The Hallowe'en pyrotechnics began long before dusk; there were tricks and treats aplenty for we Gooners last Saturday lunchtime. If I were a Spud, I'd be really downhearted this week / month / year / century / millennium, not due to yet another loss to "The Arse" - their negative obsession with all things Arsenal cannot be healthy - but to the shear gulf between the teams that even Robbie Keane cannot have failed to notice.

I wonder how many Totts paid a fortune for the luxury, VIP day out, as "advertised" pre-match by onlinegooner. And did they stay to the end to get their luxury coaches back to SHL to have drinks whilst looking again at the chances Arsenal scored and missed? The empty seating in the away end answers that one. So the delusional Spuds endured another miserable weekend, and due to the early kick off it lasted longer than usual.

It's all very well to blame the 'keeper and/or an assortment of "defenders" - I use the term loosely - for all three goals, but Gomez's save from Cesc at 0-0 was world class. I was already up celebrating and I do not get it soooooo wrong very often. But the worst bit, from a realistic Spuds' viewpoint (if such a sub-sub-species exists), is that they created almost nothing. In first half, Keane had one dangerous sight of goal but two defenders were on him in a flash; one of whom (Song) did the necessary. On the Spurs right, they got in once behind Clichy but Vermaelen - did he put a foot or head wrong all game? - cut out the cross for their second (of two) corners. Song needlessly conceded the first early on, you'll recall.

I was surprised that Spurs had no sustained pressure at any point. Yes, they had some play in midfield, but beanpole Crouch was their only outlet - Plan A, if you will - and there was no Plan B. They were reluctant to commit men forward (even at 0-2, viewed from their perspective) and when they did they invariably got caught out by a speeding Clichy. Bendtner played superbly until his injury. Eduardo's two one-on-one misses are collectors' items. So rare.

Bookings. Well done to the ref for playing the advantage after that nasty challenge on Eduardo from which we made it 3-0. But Bentley's early handball was cynical and so was his lunge that soon followed. Both deserved yellows in the modern game. So I feared that yet again we'd get the first booking. But having failed to show a yellow early, the ref was eventually reduced to giving Crouch a team booking for an innocuous second-half foul. And then, of course, just to even it up, he had to book one of ours.

I was told via text that Vermaelen got the ball. The ref gesticulated that he'd come in from the side (so the winning was irrelevant, one presumes). Also early on a Spud kicked the ball miles away on conceding a foul. That's a straight yellow, too, but again the ref just says, scouse-like, calm down, calm down. We did nothing bad all game and still it ends 1-1 in bookings. After the match I was amazed to learn that Arsene got to 1,000 PL points in 33 games less than Fergusmoan (495 vs. 528).

Was Arsene being ironic when explaining why he threw his jacket down when we led 3-0? He claimed he could not convey his messages to the players because ... we were making too much noise! Excuse me. Hasn't he berated us (fairly) previously for not creating sufficient atmosphere at THOF? Wasn't the positivity, to use a Wengerism, we in the stands showed on Saturday exactly what Le Prof has implored? There's no pleasing some people.

Last night's victory over Alkmaar makes it ten home wins from ten and a twelve game unbeaten run. Only Citeh have prevented us taking the lead at some stage of a game. Remember the name Alain Hamer. He's from Luxembourg and did a superb officiating job. He never put a foot or a whistle wrong and was different class to the Premier League Muppets we regularly suffer (see above, below and anywhere else you care to look).

Before last night, Arsenal had held two-goal leads in 11 of their 17 matches; in 10 cases either winning by two goals or eventually extending to three or more. Unlike Dear Anne of the same name, we did not lose our collective heads at the Boleyn Ground. Referee Chris Foy had his head swayed by EastEnders; the West Ham comeback was in large part courtesy of two very harsh free-kick awards (one a penalty) to Hines, who actually fouled Diaby, and the diminutive Carlton Cole, who went down very easily when Song tapped his ankle.

So to conclude, as our Esteemed Ed did this morning, that at 2-0 - and totally p*ssing on the Dutch champions - a draw was likely last night is, frankly, demonstrating a degree of nervousness not seen since the days of Mavis "I don't really know, Rita" Riley (in case you're wondering, no, I do not watch Coronation Street). If, come May, memories of that highly frustrating afternoon at the Upton Park is our only source of angst, we'll have silverware to behold. Anyone would think we'd lost at Burnley (ManYoo) or at Wigan (Chelski). There's no pleasing some people. (Ed’s note – in my defence, I was only suggesting a draw was a more likely result if Arsenal were two up than if a game was goalless, which is borne out by the stats in the Premier League this season)

Fabregas's wonderful second was not only a team masterpiece but our 50th goal of the season. Nasri had already become our 17th different goalscorer. When everyone is fit, the competition for places will be intense, especially in midfield. Captain Cesc is a shoe-in, of course, but Denilson, Diaby, Song, Walcott, Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky and Ramsey must fight it out for the remaining places. And then there's young Jack Wilshere. Heck, if we were any stronger our bench would be almost as good as Spurs'.

I hope Fiorentina beat Lyon on 24th November. That outcome would dump the media's beloved Liverpool from the Champions League and render meaningless the Liverpool v Fiorentina match day 6 that ITV would love to hype to their usual proportions. Even MOTD won't be able to justify the Scousers' top billing for the rest of the season, try as they might. And hey, we may even make it in to their top three if our unbeaten run continues much longer. Excellent article by John the Gooner yesterday on this very topic, so I'll not labour this point.