There was a real sense of déjà vu on Sunday. A carbon copy of our Champions League semi-final. In Wenger’s programme notes he said that we were "a different animal" and that we learned from our mistakes. Now which animal would that be? I’m thinking more like a jellyfish. There’s no backbone in the team. We started ok, like we did against Chavski, but just one error, and it ultimately ended up costing us the match. Nani should never have got away from Nasri and Clichy so easily. You could say Almunia was a bit unlucky but he still should have done better. He’s not a trophy winning keeper, a stand-in at best for me.

For the second and third goals, Gallas and Vermaelen were still in the United penalty area!! It’s ok to go forward for a corner together every now and then but not all the time. One goes up while the other stays back. If we did that then we wouldn’t have got caught out by the counter attack. Rooney basically sprinted through our midfield and defence, why didn’t anybody take him out? He’s got a bit of pace but he is catchable, certainly by Song or Gallas.

United basically did to us what we used to do to them back in the old days. They had a proven goalscorer and they punished us severely, we were lucky it was only 3-1. We might have got away with it against the likes of Hull and Bolton, but come up against a stronger team and we got what we deserved. With a pairing of Brown and Evans, defensively United were there for the taking, so long as we kept Rooney quiet.

Arshavin tried to take them on all by himself and had he not been too selfish we might have gone ahead. How someone of his height thought he could outjump two six foot plus defenders is comical to say the least. What started as great optimism is now damage limitation. I think the best we can hope for at the Bridge is a draw, other than that, just keep the score down. Don’t get me wrong and I hate to sound defeatist - I would love to get a victory - but we just don’t have the bottle to do it. We did it there last year, but it’s not the same team and we’ve been given two hidings by them since.

I heard some Gooners on the train home saying that we could afford to lose to Manure so long as we beat the Chavs. Only time will tell but it looks unlikely. Like Shrek, Drogba always scores against us and we can’t handle him. To try and limit the damage what I would do defensively is shift Vermaelen to left back - where he apparently played with some distinction for Ajax – with Clichy in front of him then put Sol next to Gallas with Sagna at right back and Eboue in front of him or vice versa. In the middle of the park I would have Song and Cesc with Diaby, Eduardo or Arshavin playing just off Bendtner. Nicklas may not be 100% yet but he has the frame to mix it with Terry and Carvalho. He just needs to believe in himself. If he had an ounce of nastiness in him then he would be a real handful.

On to Stamford Bridge we go. As lambs to the slaughter? It could well be.