Much has been written by rightly frustrated Gooners about the media's anti-Arsenal / pro-"United" bias. I bet most of you missed last weekend's most subtle, though. I happened to be listening intently to MOTD's Jonathan Pearce; why, I don't know, as he's the Beeb's worst football commentator after the incomparable Jackie Oakley. After Rooney's latest "going to ground" - shall we say - against us, Pearce not so much stuttered as paused for thought before eventually saying that Rooney has an excellent record against Arsenal... going back to the beginning of his career. He was obviously thinking of saying ... since his Everton days (or some such) but definitely changed his mind. Why? Could it be that we all have to think of Rooney, Ferdinand and any other young expensive import as homegrown, even if the player was nurtured at Goodison Park or Upton Park. For me, nothing exemplifies better the power of Yoonited over the media than this little gem from nobody's favourite Pogo Patterson. The corollary: no Manc player can be criticised, let alone vilified as was Eduardo last week.

I had an interesting text exchange with a Manc on Saturday evening as I fumed at the injustice of it all; a London-based lady who has never been to Old Trafford - though she's long held the desire ... "one day..." - and who was incredulous last season when I wanted Tottenham to win the Carling Cup final.

Me: Now do u c why I hate ManU so much?

Lady: Yes we were lucky but I am not complaining. Don't be bitter now.

Me: You WERE NOT lucky.

Lady: Ian. You are too much. At the end of the day we got 3 points and you guys got nothing. That is all that matters to me. Now go and have a drink and calm down.

End. And there you have it. Winning is everything. The method does not matter a jot. But all this was as I'd expect. What I did not expect was for her to understand my second text barb. Again, United WERE NOT lucky, as Ian Henry intimates (it pains me to disagree with you, Mr Henry). Arsenal WERE NOT unlucky at Birmingham City the season before last, as I heard Bob Wilson say at a Q&A involving Gibbs, Theo and Djourou this summer. I've mentioned this before and it's not just semantics. Premier League teams WERE NOT awarded a penalty at OT for an entire decade. One particularly good shout for Aston Villa had their then manager, Brian Little, saying that the last penalty conceded by the home team was in black and white! Classic stuff. Arshavin's non-penalty cannot simply be put down to randomness going against him/us because the outcome WAS NOT random. Hope you are still with me.

But it's the persistent unpunished fouling that really grates. The BBC football website has been re-designed since last season, and not for the better. No longer can one find details of percentage possession, bookings (losing that particular numbers game 6 to 3 means we'll be charged for failing to control our players, please note, adding insult to injury), shots on and off target and, most importantly of all on this occasion, fouls committed (those that were given, that is).

But I'm actually (even) more optimistic about our chances for this season and beyond than I was before Saturday. We controlled the game, limiting the Manc Scum to just one snap-shot, that Darren Fletcher hooked into the stands, in the first hour. By then our lead could have been unassailable. And all this against Europe's second best team (yeah, right) in their own back yard and without our talismanic captain.

Now is not the time to lose the faith, fellow Gooners