Tonights disappointing result was hard to take, especially when Manchester United celebrated as if they won the league, but the bottom line is that it isn’t a disaster by any stretch of the imagination.

We had a run of games where we faced Chelsea, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United. This was supposed to be a period that would “prove our title credentials” and if you look at it objectively, we’re still in a great position and real title challengers.

We’ve won 14 of the last 15 away games in the Premier League. That is a hugely impressive record and although it’s disappointing to lose to the team I hate with a passion, we’re still top of the league by two points.

We gave Manchester United too much respect and were unlucky to concede a goal from a set-piece. They parked the bus once they went one goal ahead and even though we should have scored at least one goal, we are more than capable of picking ourselves up and giving a positive response to the defeat.

Manchester United will be “galvanised” after this win and despite wanting the win more and showing a lot of character, they still struggle to do this against the smaller teams in the league. It’s one thing to give 110% against Arsenal in a big game, but they didn’t turn up against West Brom and really struggled against Stoke and Sunderland. Arsenal on the other hand have been extremely consistent since January 2013, so maybe Robin van Persie should concentrate on that before thinking he’s scored the goal that has won Manchester United the title.

We’ve only lost twice this season while Manchester United have lost 3 times and Manchester City 4. We’re still 5 points ahead of United and if anything, this could act as a warning to Arsenal that they need to get back on another impressive winning run.

Everyone will be talking about how it was a great weekend for United but it wasn’t a bad one for us. Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham all failed to win and we’re still at the top of the league by two points.

Annoying? Perhaps but a disaster? Hardly.

It has been announced that from the 2015-2016 season, BT Sport will have exclusive rights for all Champions League football matches in the UK. After beating off competition from Sky Sports and ITV, the newest sports channel to hit our shores has mixed it up and secure the rights to show Europe’s premier competition.

Details about how much the channel will cost in those seasons has yet to be announced, but currently the BT Sport subscription is £12 a month plus you need to pay a £15 joining fee. The channel is free however if you have BT Broadband in your home.

Select matches during the group stages and knockout rounds will be shown live if you don’t have the channel, and the final will be free as well. So the question is will people pay an extra £12 a month to see their team play in the Champions League. Obviously, this could effect Arsenal fans as we are usually in that competition.

My initial thoughts were that fans of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal would probably not pay the extra £12 a month. This was because people are struggling these days and if they are big football fans, the likelihood is that they will already have a Sky package. That is expensive in itself so adding on an extra £12 (which we would have to do now) just adds to the bills.

If you already have the channel then fair enough, it won’t make a difference to you but I have the full Sky package and along with the free terrestrial channels, all my Arsenal football needs are met. Do I really want to pay an extra £12 a month? It doesn’t sound like a lot but as every homeowner knows, the amount you pay on bills can rack up quickly.

So what are the alternatives? People will either not bother with BT Sport and there will be a rise in the number looking for online streaming websites where they show these games or the other option is to sign up to BT Broadband. As I’m not fussed about my broadband provider, the chances are I’ll just do that. And I suppose that is what BT want – more and more people signing up to their broadband packages.

And I’ve never watched an online stream of a game before, because when I’ve seen friends do it, it’s more pixelated than a Nintendo Gameboy.

With Arsenal yet to beat a top side yet this season (only Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund) we meet Manchester United full of confidence. The result against Dortmund in Germany in particular was a massive result and one Arsene Wenger and the lads should be hugely proud of.

How many teams in Europe could have gone there and won? I don’t think I am being controversial if I said I don’t think Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United wouldn’t have been able to do it.

So we go to Old Trafford on Sunday and for Arsenal fans, it is a is a bit of a strange feeling. On the one hand, it is Manchester United at Old Trafford, probably one of the most daunting places to go at the best of times. However, in a situation like no other in recent memory, we go there 8 points clear of the reigning champions. After only 10 games played, it is an unusual situation.

If we can beat Manchester United, then we would be a simply staggering 11 points clear of them. And despite my reservations (generally about United getting the decisions at Old Trafford in the big games and the probability that they will get a dodgy penalty) we are in a perfect position to heap more misery on them.

We are full of confidence, playing some scintillating football and as we showed midweek, we can mix it up and play a controlled game to get a result.

So the big question is, how do we play against Manchester United?

Arsenal have a slight conundrum now. As we have shown against Napoli, we are capable of playing a high tempo game which almost crushes the opposition by the sheer amount of pressure we give them. Against Borussia Dortmund, we managed to play an extremely controlled game and hurt them at the right time, and against Liverpool we sparred for long periods but that touch of class was enough to secure the win.

So what does Arsene Wenger do against David Moyes’ Manchester United?

While Arsenal have many reasons to be confident, Manchester United for all their troubles have picked up their performances in recent weeks. If we were playing the Manchester United of last month, I would be much more confident and while as a team they’re not playing great, they have Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney who are world class forwards who only need one chance.

I would absolutely love to beat Manchester United on Sunday and go 11 points clear of them. If we beat them, it would definitely mean more than the Tottenham, Napoli and Liverpool games, and even possibly the Dortmund match. That’s how much I can’t stand them.

Maybe it’s the rivalry from Arsene’s early days, the duels between Vieira and Keane, and all the heartache from that FA Cup Semi Final, but there is nothing more satisfying than beating Manchester United.

So do Arsenal play their normal attacking game or go more cautious? Going toe-to-toe with Manchester United could pay dividends but at the same time do we want Van Persie or Rooney to have a sniff?

We are capable of scoring first then picking them off as they try and score an equaliser. It would be interesting to see Arsene’s record against David Moyes, although I do remember one particular Everton game at The Emirates were they comfortably beat us.

Maybe I’m over thinking it, and maybe I just want to beat Manchester United so badly, but I know this Arsenal team is more than capable of turning United’s season into complete misery this weekend and I just want to make sure we take advantage.

I’m sure you would already heard the comments made by Wayne Rooney, and how he believes that while Arsenal are doing “brilliantly” at the moment, people should judge us in March.

And you know what, I have no problem whatsoever with that. In a way, it’s a compliment that he considers us a threat, and instead of putting the pressure on us this Sunday, he’s just gone to prove that he’s scared of us.

Why even mention us if he wasn’t concerned?

We all know the Match of the Day pundits, Alan Shearer in particular, still refuse to consider us title contenders and that’s fine. I prefer it that every did underestimate us and by the time we’re in a really strong position it will be too late.

I do find it amusing that Alan Shearer dismisses Arsenal as genuine contenders and he still thinks the team who are 8 points behind us could still do it. Of course, they are the reigning champions and it is basically the same squad as last year, so it’s obvious they have the quality.

If Arsenal do win on Sunday (and I would love it if they did, for so many reasons) then that would put us 11 points ahead of them with just under a third of the games played. But you can be sure the “experts” on Match of the Day will say United can still do it and Arsenal still have a lot to prove.

I am surprised that many experts seem to forget our record since the start of the year which includes the tail end of last season. It is the best in the league by far and we have simply continued that run into this campaign.

There is a huge amount of the season to go and obviously anything can still happen yet, but dismissing Arsenal as challengers is welcome but silly thing to do.

With Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp coming out and declaring that Arsenal can win the Champions League (as long as they avoid Bayern) a lot of people have been having their opinion on whether Arsenal could do it.

There’s no doubt that Arsenal had the perfect gameplan yesterday and apart from a few blips, executed it extremely well – but can we be considered real Champions League challengers?

We sit at the top of Group F in a group consisting of Napoli, who are flying in Serie A, Dortmund who are one of the best teams in Europe and Marseille of France. We’ve beaten Tottenham and Liverpool in the league, and sit 5 points clear at the top of the Premier League.

So there’s no doubt we’re putting in some really brilliant performances.

And if that wasn’t encouraging enough, we are somewhat in an injury crisis. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Mathieu Flamini, Lukas Podolski and Abou Diaby are all out injured – and at least four of those players would be competing for a first team place.

So when they come back, we really have a formidable squad.

The only problem I have is in two positions. Up front and at the back. If Olivier Giroud was out for any amount of time we would be in big trouble. He has been immense this season, and one of the players of the season so far. What he adds to the team is priceless and even if Podolski was fit, he wouldn’t be able to do the same role and we would have to adapt our system. That leaves us with Nicklas Bendtner with our only real alternative and as scary as that is, it could be a reality.

In midfield we are well stocked and at full back we are okay. Gibbs has Monreal and even Vermaelen as backup, and Sagna has Jenkinson. But the middle is where I worry. Mertesacker and Koscielny have been epic in 2013 and if one of those gets injured we would have problems. The only alternative for me would be playing Sagna in central defence because even though he is a great bloke (probably, I’ve never met him) Thomas Vermaelen has lost it for me. I can see why Arsene doesn’t rotate his central defenders because he’s too rash, leaves too much space in behind and can get caught out against the better strikers. There were a couple of times against Chelsea where he dived in and it’s those kind of challenges which concede penalties.

If we had another striker (although Podolski’s return would help) and another centreback, then I would say we could be genuine contenders.