All Gooners should be rightly proud of our performance so far this season. We have evolved from a team that were too young (according to Alan Hansen).

Now we are top of the league in a month which has been a graveyard for so many past seasons. However there are several factors that could see us through this time. A good factor which emerged yesterday was the Gallas factor. Although he would not have been every Gooner’s first choice as captain, his appointment could turn out to be a masterstroke by Wenger. A bad loser is our William. A vital ingerdient for a champion. He organised yesterday better than Henry did and even Vieira before (who did not have to do too much as the team looked after itself with all the established talent). Not since TA have we had someone who is respected for their leadership. Willy is a gobsh*te in the media, but I will forgive him if at the end of the season we are trophy-laden.

The panicking Fergie factor is another good sign. He knows we are a big threat now and had to resort to underhand bullsh*t as he did in the late 90's and early 2000's. As for bad crowd behaviour, he wants to look closer to home. Man U is a more hostile place with our manager suffering vile taunts every time we go there. As for the ref being biased it seemed the other way round, Hleb being pulled to the floor in their penalty area in the first half and Anderson’s attack that went unnoticed. The truth is the ref had a reasonable game giving a goal on advice from the linesman. A draw was a fair result. I detect that Fergie seems a little troubled by not being able to hold on for the win.

Someone must get a grip on Almunia who has up to now been Jens’ successor. Why is it when we play Man U he feels an urge to come racing out of his goal? I am not convinced he is the man for the job. Couple this with a tendency for him to dive forward instead of sideways gives cause for concern. He was at blame for both goals yesterday and although he is between the sticks on merit I could have seen mad Jens saving both their efforts.

Hleb is in the form of his life at the moment. Walcott is an excellent option off the bench injecting pace, stretching teams when needed. Hopefully Djourou is the answer when Toure is away for the African Nations.

A Sperz victory is now as rare as the proverbial rocking horse sh*t. They are relegation candidates. If they are bottom three by Christmas the writing could be on the wall. They are in absolute turmoil. Ramos may be the final nail in the coffin. I would love to see them relegated. I am bored with them thinking they will qualify for the Champions League. They have over-hyped players, Berbatov aside. The people who run the club buy the players, who are a total tactical mismatch. If they go down that will be a part of a double or treble if we win a trophy this season.