Though November didn't turn out be a total nightmare, it was a month which illustrated the enigmatic nature of the Arsenal side that we have these days. Depressing defeats to Stoke, Villa and Manchester City sat alongside an immeasurably pleasurable win over ManUre and a hugely satisfying win over the Phoney Russian Franchise in their own back yard.
Looking back at last Sunday's events at Stamford Bridge, I must say, without appearing to be wise after the event, that I did have a feeling that we might go there and beat the PRF purely because it would almost be typical of our current team to do so. However, it was also because of the flaky, unpredictable nature of our team that I didn't dare myself to fully believe it would happen.
I must admit that I had a tinge of sympathy for Big Phil Scolari. I actually like the bloke and his grievance over van Persie's first goal was a legitimate one. But, that tinge of sympathy was largely outweighed by a sense that the rub of the green we obviously got on the afternoon had been way overdue particularly in the wake of the things that have gone against us when we played the Russians in the last few years.
The burning question coursing through the minds of just about every Arsenal fan is whether we can follow that another win or will we have a repeat of what ensued after we beat ManUre? Personally, I really don't know. The days when I felt that I had a clear view of where the Arsenal were heading as a team, now feels like a thing of the past.
That may all sound a little melodramatic but you only have to look at the situation surrounding Gallas and his recently enforced abdication of the captaincy to get an idea of what I'm driving at.
I was never, ever in favour of him being captain of Arsenal in the first place it must be said and I was delighted to see him duly stripped of the role. But, whereas you could have looked around the team of, say five years ago and earmarked four or five players to have taken on the role with relative ease, there was really only one obvious candidate for the job within the current team.
And, even then, whilst I concur with most people's view that Cesc was indeed the obvious candidate for the job, my views on him actually getting the job is a decidedly mixed one because there is so much onus on him as it is to be our creative spark and to be the one person above all others that plays a consistently high level, I just felt that making captain as well at this stage would be a little too much.
But if there is anyone capable of taking on the job at Arsenal at the age of 21, then young Cesc is that man. I wish him all best and I hope that he goes on to wear the armband for a few years to come.
Looking back to the Carling Cup tie at Burnley the other night, all I can say is that it's a shame that the kids didn't quite make it through on the night. Credit to Burnley, they are a grand old club who have been through lean times in the last 30-odd years. Tuesday night was probably their biggest night in a long time and they made the most of it.
In the end, from our point of view, it was one of those nights where we lost purely because they took some of their chances and we didn't take any of ours. I think our young lads acquitted themselves fairly well but were guilty of making a few mistakes at both ends of the pitch and that proved decisive.
The one thing I will say though is that Bendtner, for someone who had higher aspirations than most in terms of becoming a first team regular, was bloody awful on the night. I have always felt that the jury was out on him - up until now. With rumours of a £5million move to Spartak Moscow in the offing, I would be asking the Russians to up their bid closer to £7 million and if they offered that I would snap their arms and legs off never mind their hands.
Mind you, there's a part of me that would be tempted to take £5 million if it meant that I didn't have to ever clap eyes on those bloody awful pink boots he has been sporting of late. Fashion icon? Try fashion victim.
Still enough of that, it's time to look at Saturday's home game with Wigan. Putting the Carling Cup defeat to one side, the Latics had an excellent November. They were undefeated in their five league games last month and saw off West Brom last time out.
Though Emmerson Boyce popped up with the winner, it was Chris Kirkland who was the real star of the show after pulling off several saves to deny Albion at least a share of the spoils on the day.
It was result that initially put Wigan in the top half of the table before Bolton's win at Sunderland and Fulham's point at Villa and showed that they are generally moving in the right direction after a fairly slow start to the season.
Wigan certainly have one or two useful operators in their ranks these days. Egyptian Amir Zaki has certainly taken the Premier League by storm and made a lot of bigger clubs sit up and take notice of his exploits. He seems to have a style and a physique made for the English game and I would bet that he will be staying in this country for a while once his loan spell is over at Wigan.
Like most observers, I have been impressed by both Palacios and Valencia since this season began. They both bring pace and energy to Wigan in their respective areas of midfield and are not to be underestimated under any circumstances in my view.
Then you come to Emile Heskey. I can't think of anyone who has amassed the best part of 50 caps for his country and yet been so maligned over so many years but if all of his detractors were to go and speak to anyone who has worked with him or played alongside him at his various clubs, you would be hard pushed to find anyone who has a bad word to say about him.
Sometimes players are given labels unfairly but I think, despite his faults, Heskey is one of those players who commands a respect from people in the game which speaks louder and say more about him than anything his detractors could come up with.
Although Steve Bruce has an apparent reputation for sending his teams out to have a go, I feel that he will be far more circumspect when he comes to the Grove. Indeed, I firmly believe this will be a tight game.
I went to last year's corresponding fixture and it took us a long time to eventually break them down. I don't really expect anything different tomorrow. If Arsenal are ever going to turn themselves into serious title contenders they will have to put together a decent run of results certainly between now and New Year.
They will have to show that they CAN build on a victory against one of the big boys and make it count for something. The bar in the last chance saloon is open. Let's hope that Arsenal can finally show they are ready to take advantage of it.