After our own result on Saturday we must all take heart from the fact that we currently sit within three points of the top with a game in hand. I predicted this position over a week ago in a previous article before United took on Chelsea and it must be said after Saturday’s performance I am delighted to be left in this position as for me the game against Sunderland brought up some very important points to consider.

First things first, let us get the obvious out the way. Denilson is not good enough, Diaby is not good enough. When we lose the likes of Fabregas and Song and they are replaced - if that is the right word - with the above mentioned pair of clowns the difference in the team is so big that we can go from being almost world beaters to being complete and utter also-rans that are simply on a par with most sides in the Premier League.

The main point of confusion for me on Saturday was the decision by our manager to remove Diaby well after Denilson left the field and then to replace him not with Ramsey but with Rosicky. What was the point in having Ramsey on the bench if he was not considered fit enough to cope with 15 minutes against opposition that was intent on sitting deep and soaking up the pressure? Who is more likely to open up such a defence - Ramsey or Rosicky? Anyone seeing the latter play this season would have to go a long way to convince me that he can open up any defence other than maybe Leyton Orient’s. As soon as he come on we stopped making chances whereas the five minutes before he entered saw Nasri bring out a fine save from their keeper from a set piece and Chamakh hitting the bar from close range with a header.

The other point and maybe the more worrying one is the simple fact as to why Denilson was replaced so early in the second half. Was it because he was playing so horribly and was clearly out of his depth yet again or was it the simple fact that because Song never had any chance of playing at the Nou Camp, so our manager wanted to rest the young Brazilian magician for the more important game in midweek? I can certainly see Denilson starting in replacement of the inured Song in Spain, the simple reason being we do not have any other options.

Wenger pointed to the fact that the league is now our main priority and that the Sunderland game was the most important game of the week. If that is really the viewpoint of the club why was it that Cesc seemed to declare himself as fit yet was held back for the trip to his homeland? If the Premier League was considered the main priority wouldn’t Cesc have played some part on Saturday? At least a cameo role from the bench instead of our man from the Czech Republic making another appearance? Might it be the case that the difference between winning and drawing on Saturday could easily be the difference between first and second come the end of May?

We now go to the Nou Camp without Song and Walcott. We don’t know about RVP, although he has travelled. We have been without Vermaelan for so long now I almost forget to mention his name. Surely he is out for the remainder of the season now as no-one seems to mention him as being anywhere near ready and we are already in March. We should take heart from the fact that Barcelona themselves have some problems at the heart of their defence, no Puyol or Pique tonight for the Spanish giants. When you look at how vulnerable they seem at the back at the best of times then we should be able to cause them one or two problems even without Theo’s pace or (assuming he does not start) RVP’s finishing prowess.

I can see us scoring so we need to keep Barcelona down to a maximum of two to have a chance of progression. We ourselves will be stronger at the back than the game with them last season in Spain. No Silvestre this time round, thank God. I for one would certainly not be ruling us out until after the game. It will certainly be a very different match to the one we all saw on Saturday that is for sure. Barcelona will be easier to break down and will give us more space to play in than Sunderland did. The downside though is at the other end they have Messi instead of Kieran Richardson so it’s swings and roundabouts I guess.

Whoever witnessed the Liverpool – United game on Sunday will realise that other teams have similar problems as us. Take Vidic out the United line up and their defence looks weak to say the least. It will be interesting to see how long Nani is out for as well as he has been the man keeping United ticking for most of the season. How poor is Rooney playing at the moment? Totally non-existent at Anfield from start to finish. Come to think of it who out of the England squad that went to the World Cup last summer has had even a half decent season? Gerrard, Terry, Lampard and Rooney have all been well below par. It begs the question how long does it take a professional footballer to get over a major tournament these days? A week? A month? A decade?

We can still finish as Champions come the end of May. That is for sure. We are in a very interesting position. We need Cesc back fit for all the remaining League games. We need to improve our options going forward by getting Theo back as soon as possible. If he misses only one more league game (WBA away) then we have every chance (if RVP can stay fit). If one or two out of these three players remain on the treatment table for longer than the above period then we are in big trouble as the calibre of player we have to replace them over a longer period of time against bigger opposition is not strong enough to win it.

In a way fitness will decide the fate of the champions this season as no team are outstanding week in week out and everybody has dropped silly points, us included. We seem to focus more on this than other teams’ supporters and the reason for that is that we have seen hopes of trophies come and go as players have been out at vital times in the recent past. In reality we are no more at risk of this than other teams. If Rio and Vidic are out for long periods United do not win games that they should. If Lampard or Terry go missing Chelsea end up with results like losing 3-0 at home to Sunderland. So let us not go overboard with the result on Saturday. We had to make do without five very big players and we dominated the game without scoring and drew 0-0 against a side that has taken points from all the big teams already this season. Yes we should have won and yes we would have been in an even stronger position right now had we done so but let us not get too greedy as being three points behind with a game in hand will probably do us right now with bigger players hopefully to return over the coming weeks.

The next two games for me are games without the usual pressure associated to them. They are both matches we are not really expected to progress from. If we fail to progress from either of them, this outcome - although obviously negative - would then see our chances of lifting the Premier League trophy increase as we will then not be overly-burdened with cup matches in the final two months of the season. We could then concentrate 100% on getting ourselves above United and being crowned as the best team in England in 2011. So if we win either of them then great, if we don’t then let us get on with the rest of the league campaign as strongly as possible and see where we end up.

One final point, who else that bought the match day programme on Saturday saw the photo of NB52 in his academy days and thought it was a page devoted to the Arsenal Ladies team? He looked a lot more like Brenda Bender than Barry Bender to me.

(Ed’s note – the BBC have asked us to link to a comedy short about tonight’s game. As there are no commercial considerations, fair enough.)