We made hard work of it against Brum but got the points nonetheless. I must admit that after Diaby made it 2-0, I thought we were going to see another six goal thrashing, but Mannone's error and Bowyer’s tap-in made it a bit more interesting.

However, we didn’t bottle it and a well taken goal from Arshavin (who in my opinion makes us tick more than Cesc) finally sealed the win. With United playing Liverpool on Sunday and us playing the Hammers after, a win for the scousers and a win for us with the other results going our way would leave us one point behind United with a game in hand. And United have to go to Chavski a week or so after.

Wishful thinking maybe, but since our two minor ‘slip-ups’ in Manchester, we haven’t lost anywhere and have shown great character at Fulham and Liege when we went behind. We also still have a 100% record at home going into November - which is usually our bogey month. That is the easiest way to silence the critics, keep winning no matter how good or bad we play.

It looks like are going to lose Walcott yet again which is frustrating. I’m starting to wonder if he will ever get a decent run in the side. Don’t get me wrong, the lad is super-talented, but for me he is still too light (Wenger should have loaned him back to a Championship club to toughen him up like he did with Bendtner) and his runs are too straight, making him easier to defend against. If he would weave his runs a bit more - for want of a better term - like Wright-Phillips or Lennon, and switched sides like Henry used to do then he would be a real handful.

Since that unforgettable performance in Zagreb for England he has done little or nothing, although he was out injured. He did come back here and there before being carted off to the U21 Championships. He has hardly had a decent break and that is now costing us. If he goes to the World Cup it will be the same scenario as it will be for the rest of our squad. Now it’s always an honour to play for your country but there must be a compromise. The clubs pay the wages so I think they are entitled to compensation if their player is injured on international duty - even more so if it is in a meaningless friendly, but that’s down to the manager of that nation. (Ed’s note – I’ve an idea that the FA are culpable for this since Newcastle won a legal case concerning Michael Owen, although I might be wrong.) I’ve never seen the logic in picking your top players for friendlies. The manager should know what they are capable of doing and if not, why is he picking them?

Potential recruitment. I was watching the Citeh game in my local over the weekend, cheering on Wigan, and Martin Tyler made a good point about how quickly that Citeh’s new players had settled. "It’s because they all (bar Nigel de Jong) have Premier League experience” - Lescott, Toure, Adebayor (spit). I think this is something that Wenger should look for maybe in January and most definitely next summer. It would be easier for Wenger and the rest of the squad because not all foreign players settle as quickly as - for example – Arshavin.