I have to admit that I was bloody furious about our defeat on Saturday night. But after a couple of days, I was more philosophical about it all. After all, we Arsenal fans should know perhaps better than anyone else in this country how quickly things can change, for better or for worse, in football without warning or any logical reasoning.
It really makes me laugh though when the likes of Alan Hansen come out and say that the Arsenal are predictable and are one dimensional because as far as I could see, when watching the extended highlights of the game on Sky last Saturday night, we made (not for the first time) a hatful of chances. In fact the only thing that seems to be predictable about some of the games Arsenal have played lately is that we certainly have the knack of bringing the best out of opposing goalkeepers.
Maik Taylor was far and away the man of the match at Highbury against Birmingham. On the day, his heroics were not quite enough to stop us winning in the end as Van Persie scored with assistance of a deflection from Steven Clemence. But Chris Kirkland's contribution between the sticks for West Brom wasn't anymore heroic than Taylor's the previous week but on this occasion, it did prove to the difference between the Baggies gaining a shock win as opposed to a defeat and probably a hammering.
That's the way football goes. We can't all enjoy the kind of luck that the PRF do. Anyone who watched them play Wigan on the first weekend of the season and then beat us with a 14-carat fluke will know what I mean. Hell, look at the weekend just gone. I never thought I would ever agree or have sympathy with Sam Allardyce but without question Bolton should have found themselves 1-0 up and a man up last week at the Bridge but instead they found themselves 2-1 down, a man down and eventually on the end of a hammering.
The trouble with statistics is that they may tell you part of the story but not the whole story. We have only managed to pick up one point from our opening four away games. But out of the four games we have played, our performance at West Ham was by far the worst – and that's the only place where we HAVEN'T lost in the league so far this season.
Of course, the fact that we lost the other three games has given ammunition to those that felt that we were in inevitable decline ever since Vieira left in the summer. Not least the average fan of the Tiny Totts who have suddenly acquired this belief that there has suddenly been a shift in power in North London – after God knows how many years and a grand total nine games this season (or in our case eight).
The press and the media have also got in on the act. Did anyone see the article in the Goals section of Monday's Daily Mirror? They were suggesting that if you put together a team of North London's "finest" then the Arsenal contingent would be outweighed by six to five by Spurs players. Yeah, right!!
All I know is that from reading that and indeed some of the comments that Martin Jol has been coming out with, there will be precious need for Wenger to give his team (whatever it is) a team talk by the team they get to the Shithole on Saturday week. Our team talk has been done for us.
Still, talking about the supposed "rise" of our poorer relations from up the Seven Sisters Road can wait. It's time to reflect on what was another historic night in the history of Arsenal Football Club and in particular a certain chap by the name of Thierry Henry.
At first, Henry wasn't even supposed to travel to Prague with the rest of the team for our Champions League game with Sparta on Tuesday, was he? But I'm sure that all of us are glad that he did.
From the moment he came on, it was clear to see that he wasn't anywhere near fully fit at all but, his first goal on the night will stay in my memory for as long as I live for so many reasons. The boy had only been on the pitch for SIX minutes for a start for God's sake but you know, when he controlled Kolo's long ball with his heel, spun round, faced up, I almost KNEW what was coming next and when the ball fizzed it's way into the corner and past the dive of the helpless Sparta keeper, I sat there with a wry grin on my face.
My mobile instantly rang; it was Gazza. When I picked up, there was a pause for about ten seconds or so and then Gazza then said to me that it was the first time that he had phoned someone up during an Arsenal game and actually been speechless at what he had seen before!
I grinned again as he was talking but in that moment I couldn't help sparing a thought for young Reyes who had gone off after taking a couple of cynical digs from Sparta defenders. Because as much as I enjoyed Henry's record equalling goal, there really was a part of me that wished that it was young Reyes who had scored such a goal and that it was another Arsenal forward grabbing the glory and showing the rest of Europe his true worth.
You see, there is so much talk about Arsenal being a one-man team and I'm fed up to the back teeth of it. As far as I am concerned, young Jose has been our best player over all this season and for him to be forced off and then for Henry to come on do what he did within a matter of minutes almost seemed, in a strange sort of way, a little cruel on the Spaniard to me personally.
As it was, Henry got his record breaking goal on the back of a super pass from Pires. Now Bobby has been in fairly indifferent form in the league so far it has to be said but once again this season he put in a very solid night's work for the Arsenal in Europe. His pass to Henry was almost on a par with Kaka's when he put Crespo in for his second of the night in last year's Champions League final and Henry did, quite literally, what no Arsenal striker has done better in the history of the club – stick the ball in the back of the net.
People can write all sorts of superlatives about Henry but personally I will paraphrase something that Andy Gray (of all people) said about him after he had scored four against Leeds about 18 moths ago. Gray said "I've seen most things in top flight English Football over the last 25 years or so – but I've never seen anything like him!" – As far as I am concerned, enough said, I think.
Overall, I thought that we put in a very sound display in Prague against the Czechs. Even my pet hate, Pascal Cygan had a half decent night by his dubious standards though Kolo still had to bail him out on a couple of occasions. Young Clichy didn't look quite as assured as I have seen him in the past but in fairness to the young man, it's not easy to be pitched into the battle after so long on the sidelines for one reason or another and be able to carry on from where you left off.
The only major disappointment on the night was possibly young Van Persie. The game seemed to pass him by and his night was summed up by the absurd caution that he was given by the referee. Still, for all that the Arsenal have one foot firmly in the last 16. And with Sparta not being the best of travellers in Europe, there is now a strong chance that qualification could be secured with two games to spare.
It's also worth remembering that we have now suffered defeat ONCE in our last 11 Champions League games. Note that the press and the media were not rushing forth to point that little statistic out but that's something we Gooners can look at and be reasonably proud of in the wake of all the stick we have taken over the years. Maybe, just maybe, in the face of adversity, we may finally crack the code in this competition. Time will tell of course but it's not as if the Arsenal haven't won major honours against the odds before, is it?
Now it's time to look forward to Saturday's game at home to Manchester City.
As a club, they have always been a real favourite of mine. Screw Chelsea, City are one of the really special clubs in this country and I'll say this right now – if they had inherited Abramovich's billions in the way those bastards down the King's Road have, I would not have anything like the same kind of animosity towards them.
Their fans are very much out of the same mould as the Geordies. Loyal, passionate and deserving of success in a way that the knuckle dragging fascists down at the Bridge that for years wrote far bigger headlines off the pitch than any Chelsea side did on it, never would.
What's more, how many so-called big clubs (including us) would still get crowds of 35,000 through the doors if they were playing in the old Third Division? They did when at Maine Road not so long ago.
Of course, City have long since established themselves as a top flight club and although the financial position of the club is not the best and they had to cash in on their biggest asset in the summer, they have been making light of it all under Stuart Pearce so far.
People have been talking about Pearce becoming the next England manger after Eriksson. I think that is laughable. Though Pearce had a brief spell as manager at Nottingham Forest a few years back, the amount of experience he has had overall as a manager couldn't fill a postage stamp.
What cannot be argued against is the fact that he has a huge appetite for the game and it is clear that his players seem to respond to that. I was really impressed with them last week against West Ham. They may have won the game 2-0 but if they had won by double the margin, it wouldn't have flattered them a bit. They were that good were City.
Andy Cole and Darius Vassell were very impressive but I have to say that I was also impressed with Joey Barton. Now some would say that he City's answer to Lee Bowyer in that he has a tendency to go looking for trouble both on and off the pitch but nonetheless I have been impressed by him as a player and if he continues to straighten himself out, England honours are not out of the question in the future.
Steven Ireland is a lad that Pearce has brought into the first team set up from the reserves and he is another one to watch out for as well as Lee Croft who is likely to be the long term replacement for Wright-Phillips.
It also appears that some of the long term injuries are clearing up too. Sun Jihai has returned from a nasty long term leg injury and Robbie Fowler managed to get an hour or so in the reserves earlier this week. So, out of nowhere, City will have two of the three most prolific scorers in the history of the Premiership available to them for the foreseeable future.
That's all good for the immediate future prospects at City but I think that the key to this match lies not in who plays up front for them but for us. Henry may have played the other night with considerable distinction. But I would be surprised if he started on Saturday.
I think he will be on the bench with Van Persie and Bergkamp playing up front. As I suggested earlier, it's time that the Arsenal did their level best to show this country that there is far more to us than just Henry. We can only prove that in games such as this. That for me will be even more important to me than three points. We HAVE done it before. Let's go out on Saturday and do it again.