First to Loftus Road - where else? - for QPR 2, Coventry 2 in the Championship. It's great to attend matches as a neutral occasionally, not least because one gets to watch 22 players rather than (our own) eleven. Such opportunities are more commonplace for us Gooners due to the constant rescheduling of our matches, home and away, for TV purposes.

Saturday's encounter was a real humdinger and worth every penny of the £25 outlay. Jay Simpson was foremost in my thoughts, of course, and his athleticism and deft touch with his right peg for QPR's equaliser - not dis-similar from Drogba's opener the following afternoon - were just a tad more pleasing than the Ivorian's skilful deflection. Simpson had already had a classy left-foot finish erroneously ruled offside; I sensed it at the time, replays confirmed it. QPR played most of the football; they pass beautifully, are easy on the eye and should have won comfortably but were susceptible to dead-ball crosses, from which Coventry scored twice. Sound familiar? Adel Taarabt is on loan from Totteringham and, I have to say, he looked absolutely superb. For once, the hype surrounding a Spud may be justified. Remember where you heard it first.

I've never tested this hypothesis, but I expect my postings are correlated with Arsenal's winning ways. If you call me a fair weather supporter I'll merely turn the other cheek. I prefer, though, to be one of the glass half-full merchants, although our numbers have surely dwindled considerably since Sunday's roasting. Like many others, I'm still analysing what went wrong. There's a danger in all sport of making the analysis fit the outcome. I remember my cricket team (Hampshire, seeing as you ask) winning a one-day match off the final ball a few seasons ago. One ignorant hack described the run-chase as "perfectly timed". Utter Ballacks. With wickets in hand, a "dot" ball or dismissal from the last delivery would have done for us needlessly.

Also by way of preparation, I should mention a cautionary tale to fellow members of the "half-full" ranks. Christopher Booker's latest masterpiece: The Real Global Warming Disaster, is a must-read for anyone interested in the AGW phenomenon - that's man-made Global Warming to you - such as yours truly. Whatever the evidence, for or against, the "warmers" take it as furthering their cause. Moreover, they can become even more impassioned and even less willing to see reason when counter-evidence is produced. Wenger doubters may well say: "Look at Sunday, look at what happens when you don't splash the cash on established, world class players". Perhaps, yet I truly believe there were several positives from the Chelsea match that are now likely to get ignored or forgotten. They should not be.

MOTD2 showed us with 55% possession, though the BBC website gives 51%. Now is not the time to ask rhetorically how do these differences occur, but I will anyway? Even the first half was very open and Traore et al enjoyed acres of space down our left. That said, Chelsea defended superbly and en masse; Cech was little troubled all afternoon. But, as Arsene states, Chelsea created nothing for 40 minutes, Sagna's tangle (penalty?) with Anelka aside. You'll recall that at OT we restricted Yoonited to precisely nothing of note for the first hour, by which time we should have led by at least two goals. How many teams are capable of that?

On Sunday our passing was generally very good; when still goalless Chelski conceded possession many times with hopeful long balls that enabled us to build our next move. I do not hide behind injuries because the only significant absentee was Van Persie, though I'd obviously far rather see him in the lone striker role than Eduardo, who gives us neither height nor electric pace. Having Bendtner on the bench would have enhanced our attacking options. Vela may have been a better starting choice.

Arsenal's outfield starters were, on average, four years younger than Chelsea's. Terry aside, the Chavs are all expensive imports, albeit very good ones. They've been assembled at the largess of one man, the only supporter they cannot afford to lose (we need all of ours). Half our team were nurtured at London Colney from their early years or bought for A Song (sorry).

As Arsene said last week, for ten consecutive seasons we've reached the Champions League group stages despite building a new stadium and training ground (as distinct from having a wish-list of such). Oscar Wilde once noted that no good turn ever went unpunished - he was probably right. Arsene has raised our expectations these last 13 years, let's not knock him down now. Wednesday lunchtime I'll be part of the usual triumvirate that has headed to Manchester on many occasions, this time to visit Middle Eastlands. We will travel with heavy hearts but also in hope (and a highly polluting 4x4); we'll cheer our boys as they play the money men. I wouldn't have it any other way.