The highs and lows of life as a football supporter were ably demonstrated by the contrast in fortunes between Tuesday 21st March and Saturday 25th. Real Madrid beaten on their own patch, followed by defeat at Ewood Park. Of course, they were entirely different types of matches, and Arsenal’s problem is that the majority this season have been in the manner of that played against Blackburn. In one sense, it might be better if we all upped and moved to Spain as the football played in La Liga does seem to be more to our liking!

But the Premiership is where we are and gradually, with survival more paramount for most teams than actually winning anything, tactics are returning to the dark ages, with the long ball as king. And despite Arsene Wenger’s idealism, if you don’t have the players to deal with the physical stuff, it’s difficult to beat it. No wonder league crowds are in decline. Really, if clubs are asking top dollar for seats, they have to entertain to get repeat custom. No-one wants to watch the crap on display at most Premiership grounds on a repeat basis, so either prices are going to have to come down or the fare on offer has to improve and please the eye.

As for Arsenal, as long as Wenger’s at the helm, the team will try to buck the odds. The first battle is controlling matches and that simply hasn’t happened enough this season. Gradually, the loss of experience and older heads has left the Gunners paying the price as the balance of the side is now a little too young. The seamless transition from, for example, the 1997-98 squad to that of 2001-02, did not place such a reliance on the youngsters. Ashley Cole could come into a defence alongside old heads who could work him on strings. Put too much inexperience in and you end up with a loss of confidence and the attendant defeats.

The up side of this is that the youngsters are getting an education of a sort. Those that come through it will be fantastic players at the other end. A price tag of £15 million is already being applied to someone like Cesc Fabregas and he hasn’t even made a senior international appearance yet. We do have the green shoots of a great team in two years’ time, but as for this season, it’s hard to see how the side can turn around their domestic form enough to get into the top four, but it is imperative they do for more than the financial reasons. The education of the youngsters will be all the better for continued experience of the Champions League next season. Ajax won the thing with a mix of youth and experience in 1995, so if the likes of Henry, Lehmann and Ljungberg remain at Arsenal, there is a precedent for a team largely consisting of young stars in the making to achieve great things (and some would even have you believe it could happen this season after the Bernabeu – although you won’t hear that kind of talk here!)

In a sense, this season – in its reliance on youth – was always going to happen. The under-investment in squad strengthening year on year since the summer of 2001 had to have an effect eventually. Of course if everyone was fit, the first eleven could look very experienced, but a squad has to allow for injuries, suspensions and African Nations Cup absentees, so it was little surprise that so many of the younger players have been drafted in. That hasn’t stopped the sheer quantity and nature of so many of the away defeats being exceptionally painful to witness. The most worrying thing now is the confidence. One doesn’t want to see players who might never recover from this dip in form as could happen to the likes of Philippe Senderos, a youngster who has performed miracles at international level for Switzerland, yet has become an accident waiting to happen in an Arsenal shirt.

How Arsene Wenger guides his younger players through this difficult spell is arguably the greatest test he has faced in his years at Arsenal. Confidence is restored by consistently good performances and results. At no stage this season has that ever really happened, which is why the club are in competition with relative no marks in pursuit of fourth spot. That once laughable ambition can still be achieved. Looking at the remaining fixtures, the six home fixtures have to glean 16 points, given how poor our away form is. On the road, from the five visits to Fulham, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Man Utd and Sunderland, ten points should safely see is into fourth spot. We’d then have a total of 67 points and I would be very surprised if that wasn’t enough to ensure a Champions League qualifier in August. Whether the team can raise their game for the run-in remains to be seen. But where there’s life there’s hope, and the visit to Fulham this Saturday to play another side who at least attempt to play football is as good an opportunity as any.