After the visit to Wigan I wrote: I can’t see the side making it to the Middlesbrough game without conceding at least half a dozen goals. Here’s hoping they can stick away a few at the other end. Get ready for one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Those of a nervous disposition should look away now… Since then, my dearest wish has been to write after the trio of matches that followed wearing egg on my face, but it is not to be. The aggregate scoreline since has been Arsenal 8 Opponents 6. Good enough to put the team into the Champions League semis, but not the FA Cup Final.

I recalled the notion that Arsenal would concede six in three games when Andrey Arshavin put his side 4-3 up, and thought to myself, the goals haven’t finished in this match yet. I expected the team not to be able to hold the lead, even if only a short time was remaining. With this defence, Anfield 89 would have finished 2-1 after Michael Thomas’ goal. To think how much Arsenal could have won if Arsene Wenger had bought a defender of undisputed quality in his time at the club (I’m not counting free transfer Sol Campbell). The Invincibles were invincible not because of a tight defence, but the sheer number of goals the players in front of them could put away.

The other thing last night’s game highlighted was the lunacy of leaving Arshavin on the bench at Wembley. Granted the man is capable of disappearing for 95% of a match, and offers zero defensive cover but it’s what he does in the other 5% that makes him a luxury player the team simply have to make room for. And if Kiaran Gibbs needs support, play Arshavin central and switch someone else wide left.

The man’s simply undroppable, but of course Arsene knows best, right? Granted, he did well to buy the player, but having seen how good he is, the decision to leave him on the bench for the FA Cup semi-final – a game I genuinely believe Wenger wanted to win – will go down as one of the worst errors of the manager’s tenure. Like Dennis Bergkamp before him, Shava is a player you build your team around.

What the draw at Liverpool proved was that Arsenal’s best form of defence is attack. It’s a tactic they’d have been better using at Wembley in the semi-final. Basically, whether the ball’s in their own half or the opposition’s it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference. The team are in constant danger of conceding with a defence that has no concept of how to clear its lines effectively. So they might as well go down with all guns blazing.

In truth, Arsenal were almost totally outplayed for most of the match at Anfield, but Arshavin kept them in it. Wonder who will score the goals at Old Trafford on Wednesday next week? Wenger’s defence will certainly ensure the scoreboard doesn’t remain idle…