Pre-Saturday I would have bitten your hand off at a 1-1 at Goodison. A slender win would have been a dream. But 6-1. Although after the match had concluded I couldn’t help but think it was just a fluke result and that we would, as in so many recent seasons, come straight back to earth on Tuesday in a very tricky looking tie against the hoops of Glasgow.

But after the final whistle on Tuesday night, the signs were even more prominent that our young lads are turning into men at last. I have never seen a Wenger team work so hard off the ball. Something that Arsene has clearly had the squad working on during the summer months.

Everyone in football praises us for the way we play in possession, but we have always received stinging criticism for our apparent lack of effort to close down opponents when we lose it. Not playing at our brilliant best but getting results when needed is what we have lacked in many recent games. Maybe this is something else we have now added to the locker.

Celtic had no time to settle on the ball, which in turn means they could not build a period of concerted pressure on our goal. Manuel was a virtual spectator for long periods last night and I do not remember him being stretched at all.

Vermaelen looks a class act. Still a little early to judge him in the air, but looks very comfortable in possession and reads the game well. Very similar to United’s Vidic. Song was solid again as he was at Everton, and Denilson has been very impressive. Fab should also get a mention for his storming start to the season. All this and our strikers haven’t made a contribution yet!

I don’t like to get to carried away. We have been here before many times over the last four years. Have we matured? Our next two Premier League away trips to Manchester will be more of a guide to this. But also Saturday will be a good test. Not that Pompey are much of a real threat as they were only a few seasons ago, but a good test of our own recent difficulties of beating the teams we should and beat them well. No good winning at Old Trafford if you drop points at home to Pompey, Hull, West Ham and the Spuds. The next few weeks should be very interesting and hopefully very successful for Gooners everywhere.