Oh for the days when you could rely on Arsenal fielding the strongest team available to them for all games in all competitions. If we sometimes lost big games we might otherwise have won because our players were burned out (the 1979-80 season springs to mind) then at least it was an honourable and glorious failure. The FA Cup semi-final defeat against Chelsea, like the defeat in an earlier round at Old Trafford last year, was anything but.



No doubt the Johnny-come-latelys will tell me that 'football has changed... it's so much faster' - well yes, but on the other hand players are so much better protected from the modern day equivalents (if any there are) of Chopper Harris, Peter Storey, Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith et al. Surfaces are better (yes, even Wembley!). Physiotherapy and treatment techniques are more advanced. Last but not least, or course, players are much more lucratively rewarded than used to be the case to ‘go the extra mile’ for the cause.



If Arsene Wenger left Arshavin out of the Chelsea match for purely tactical reasons then it was an error of judgement (albeit a crass one). If he left him out to rest him for the next Premiership game against Liverpool tomorrow evening it was, frankly, inexcusable – especially as our pocket-sized Russian dynamo had not played in the Champions’ League match against Villarreal and so had enjoyed a full week’s rest.

Of course, it is not just Arsenal who shortchange their supporters this way – Man United followers who travelled down to Wembley are entitled to feel cheated by Fergie's team selection against Everton - but that is their problem. Arsene's poor judgement or misguided sense of priorities (take your pick) are ours.