Arsenal (1) – (1) Middlesbrough
Kolo Toure (85′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

Even before the Arsenal game kicked off, the Premier League showed us exactly how close things are in this competition. Manchester United visited Pride Park to play Derby County, a game you would expect a guaranteed three points for the visiting side. As it turned out however, only a 75th minute goal from Ronaldo seperated the sides.

Unfortunately for us that could be one of the most important strikes in Ronaldo’s season.

It doesn’t matter if you win 1-0 or 4-0 at this stage of the season, it’s getting those three points.

And when the game kicked off at the Emirates tonight, things looked to be going against us. After only 5 minutes, Adebayor had a perfectly good goal ruled out for offside. The ball was clearly played towards the Arsenal striker from George Boateng so how the referee gave offside was beyond me. And the worse thing was that the official Mark Halsey was only 5 yards away from the incident! I can understand the linesman giving the decision as he’s looking through a crowd of players but the man in the middle could clearly see who the ball came off so there really is no excuse.

Then when you think things couldn’t get worse, they did after 24 minutes.

From a throw in deep in their own half, Middlesbrough played the ball over the top for Tuncay who was onside. The other runner, ex-Arsenal man Jeremie Aliadiere was just offside, but play progressed and when Tuncay played the ball square then Aliadiere smashed in the opener from 5 yards. The whole offside rule is confusing at the best of times, but I always thought you were deemed offside if you end up ‘interfering with play’, which Aliadiere obviously was when he scored. But then again there’s all this ‘second phase’ bullsh*t so he probably wasn’t offside.

Arsenal were having all the possession but couldn’t really cause Mark Schwarzer any major problems in the first half. A couple of shots went straight at him and he only really had to called into action when he punched away a few corners.

We went into the break 1-0 down. Talk about a massive 45 minutes in the season.

Arsenal dominated the possession as expected in the second half, but with the goal lead Middlesbrough sat behind the ball and we found it hard to make any real clear chances.

Fabregas had a great chance when Hleb played him in with a sublime through-ball but his left-footed shot was tame and Schwarzer made an easy save. Cesc also had a good header hit the outside of the post.

Could Arsenal ever make the breakthrough?

Mark Halsey, who had been having a shocking match gifted Arsenal a corner kick in the 85th minute, which was finished off well by Kolo Toure. After that Middlesbrough were holding on, and in the midst of attack after attack Mido was sent off for a high boot against the temple of Gael Clichy who had to be stretchered off. Hopefully he will be okay after that nasty challenge.

Near the end there were a few decent moments in the Boro penalty area from Walcott and Bendtner, but we just couldn’t get through. And just to really p*ss off the Arsenal fans Halsey decided to blow his whistle early and deny Arsenal a corner in injury time.

So Arsenal draw another game in the league.

What’s going on?

Are Arsenal just out of steam? I’m not sure. You see the performances against Villa, Birmingham and City and they seem like the displays of last season. Against Villa, Birmingham and today against Middlesbrough, we conceded the first goal and then had to chase the game. We did that a lot in the last campaign but it seems that part of our game is creeping back in and costing us valuable points.

Emmanuel Adebayor has been poor recently too. But then again that could be said about a few players. Hleb is off the boil and without Rosicky in the side we struggle on the other flank. Eboue can be excellent or really poor, and I don’t know why Walcott didn’t start tonight. Maybe he’s not 100% fit but he is one of the players who seems to be coming into form at the right time while others are struggling.

The performances are harder to take when you look at what happened at the San Siro. Everyone was on fire that night, so why can’t we do the same in the league?

Fabregas is finding it hard and we rely far too much on him to make something happen. Adebayor isn’t taking enough responsibility and hasn’t for a few games now. His touch and passing seems to be getting progressively worse! He talks a good game to the media but should probably just concentrate on his performances on the pitch.

Apart from the back four and Flamini, I don’t see any fight in the team. Flamini always gives 110% and you can always rely on him to put in a performance, but we need that desire further up the pitch.

I guess it comes down to the depth of the squad. You can’t legislate for what happened to Eduardo, who I’m sure would have made a big difference in the last 4 league games which ended in draws. This guy is ruthless in front of goal and is exactly what we need as the season comes to a close. Unfortunately we’ll have to do it without him.

Van Persie is back, but understandably looks rusty and could take a few weeks to get into the swing of things.

And our league programme doesn’t get any easier as we visit Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Talk about a make or break game!

Wigan Athletic (0) – (0) Arsenal
JJB Staduim, Wigan

Everyone was always going to wonder if Arsenal could take 3 points from Wigan this weekend, especially when Manchester United and Chelsea surprisingly lost against Portsmouth and Barnsley in the FA Cup. And whatever disappointment those teams felt yesterday, today’s draw against Wigan would have raised their spirits.

And the problem we have now is that two of our closest rivals don’t have the distraction of the FA Cup, and we’ve dropped two vital points when we could have extended the lead to four.

The fact was the pitch was absolute shite. It really was.

You can argue that both sides have to play on the atrocious surface but the point is who is going to suffer more with a bumpy pitch? Arsenal try to play football and win matches and Wigan are near the bottom of the league and would regard a point against the league leaders a massive bonus.

So if you have a team playing for a point and a crap pitch to fight against then it’s always going to be an uphill battle.

But the performance from the boys wasn’t fantastic either.

Almunia and the back four had decent games, with Gallas and Senderos defending well and the fullbacks pushing on at every opportunity but the midfield really struggled.

Gilberto again was a lost passenger and gave the ball away on too many occasions. And when the tempo of the game needed to be faster inevitably it slowed down through him. Fabregas and Flamini did well but couldn’t really get to grips with the system, where they both switched from the middle to wide right throughout the game.

And I love Alexander Hleb, but he had one of the worst games I have seen for a long time.

The pitch didn’t help, but far too many times he had the ball in decent positions on the left high up the pitch and failed to pick out a half decent pass to a teammate. Too many passes went astray and in the game where chances were going to be limited his final ball needed to be far better. The game broke down too many times at his feet.

Adebayor was okay but missed the games clearest chances.

In the first minute a fantastic through pass from Fabregas set him free but he shot straight at Kirkland. He also had another chance early in the second half when Kirkland had a mix up with Boyce at the back but shot straight at him again when the goalkeeper was in no-mans land. I’m not sure if he’s lacking confidence or what but Adebayor just doesn’t look like scoring unless it’s from 3 yards out.

Bendtner did well and probably coped the best from the attacking outfield players with the shocking pitch, passing the ball well and showing some good touches and ball control. His days at Birmingham had obviously helped.

The majority of the game was at a pedestrian pace because Arsenal couldn’t play their football which was a massive shame. If this game was at the Emirates, Arsenal would have won easily.

Kolo and Van Persie came on with 25 minutes left but couldn’t really make any impact. Van Persie did well to make space for himself with 10 minutes left but his left-foot shot flew into Row Z. The ball bobbled just before he struck the ball and that really summed up the afternoon.

And the problem is that one a dreadful pitch it’s much easier to defend for a point than to take all three. So Wigan always had a massive advantage.

I guess with 3 draws in the last 3 league games people (and certainly the press) will say Arsenal have blown the title challenge. I didn’t know you could do that in March but hey, what do I know?

I’m sure the majority (if not all of the media) will forget the injury problems we’ve had to contend with this season. Today alone, we had Rosicky, Eduardo, Diaby and Walcott all out, and Kolo Toure and Robin Van Persie have just come back from injury. And Emmanuel Eboue was still suspended from his stupid red card at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

But the bottom line is that the performance today wasn’t good enough to win. Adebayor, Fabregas, Hleb and others looked a little jaded – whether that was because of a so-called ‘hangover’ from midweek or just fatigue from the season so far is debatable, but we just weren’t at our best.

AC Milan (0) – (2) Arsenal
Fabregas (84′), Adebayor (90’+2)
San Siro, Milan

Football is such a strange game.

Arsenal failed to beat Birmingham City and Aston Villa, so what hope did people give Arsenal against the current European Champions?

Well luckily, since the so called ‘coverage’ of the Eduardo incident I think we’ve learnt not to listen to the media. If you did you would think Arsenal were about to be relegated from the Premier League – but we’re top aren’t we? It’s amazing how the ‘experts’ forget that.

Making history is something Arsene Wenger specialises in, and last night Arsenal became the first English side to win at the home of AC Milan. I was careful not to say the San Siro, because we already did that in emphatic fashion 4 seasons ago against Inter!

The magnitude of the last nights win still hasn’t really sunk in.

This was the side that in the last 5 seasons have been in 3 finals. This is the side with the best player on the planet in Kaka. This is the side that live and breath for the Champions League.

And we dominated them from start to finish.

Arsene Wenger called for the “complete performace” if we were to progress into the Quarter Finals and the boys didn’t fail to impress. The supremacy Arsenal displayed for the majority of the match against a team who live for this competition was scary.

Last night was Milan’s Cup Final and to perform like we did was sensational.

Obviously AC Milan are a great side and posed a threat, but at best it was sporadic – with Pato only really having their only decent opening.

Arsenal were up for it from the off and were exceptional in keeping possession. The confidence and passing was a joy to watch and the only thing lacking was the goal Arsenal deserved. The first half ended goalless, with Adebayor forcing a good save from the Colossal Kalac and Fabregas smashing the bar.

And Hleb was criminally booked for diving when he should have at least got a freekick for the lunge by Nesta on the edge of the Milan penalty area.

The feeling at half-time was had Arsenal missed their chance?

Milan were grateful for the interval but unfortunately for them as soon as the second half started Arsenal just picked up from where they left off – passing the ball around the pitch with supreme confidence and causing Milan all kinds of problems.

But AC Milan showed us why they are so good in this competition.

By hook or by crook, after 80 minutes Milan were still in this game. Teams in the past such as PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich and even Celtic have played well at the San Siro and ended up on the losing team. Milan get the job done and you wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if they nicked a goal against the run of play.

Fortunately though, Arsenal’s defending was excellent.

Sagna, Clichy, Gallas and Senderos were fantastic at the back. Kaka, Pato and Inzaghi were kept quiet for large periods and the extent of Arsenal’s defending was summed up when Kaka uncharacteristically threw the ball in frustration when missing out on a throw in from Sagna late in the second half – the Brazilian just hadn’t been in the game.

It’s hard to single out an individual player because everyone played so well last night. Adebayor looked like he was back to the form of old, holding the ball up well and at times taking on the Milan rearguard by himself. Hleb’s ball retention yet again was terrific and he really was relishing playing through the middle. Flamini was commanding as ever and completely overshadowed Ivan Gattuso in midfield, and even Diaby who has been up and down this season put in a worthy display.

And even Theo Walcott (who only came on late in the second half) made a decent impact. I was surprised that Arsene didn’t bring on Van Persie to be honest but Walcott, in the end, was the right call. His introduction may have just tilted the tie in Arsenal’s favour.

But the man of the match and the player who ran the show was Cesc Fabregas.

Exceptional, special, brilliant, fantastic. Pick any one of those words because this fella was at the heart of everything.

His quality shined through and last night he was the pass master. It was one of the best performances I have ever seen from Cesc and that is saying something considering the level this guy plays at. And if his on the ball display was breath-taking then his defending was even better. I lost the number of times Fabregas won the ball from Kaka with a sliding tackle. Simply sensational stuff.

And it was Cesc who broke the deadlock.

With only 6 minutes of normal time remaining, Cesc picked up the ball from Hleb just passed the halfway line and waltzed passed Gattuso and unleashed a wicked effort right into the bottom corner. To be honest when I first saw the shot I thought it was going wide because the goalkeeper seemed slow to react, but replays showed it fizzed inbetween Adebayor and Nesta, and Kalac didn’t see it till late.

Still, it was a stunning strick and must have been from all over 40 yards.

And in a game were away goals count double then scoring with only 5 minutes to go is the perfect time to score! And it was no more than what Arsenal deserved. Walcott showed his maturity in stoppage time when he rode a tackle and gave Adebayor one of the easiest Champions League goals he’ll ever score. Great play and awareness from the youngster.

The reaction when Fabregas scored epitomised the team spirit in the Arsenal camp and the togetherness within the squad. And the expression on Cesc’s face was priceless – it was what every Arsenal fan was feeling. All the pressure, all the despair and all the drama from the last couple of weeks was released in dramatic fashion.

We were going into the Quarter Finals!

Truly one of the greatest nights in Europe we’ve seen from Arsenal and hopefully not the last.