After Sunday’s debacle at Cardiff comes another tough trip to in-form Everton. We can ill-afford a replay, even though it’s at the Emirates. After Villa luckily winning again at Pompey last night (how many chances did Crouch miss?) three points is a must because a defeat will leave us six points behind Villa and a mountain to climb as they don’t look like dropping points at the moment. Had the officials when we played Villa back on Boxing Day shown better time-keeping skills, we wouldn’t be in this predicament, but that is another story.

At Cardiff we weren’t at the races, how Adebayor gets £90k per week and all he produced of note was an air shot when he seemed certain to score I’ll never know. Fabianski looks a bit shaky away from home and the defence wasn’t as solid - we were lucky to go in 0-0 at half-time. While Cesc is out Wenger needs to be playing Diaby and Nasri in the centre of midfield, instead of Eboue or Denilson. Nasri showed against Plymouth, Pompey and Hull how dangerous he can be in that position - he’s the only one capable of finding that killer pass while Diaby does the dirty work. But what do we know eh?

What’s really got my goat recently is Matt Le Tissier's sudden dislike for our club. On ‘Gillette Soccer Saturday’ since before Xmas he hasn’t had a good word to say about us, even when we win games. Some of the things he came out with were just comical. He said we lack the know-how of how to win trophies and that the club is a shambles. Excuse me, but how the hell would he know what is needed to win trophies? All he did at Southampton was score a few long-range goals and get relegated so I think he should shut his mouth and fair play to my old mate Paul Merson for pointing that out to him.

I can’t bear the thought of finishing outside the top four. If worse came to worse and we did then all hell would break loose both on and off the pitch. We would become a laughing stock. The likes of Cesc and Ade would leave along with the likes of Toure and Sagna and Van Persie as I feel they wouldn’t want to play UEFA Cup football. I also think Wenger would/could be hounded out by angry fans and all his achievements forgotten.

Imagine, and I’ve said this before, the E******s, in my opinion the best modern stadium in Europe, half-full and what little atmosphere there is sometimes becoming worse. Also, it would be hard to attract new players in the summer, if the hierarchy decide to loosen the purse-strings with the prospect of UEFA Cup rather than Champions League football. We'd have to start all over again.

It’s time for the club to look at the bigger picture and act now. I’ve been watching them home and away for 20 years now and I, along with the rest of my fellow Gooners have been blessed with what we achieved under George Graham and Wenger but it’s clear now that rot may be starting to settle in and we have to treat it now before it becomes fatal.

It’s getting to the point where when although I want to approach every game we play with a winning mentality, I’m not so sure now. You don’t know which Arsenal will turn up week in/week out and this has to stop if we are going to have any chance of making the top four. Do the players want to be known as laughing stocks? And the press would have a field day with Wenger. A club of our size and tradition deserves trophies and to be challenging consistently, but the effort must be made on the pitch.

And this must start tonight at Goodison Park.