a home draw against West Brom or Burnley, and it really doesn’t matter how they progress as long as they do. The team may well be codswallop this season, but poor teams have made cup finals many a time. And no-one remembers the bad performances or indeed the poverty of the displays that win it. Liverpool in 2001 and Arsenal in 2005 are classic examples. Both Millwall and Cardiff have made the final in recent seasons – both enjoyed easy runs. The Gunners could use one of those to end the trophy drought. So far, they’ve enjoyed a kind draw, almost as easy as Chelsea traditionally seem to get since Abramovich’s arrival.

Hopefully, Ninian Park will just prove a bad memory come May 30th (especially for those fans that had to dodge a hail of bottles upon exiting the away section).