Both Arsenal and Liverpool went into yesterday’s game on a high – Arsenal after they battered Spurs in dramatic fashion and Liverpool, who had just managed to beat the 6th place team in the Championship on penalties.

I jest, because we didn’t exactly light up last years Carling Cup final.

But onto the match yesterday. Overall, Liverpool dominated possession but the bottom line was that they can’t score goals. Alan Hansen commented on last nights Match of the Day that Liverpool are the 6th worst team in the entire league when it comes to scoring goals. And my friend who is massive Liverpool fan, is less than convinced about the genius of “King Kenny”.

Liverpool “deservedly” took the lead, but that came from an own goal from Koscielny.

I put “deservedly” in inverted commas because it doesn’t matter how much possession you have (and Arsenal fans should know this better than anyone) if you don’t stick the ball in the net then you won’t get results. And that man Van Persie knows exactly how to do that.

Liverpool are toothless in front of goal. They had a penalty, and not just that, they had two bites at the cherry. But what happened? They didn’t score.

Andy Carroll is a joke, Suarez is a cheat and a disgrace to the game, Kuyt runs around a lot and they are full of players that were vastly over-priced, such as Henderson and Downing.

People criticise Arsene Wenger for not splashing the cash in the transfer windows – but surely Liverpool are an example that money can easily be pissed away on complete rubbish.

Liverpool fans can feel aggrieved all they like, it’s not our fault they can’t score goals is it?

There’s no doubt that Szczesny was outstanding, and on the balance of play should have won the Man of the Match award. Van Persie was just special yet again. When it mattered, he delivered. That’s 31 goals already now this season, and with his form he should be considered for the FIFA World Player of the Year Award. But it will go to Messi or Ronaldo as usual.

When you think about the players who can turn it on on a cold, wet day at Stoke, Van Persie is the man that can!

There’s no shame in being second best in a football match, and it’s a positive sign that when you haven’t played particularly well that you still take home all 3 points. We’ve had a lot of bad luck in games this season, so to ride our luck (and produce a moment of genius) is the least we deserve.

With the win at Anfield, Chelsea’s slip at West Brom and Tottenham’s game with Manchester United coming up, it could just be the perfect weekend for Arsenal.

“He scores when he wants, he scores when he waaaaaaants, Robin Van Persie, he scores when he wants!”

Arsenal (5) – (2) Tottenham Hotspur
Sagna (40′), Van Persie (43′), Rosicky (51′), Walcott (65′, 68′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

Last week I got slated for suggesting Arsenal weren’t in crisis and some perspective was needed.

And today’s match started badly. Louis Saha opened the scoring after 4 minutes with a fortuitous goal which deflected off Vermaelen and looped over Szczesny. Then 25 minutes later, Spurs doubled their advantage after another lucky goal – after Gareth Bale’s blatant dive won Tottenham a penalty, which Adebayor duly converted.

After the previous games against AC Milan and Sunderland, the nature of Tottenham’s 2 goal lead would have added to the frustrations.

But what followed wasn’t an Arsenal team in crisis. If anything, the performance reminded us why we love this Arsenal team so much.

Yes, we are capable of collapsing at the worst times, and yes, we are sometimes defensively fragile. But it must also be noted that Arsene Wenger’s philosophy and style of play is capable of producing stunning comebacks like we saw today. If we were managed by Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink or Fabio Capello, we wouldn’t have scored 5 goals in 27 stunning minutes.

And the performance reminded us that overturning a 4 goal deficit against Milan is not impossible. Incredibly difficult, but not impossible – especially if we get it right and click on the night.

The biggest difference, and something I had been waiting for for a while, was the starting eleven. Yossi Benayoun has been in the shadow of Arshavin, Oxlade Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey for playing time and finally he was given his chance. Benayoun is one of the few players at the club that have ingenuity and intelligence on the ball. He is capable of playing smart reverse passes, and penetrating balls. Benayoun needs to play more than he does, which is a trend amongst supporters when he was on Liverpool’s books. Liverpool fans thought Yossi should have played a lot more than he did.

Tomas Rosicky also had his best game for a long time. His passing was top draw and he was all over the pitch. Van Persie was sensational as usual, Arteta was solid and Song was defensively strong. Theo Walcott was on the periphery for most of the first half but came to life in the second, which is something he seems to do a lot – burst into life and has spurts of quality.

Apart from the two lucky goals, Szczesny had nothing to do. From the 30th minute onwards it was all Arsenal and that is something all supporters can take comfort from. In a game billed as the biggest North London derby in Arsene Wenger’s career, we came out on top – and how. The scenes of the travelling Tottenham fans in pure ecstasy only to be put back in their place 15 (playing) minutes later was really something special.

We were sensational today. Arsene made the point that this was the first time for 3 games that we played on a top quality pitch. While that is valid to an extent, the bottom line was we were badly due a performance and it came today. This is something which we need to build on and if we can produce this kind of performance against Milan we have a fighting chance of progressing.

The lesson here is never write Arsenal off.

So bring on AC Milan and let’s show them what we’re made of.