What I thought would be a nervy night turned out just to be that, but Arsenal put in a solid performance and for once, got what they deserved – a win at Old Trafford.

I thought that Arsenal were destined to lose. Before tonight’s FA Cup quarterfinal, our record was atrocious – in the last 15 games we managed to win once, draw three times and lose eleven!

The main factors why we lose to Manchester United are:

1. We just bottle it when we face United.
2. They get all the refereeing decisions.
3. Manchester United are the luckiest team in England.

However, they didn’t have any of those things on their side tonight.

Normally, when players like Di Maria and Januzaj dive like they did last night – and especially at Old Trafford – that would normally mean a freekick or penalty against us. Yesterday however, the referee Michael Oliver was surprisingly excellent. Not that he isn’t a good referee – it’s just that every referee that goes to Old Trafford is easily swayed and is inclined to give Manchester United every single decision. And I thought it was more of the same when Danny Welbeck was denied a clear penalty in the first half.

But credit to Michael Oliver, he was excellent. You’ve got massive cunts like Wayne Rooney constantly hounding the referee, which is why they always get the decisions. Their reactions to every refereeing decision is quite frankly a disgrace and it was just desserts when Di Maria was sent off for a petulant pull at the referee – Manchester United players think they make the decisions and that’s why Di Maria thought he could literally push the referee around. They are used to being able to bully the referee’s into giving them every decision.

Another disgrace was Manchester United tactics. Watching the game tonight, I have to constantly remind myself that we were playing Manchester United, not Wimbledon or Bolton Wanderers. How many times did they punt the ball upfield, and how many times did they hoof the ball up to Marouanne Fellaini? Jesus Christ, it was ridiculous!

This is a team that has aspirations to quality for the Champions League. The standard of play was shockingly poor, and worse than it was under David Moyes.

Manchester United’s “tactics” (if you can call them that) consist of getting the ball to the fullbacks, and then punting a high ball up to Fellaini on a diagonal. If that doesn’t work, their “Plan B” is to get the ball slightly higher up the pitch to their wingers, to then cut inside and then play a long ball forward.

Their tactics and play are an utter disgrace.

Fortunately, Arsenal were solid as a team and managed to play their way out of most of the  problems Manchester United threw at us – except for the goal when surprise surprise, Di Maria cut inside and played a long ball to Wayne Rooney, who headed in from close range.

The Manchester United teams of old were direct, incisive and always a threat. At the moment they are simply a hyped up Bolton Wanderers – they really should have appointed Sam Allardyce instead, he would have been cheaper.

Yesterday was a great result and the draw (thank you Dermot O’Leary!) was the icing on a very tasty cake. The bottom line was though Arsenal weren’t, and didn’t need to be, at their best. The Manchester City performance was better and if we played like we did that night we would have won by 4 or 5 goals. What we were though was disciplined, focused and worked well as a team.

David De Gea is a phenomenal goalkeeper and for me is one of the world’s best at the moment. If it wasn’t for him (and they had someone like Szczesny in goal for example) we would have scored 5 goals. Some of the saves he made (from Sanchez and Cazorla in particular) were out of this world.

Everyone from the back to the front put in an excellent shift, but problems still remain over Szczesny. He made several mistakes tonight and looked nervous – and two of his very poor kicks almost allowed Manchester United a chance to score. He is a shadow of the player he used to be and Arsenal really need to think about signing a world class goalkeeper in the summer.

Tonight sees the showcase tie of the FA Cup weekend as Arsenal travel to Manchester United in the Quarter Finals.

In terms of Premier League performance, Arsenal sit in 3rd place on 58 points, a solitary point ahead of Manchester United who sit in fourth.

Arsenal have had an up and down season, but have managed to win 5 of their last 6 Premier League games (losing the other), while Manchester United have won 4 of their last 6, drawing one and losing the other. So in terms of domestic form, it’s hard to separate the two sides.

How about history?

Unfortunately this is where Arsenal falter badly and it’s because of this I am very worried about tonight. In the last 15 meetings between the teams, our record is:

Won 1, Drawn 3 and Lost 11.

That record is an absolute disgrace!

Last season, we faced the worst Manchester United side in living memory who were completely shot of confidence under David Moyes. Arsenal on the other hand were riding high, top in fact, of the Premier League table and still managed to lose 1-0. It wasn’t an embarrassing scoreline by any stretch of the imagination (especially compared to previous seasons) but losing to an awful team like that was shameful.

And if you look at our record at Old Trafford, it’s even worse! If that’s at all possible…

The last time we won a match at Old Trafford was on Sunday 17th September 2006, when Emmanuel Adebayor scored from a Cesc Fabregas assist. If you click on the link, you’ll see that it was so long ago that the BBC Sport website was still in a basic format!

So what’s the problem? The problem is that Arsene Wenger and the players just end up bottling it against Manchester United. It doesn’t matter if they’re a team in disarray, or that they have an idiot managing them, we see the name Manchester United and go weak at the knees. We’re scared of their history, and scared of their stature in English football it seems.

I can’t understand why we are so terrible against them. In the home league game this season we tried our very best not to score any of our chances (remind you of the Monaco game?) and United scored on the break. Some people can call is naive, but against Manchester United we just freeze.

Manchester United were lucky against Newcastle last week and unfortunately, I can see that luck being on show tonight. Another problem we have is the game is at Old Trafford – the home of cheating. We saw it when Shrek “won” a penalty against Sol Campbell in that monumental 50th game of our unbeaten run and I’ve seen countless decisions given against us which still baffle me today.

Don’t be surprised if Arsenal go out there tonight, show Manchester United “too much respect”, fail to score the opening goal and then concede a stupid penalty or give them a sitter from a defensive mistake.

Some of you might call me a pessimist for thinking that a loss tonight is a forgone conclusion, but the fact is I’m just a realist.

Prediction for tonight is a 3-1 win for Manchester United, after missing about 3 or 4 very presentable chances (most likely squandered by Olivier Giroud).

Tonight sees the showcase tie of the FA Cup weekend as Arsenal travel to Manchester United in the Quarter Finals.

In terms of Premier League performance, Arsenal sit in 3rd place on 58 points, a solitary point ahead of Manchester United who sit in fourth.

Arsenal have had an up and down season, but have managed to win 5 of their last 6 Premier League games (losing the other), while Manchester United have won 4 of their last 6, drawing one and losing the other. So in terms of domestic form, it’s hard to separate the two sides.

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The Arsenal Invincibles documentary was created by Arsenal media and released this week. To celebrate the documentary, some Arsenal legends attended a premiere of the film at the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead.

It was shown on Sky Sports 5 HD on Wednesday evening, and because of other commitments I’ve only just seen it.

The film, which took two years to make, was well made and a really fantastic watch. It has the thoughts of Arsene Wenger, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, Thierry Henry, Jens Lehmann and Ray Parlour.

The insight of those players and the manager makes for gripping viewing and it’s amazing to see how they felt through different times of the season.

A particular highlight for me was the overview of the infamous game at Old Trafford.

Van Nistelrooy lashing out at Patrick Vieira and ultimately getting the Arsenal captain sent off is still one of the most infuriating things I have ever seen. I remember watching way back then, and it still annoys me 11 years later.

However, the camaraderie between the Arsenal players when they reflect on the whole incident is beautiful to watch. Jens Lehmann, Ray Parlour and Martin Keown in particular is fantastic and shows the amazing spirit and passion the team had for each other.

The Invincibles squad were full of players who would die for each other and the documentary even revealed a big confrontation between Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger after the final whistle.

The image of Martin Keown whacking Van Nistelrooy over the head at the full time whistle is still and will probably always be one of my most favourite Arsenal moments.

The documentary highlights some of the key games and moments of the season, and for a person that never cries, I found it hard not to get emotional further on in the documentary when Arsenal were on the treble charge and it looked like the season was going to completely fall apart – until a Thierry Henry inspired Arsenal managed to overcome a difficult Liverpool side that threatened to derail our Premier League challenge.

As a documentary overall, for any Arsenal fan it is a must watch and is a solid 9 out of 10. It is an excellent tribute and recap of one of the most beautiful, memorable and iconic seasons in Arsenal’s history and the player opinions make it a gripping watch. The only reason why it doesn’t get a 10 out of 10 is because of the lack of opinions from other key members of the team.

Since the 2003/2004 season when members of that special squad departed due to retirement or leaving for pastures new, there seems to be an obvious omission for certain players.

From the players who left Arsenal only Dennis Bergkamp, Fredrick Ljungberg and Robert Pires were probably the only ones who didn’t leave under acrimonious circumstances. Dennis is in Holland with Ajax but I’m sure he could have contributed a few thoughts to the film, and I realise that Bobby’s English isn’t the best so understand his absence from the documentary. Freddie is still working for Arsenal at the moment (I believe) so wasn’t sure why he wasn’t included.

Patrick Vieira was the captain of this side and isn’t in it. He’s doing work at Manchester City so isn’t impossible to get hold of, so I’m not sure why he wasn’t involved – does he still hold a grudge against Arsene Wenger? I don’t know.

Then you have the players who weren’t so popular – the most famous departure from Arsenal being Ashley Cole. I did search and see if this had been addressed by anyone or whether it was swept under the carpet and found this tweet from the former Arsenal left-back:

People asking why I'm not in the #Invincibles book I thought it would be for the best. I didn't think fans would want it,

— Ashley Cole (@TheRealAC3) February 24, 2015

So clearly he was asked, but declined.

For me, that is sad. Whatever you want to say about Ashley Cole, for me he was a big part of that special season (as where the other players). The documentary is about this very special season, nothing before or after it. If Ashley Cole (along with Paddy, Dennis and Freddie) contributed it would have been perfect.

I’m sure the majority of Arsenal fans would have liked to see Ashley Cole contribute, because when you’re recounting a special season in Arsenal’s history, you want to get all the opinions from all the key people – and like it or not, Ashley Cole was one of them.

What can you say about that?

At the end of the day, you (usually) get what you deserve in football and that’s where Arsenal are right now. 3-1 after the first leg and have a slim, if not impossible, task of progressing into the latter stages of the Champions League.

And let’s be honest, even if we did somehow manage to get through we’d only get stuffed by Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich anyway.

I am still confused, upset and disappointed with last nights defeat – essentially we were far too confident and cocky, and thought we would breeze through against Monaco. That’s the only way I can explain how we performed so poorly last night.

Arsene Wenger said we were naive, etc. but that is a bunch of shite. This is the same squad that beat Manchester City in their own back yard, and has travelled to places like Borussia Dortmund and managed to get results.

Let’s not be stupid here – these are top players who (when they want to) can perform at the highest level. The problem is, last night they didn’t because the thought we just needed to turn up to get a result.

It was a complete shambles. You know when Arsenal are up for it because when we are, we’re right out of the blocks from the moment the game kicks off but yesterday we were slow, lethargic and pedestrian. How ridiculous is it that Berbatov “wanted it more”?. Jesus fucking Christ, when a player like Berbatov wants it more you’re in serious trouble!

I guarantee that if we were up against Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich last night, we would not have performed so badly. These players are pampered beyond belief and that’s why we struggle against the “less glamorous” sides. Monaco isn’t a marquee game so why should we bother?

Unfortunately, Monaco actually wanted to win and showed desire and spirit all over the pitch. They thoroughly deserved what they got and that’s probably the most disappointing thing. People are calling this game the worst ever in Arsene Wenger’s reign, and while it’s a slight exaggeration it probably isn’t far off. The 3 goal capitulation against Anderlecht earlier on in the season was a real show of incompetence – not unlike last night.

People are calling for Arsene Wenger’s head but at this moment in time, he should still stay as Arsenal manager. When he gets it right, we play some fantastic football and games like against Manchester City are no fluke. For me, the buck has to stop with the players – Arsene Wenger can prepare the team but once they cross that white line they need to stand up and be counted. And yesterday they waltzed around as if they were walking their dogs.

Most of Arsenal’s players were well below par last night but the main culprits were Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud. Quite simply, both need to go if Arsenal want to go anywhere.

I’m sick and tired of Arsenal fans defending Mesut Özil. Yes, on his day he’s a great player but the fact is he’s not built to be at Arsenal. He’s too lightweight, doesn’t run for the team and is a complete luxury. A player who was £42.3 million should be putting in a performance every single game. He hides far too easily and is pretty much anonymous most of the time. He is a liability and needs to be sold. This is not a knee-jerk reaction, the player is not good enough! Our most expensive player (by some margin) isn’t even in our best 10 players at the club – the fact that people need to justify his performances with stats and figures is ridiculous – he doesn’t try and for the price tag, can’t even change a game or come up with some magic. You wouldn’t get Dennis Bergkamp hiding in games. Bergkamp was a flair player but he put himself about – if you’re comparing them to animals, Dennis was a lion and Özil is a butterfly.

At Real Madrid, Özil was always taken off after an hour or 70 minutes. Plus, he had warriors playing alongside him. In a team like Arsenal, his shortcomings are quickly exposed. For £42.3 million, we could have purchased a killer striker, someone who bangs in goals for fun. And that brings me onto Olivier Giroud.

The big Frenchman is a second striker, end of. He’s not a top striker that a top side needs. Manchester United have Van Persie, Rooney, Di Maria and Falcao. Manchester City have Aguero, Dzeko, Bony and Jovetic. Liverpool have Sterling and Strurridge. Chelsea have Costa, Remy and Drogba. We have Olivier Giroud.

The bottom line is Olivier Giroud would not get into the starting line ups of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Southampton. He tries but he’s not good enough.

He never performs in the big games, he never scores in the big games and he is another passenger. Against the lesser sides, fine, throw him in there, but we need a world class striker if we want to challenge for the Premier League or even Champions League (don’t laugh).

We’re going round in circles again. We need a world class goalkeeper, holding midfielder and striker. Yet Arsene persists in buying attacking midfielders. When I saw the team sheet yesterday I was baffled.

The back four was protected by Coquelin and Cazorla, with Özil, Sanchez, Welbeck and Giroud further up the pitch. Santo Cazorla in central midfield?! Are you having a laugh?!!! Our best player who has been scoring and assisting for fun is playing in a deeper and more withdrawn position?! Arsene should have dropped Özil and played Santi in his position. At least Santi gives a shit and tries to help the team defend.

When you’re crying out for Nicklas Bendtner, Yaya Sanogo and Marrouane Chamakh to come back, you know you’ve got problems.