As the title of this piece is also a Lily Allen song, the name of her debut album is also pertinent here with regard to Arsenal’s Premier League pursuit. Alright, Still. Although there were times during Birmingham’s visit that there was a feeling of panic on the pitch and anxiety in the stands.

Arsenal were no doubt the better team, but a sense that the game had been won with two early goals led to an element of complacency and eventually, a goal for the Blues. I was pleased to see Vito Mannone picked ahead of Almunia, although he failed to cover himself in glory when Birmingham scored. Often, such challenges as Larsson’s result in the award of a free kick from the school of refereeing that frowns upon any contact with the keeper. But football is a contact sport, and ultimately Mannone failed to clear his lines with any authority. He’s young and perhaps he will improve. But mistakes when long balls are pumped into his area do seem to occur more often than you’d wish and ultimately, it merely confirmed that the Gunners have been short of a world class keeper since Jens Lehmann was at his peak. Whether that will prevent the team winning trophies, time will tell, but the FA Cup semi-final last year was an example of what can happen when your keeper is making poor decisions and failing to deal with the basic stuff.

However, I’d stick with Mannone for now. The manager needs to assure him he will get a run in the team for the time being and that he will remain the first choice as long as he improves his physical presence in the air and learns to dominate his area as a matter of course. That the Gunners were only a goal up led to the aforementioned anxiety and fear that Arsenal could blow the three points as the second half wore on and Birmingham became more adventurous. Memories of that February afternoon at St Andrews and its 2-2 scoreline doubtless weighed heavy on the minds of many. As my pal Ian Crawford said at half-time, whoever scores next wins, and fortunately, a moment of cool-headedness from Arshavin did the trick. Birmingham had to go for broke and paid the price. Might as well lose 3-1 as 2-1.

It was a patchy performance, but good enough in the greater scheme of things. Arsenal are capable of playing these type of teams off the park and putting matches well out of reach, but they are not going to do it every game. And when they don’t all that matters is the points. Don’t drop cheap ones, and any dropped against a team that will almost certainly finish in the bottom ten are very cheap indeed. Four were dropped in 2007/08 against this team. In previous seasons, Arsenal might have folded. I’d like to say they are a more resilient outfit now, but the truth is probably that they are now better and more experienced up front and can turn a 2-1 into a 3-1 where others failed in the past.

But defensively, although I’d like to see the keeper more dominant, there isn’t actually a great deal of improvement possible because of the way the team set out to play. We have a decent holding midfielder and two quality centre-backs. Yes, we could use a stronger player in the air, but to stick Senderos in there just for that would probably be detrimental to the team overall. What symbolises the football Arsenal play at present is that at least one of the centre backs often bombs on, leaving Song to fill the gap and effectively no-one holding in front of them. It’s sh*t of bust football and edge of the seat stuff at times. A thrilling ride, but a scary one too. Certainly, Arsène Wenger will defy accepted football wisdom if he can land the title with such an approach, but in fairness to the man, he’s always been something of an innovator, so although ‘Trust Arsène’ would be too strong a phrase for this observer, ‘Fingers crossed, good luck Mr Wenger’ is probably closer to where I am at.

And I won’t condemn anything about yesterday’s performance considering it’s the game after an international break. Also, it was nice to see the side take advantage of other title contenders dropping points, something Arsenal have too often failed to do in the past.

Bottom line is if the team keep winning matches they should – such as West Ham away next weekend, then they have a great chance of being in the mix at the business end of the season. And if they find themselves there, hopefully the greater experience and cool-headedness will come to the fore. Wouldn’t hurt to buy two or three players in January though. Birmingham have new money coming in. So does Arsène Wenger, for the first time in years. Let’s hope he is not afraid to strengthen his chances of winning something with some more shrewd investment.