For anyone still sobbing over the loss of Mathieu Flamini, just seek solace in the memories of Brian Marwood. Now, here was a guy who had a golden six months which, ultimately, helped Arsenal win the title in 1989. At no point in his career up to then, or after, did Marwood ever find anything close to the form he had before Christmas 1988. Since then he has proved himself to be a grade A a***hole on Sky, continually slagging Arsenal and, in particular, Jens Lehmann.

Now, it is entirely possible that Flamini will suffer from Brian Marwood syndrome. I don’t believe anyone, Wenger included, could really foresee the show of form Flamini produced up to mid-March. And, if we’re being honest, he had started to go back to his old ways at that point, culminating in him giving away the ball on the edge of the box in the Champions League game against Liverpool, resulting in Kuyt’s equaliser.

The loss of Flamini is, obviously, a blow - he is definitely one of our players of the season. However, I am nowhere near as upset as I was at the departure of Vieira, Anelka, Henry, Pires etc as these were all players who had been consistent over a longer period.

Another reason I am not too upset at his departure is that he is not, and never will be, seen as a GREAT FOOTBALLER. He did brilliantly for us this season but, apart from a spell at full-back, I doubt anyone could consider him to have been anything other than mediocre for the previous three years. I hope he finds the grass is not greener.