It was no small matter to qualify from "The Group of Death" undefeated (the subsequent loss by a second string in Porto was irrelevant). Alan Smith [our Copenhagen hero, not the little runt who used to get booked for Leeds United] was unimpressed, however, and happily predicted an early exit now the knock-out stages had been reached. Yet at Old Trafford on 29th April, people will still be listening to his monotone punditry as if he were Nostradamus.

With just one of our original "back five" available last night, a clean sheet with few, if any, nervous moments was a huge achievement. Song and Eboue were magnificent; Fabianski no longer appears to suffer stage fright. It's almost four months and twenty-two games since Aston Villa became the last team to score more than one goal against us. Nine goals conceded in those 22 games; our next FA Cup opponents have shipped seven in their last 111 minutes of football and I no longer yearn for Peter Cech between the Arsenal sticks.

Arshavin is world class and would enhance any squad, yet he was not missed last night. When all are fit, he'll be fighting for his starting berth like everyone else. Only Cesc is a shoe-in and that loss in Rome our only defeat during his long injury lay-off. It's now impossible to name Arsene's strongest starting eleven.

For all the talk of our 2003/4 Invincibles, that squad never dominated Europe, or even so threatened. Anyone responding "5-1 at Inter" merely adds weight to this assertion. It's ludicrous to describe the current squad as Arsene's weakest. Bring on the Chelsea whores.

Keep the faith.