They enthusiastically hailed the dawning of the Abramovich era as one that would finally put Chelsea head and shoulders above Arsenal as London's undisputed top club and turn them into United's greatest challengers for their title and virtually anything else that's on offer.
In fact, the press and the media were probably looking forward to Saturday even more than the Arsenal or Chelsea fans and you can bet that they converged on Highbury with their scripts prepared and ready to officially swear in “the new era”. Sadly for them, Arsenal never read that script – and for that matter, neither did Carlo Cudicini.
Cudicini's mistake almost literally had a stunning effect on Chelsea's newly found legion of admirers in the press box. I saw first hand proof of that on Sunday morning when I watched Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement. Considering that the game at Highbury was pound for pound the biggest game played at the weekend by far, Hill and his guests from the press hardly gave the match a mention. I wonder if they would have done the same if Chelsea had won?
The media weren't much better. Having showed the highlights of the game on Saturday night, not ONE word, by way of acknowledging Arsenal's success, was mentioned either by Des Lynam or his panel of pundits, Andy Townsend and Ally McCoist. Instead they droned on and on about what Chelsea did right and what they did wrong.
My response to all of that was to allow myself a knowing, wry smile. After all, I have been an Arsenal fan long enough to know that if people are either being indifferent or simply not talking about Arsenal Football Club it's because we are invariably doing one or two things right.
Indeed, whilst the dissenters of Arsenal stew in their own disappointment, I think that we Gooners have every right to be proud of what the boys have done since the debacle against Inter last month.
Let's get it right. The people that are saying that we were lucky to grab 10 points out of possible 12 from our back to back encounters with United, Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea are the same people who would have been shouting from the rooftops if one of those four had reaped a similar points return from a similar run of games – and it wouldn't have mattered a jot as to how much luck was involved.
Above all, what the Arsenal have proved, most importantly of all, is that they have not become a bad side overnight and that they are capable of still getting big results when the chips are really down.
Which leads me nicely into Tuesday's game in Kiev against Dynamo. Without wanting to sound too melodramatic, I think that it would be wrong to suggest that this game manifests itself as being anything less than a moment of truth for the Gunners.In fact, the press and the media were probably looking forward to Saturday even more than the Arsenal or Chelsea fans and you can bet that they converged on Highbury with their scripts prepared and ready to officially swear in “the new era”. Sadly for them, Arsenal never read that script – and for that matter, neither did Carlo Cudicini.
Cudicini's mistake almost literally had a stunning effect on Chelsea's newly found legion of admirers in the press box. I saw first hand proof of that on Sunday morning when I watched Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement. Considering that the game at Highbury was pound for pound the biggest game played at the weekend by far, Hill and his guests from the press hardly gave the match a mention. I wonder if they would have done the same if Chelsea had won?
The media weren't much better. Having showed the highlights of the game on Saturday night, not ONE word, by way of acknowledging Arsenal's success, was mentioned either by Des Lynam or his panel of pundits, Andy Townsend and Ally McCoist. Instead they droned on and on about what Chelsea did right and what they did wrong.
My response to all of that was to allow myself a knowing, wry smile. After all, I have been an Arsenal fan long enough to know that if people are either being indifferent or simply not talking about Arsenal Football Club it's because we are invariably doing one or two things right.
Indeed, whilst the dissenters of Arsenal stew in their own disappointment, I think that we Gooners have every right to be proud of what the boys have done since the debacle against Inter last month.
Let's get it right. The people that are saying that we were lucky to grab 10 points out of possible 12 from our back to back encounters with United, Newcastle, Liverpool and Chelsea are the same people who would have been shouting from the rooftops if one of those four had reaped a similar points return from a similar run of games – and it wouldn't have mattered a jot as to how much luck was involved.
Above all, what the Arsenal have proved, most importantly of all, is that they have not become a bad side overnight and that they are capable of still getting big results when the chips are really down.
I know that form lines can be subjective, but this lot came within a whisker of getting a point against Inter when they played them at the San Siro just under three weeks ago and many observers felt that they had lost a match that they could easily have won.
When you consider that and then add on the fact that we were (like it or not) brushed aside with relative ease by Inter then you could argue that Dynamo's credentials are there for all to see.
As well as facing a bunch of potentially dangerous unknowns, we will also be playing in a very cold and highly partisan environment.
The game is scheduled to kick off at the normal Champions league start time of 7.45pm. That means it will be 9.45pm when the game kicks off local time – by which time the temperatures are forecasted to have plummeted below zero. So much escaping the big freeze, huh?
Still as they say, the conditions will be the same for both sides and if we are to get anything from the game then we cannot afford to be sidetracked by the surroundings. Let's hope the Gods are smiling on us, if nothing else, come kick off time.