Four straight wins, eleven goals with only one conceded in reply underlined the fact that we were able to get the events of Shite Hart Lane well and truly out of the system.
Overall, I thought we were OK against Rovers the other night. We started very well and as early as Senderos' opening goal was, it was a goal that was coming from the moment the game kicked off.
Over the last few years I have lurched from being Big Phil's biggest supporter to his biggest critic. And, although I still have grave reservations about Senderos and whether he really is good enough to be an Arsenal player, I have always said that there is nobody in the game with a bigger heart and a will to try in spite of his limitations.
And from that point of view, I will admit that I was delighted that he was the one that broke the deadlock. Because if goals help to improve his self esteem as well as an extended run in the team, then all power to him.
But, after a bright start we lost our way as a team for the last 20 minutes of the first half and we were so sloppy it was excruciating to watch. I even made the commentators right when they said that the half time break was more of welcome to us than Rovers.
In the second half we were a little better though. Rovers had their fair share of possession but they created absolutely nothing and, but for a combination of Brad Friedel and the woodwork, the Arsenal would have been three or four up before Adebayor came up with his 22nd goal of the season right at the death.
Whilst it's true that we did make heavy weather of putting Rovers away on the night, the fact is our win put the seal on what was a smashing weekend for Gooners everywhere.
In the aftermath of the weekend's events it was no surprise for me to see that sections of the press and the media were quick to point out that we were in a similar position at about this time in the season back in 2003.
Indeed, it wasn't a surprise for me to see that most, if not all, of the so-called experts come pundits come media hangers-on, are still swearing their allegiance to the notion that ManUre will end up prevailing in the race for the Premier League title this season and indeed in Europe too.
Personally, I'm OK with all of this. I have found that experience has taught me not to be overly consumed with resentment about it because, save perhaps for Mourinho and his time in charge at the PRF and what he helped them win in recent times on the back of some faceless Russian billionaires money, the fact is that ManUre have invariably always been considered to be the be all and end all in this country and a shoo-in to win virtually everything covered in silver every season pretty much since the advent of the Premiership/Premier League era began in 1992.
So, if people, particularly in the press and the media, want to refer our current situation to that of 2003 by way of justifying the fact that ManUre are still very much in the hunt for the title, then let them.
Because if, by doing this, they are insinuating that Arsene Wenger and the teams he has built are the kind that choke and bottle out every time the going gets tough, it is worth remembering that not so long ago, we did go unbeaten through an entire Premier League campaign without being beaten once.
It's something that Arsenal achieved under Wenger in spite of seeing his team go out of both the FA Cup to ManUre and the Champions League to the club formerly known as Chelsea in the space of a few days. Hardly the sort of thing bottlers naturally go and do, is it? And, for all ManUre's achievements down the years and indeed all the spending power available to them, that is something THEY have never done under any circumstances.
Wenger and Arsenal have also managed to win back to back FA Cups, something again that neither Ferguson nor ManUre have never done. I would say that a fair bit of bottle would have been involved in doing that as well.
Wenger also took a side to Old Trafford in 2002. If I remember rightly, Arsenal only needed a point to secure the title that night. But Arsenal didn't settle for a point that night, did they? Despite the desperate, cynical attempts by ManUre to kick us from one side of Salford to the other we went and bloody beat them to finish the title race as a contest there and then. Not bad for a side that supposedly bottles out regularly, I thought!
But ultimately, when I hear pundits in the press and the media mention that Arsenal are going to bottle out of doing this or that, when they make claims that this current side do not have the experience or the squad depth to win a Premier League and when I hear the God forsaken Manc fans giving it large about the same thing, I think back to 1998. Because when it comes to the art of bottling out, they proved that season that were not exactly immune to it.
ManUre, fortified with the experience of winning the title both in 1996 and 1997, blew 12- 13 point lead that season and succumbed to an unfancied Arsenal side who reeled off something like 10 straight wins on the spin to win the title and lest we forget we beat ManUre of course in their own back yard along the way.
Who was in charge of Arsenal at the time? Who was the man that went on not only to win the league but indeed The Double in his first full season and therefore, something that his adversary never did in his first full season at ManUre? None other than Arsene "The Bottler" Wenger himself.
And, lest we forget who was his adversary in the ManUre dugout that season? Matt Busby? No. Tommy Docherty? No. Dave Sexton? No. It was of course none other than Old Purple Nose himself, the supposed man with all the plans for every occasion.
What I'm driving at is this. I can't stop people pinning their colours to the mast of ManUre regardless of whether they are supposed to be impartial or not. But, the fact is that Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, have shown more than once over the years that they CAN take ManUre on and win major honours fairly regularly at their expense and it has been done against considerable odds - every time.
The idea that people, in the context of our chances of winning the league this year, continue to dismiss these facts and therefore underestimate us as a result in this current climate only steels my resolve as an Arsenal fan - and I mean that come what may between now and the end of the season.
I know, as an Arsenal fan, that in the foreseeable future we will not beat the system that has been already in place for the best part of 15 years (i.e. you are not going to change the fact that ManUre are going to be invariably held up as the be all and end all and a shoo-in to win everything that moves virtually every season).
But, I also believe that Arsenal are one of the clubs that have a genuine chance of maybe breaking even in that environment more regularly than most and maybe, just maybe that time is on the verge of coming round once again. And no member of the anti-Arsenal brigade is going to take that feeling away from me.
This leads me nicely onto the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford this Saturday. The Arsenal may be short of their full compliment of players going into the game but that is a side issue.
If Arsenal lose this game then most people will instantly start adding 2 and 2 together and making 144. Once again, people will make assumptions that the season will have finally caught up with Arsenal and that a defeat at Old Trafford would send us into a downward spiral akin to that what occurred after the infamous Pizzagate affair of 2004 or a spell of form that saw us lose out in the title race back in 2003.
I don't personally see it like that. I have always said that a game against ManUre is to be relished and never feared. In fact, if anything, I think every time the Arsenal get the chance to play them gives us an opportunity - the opportunity to blow another great hole in the widely held perception that these bastards are the be all and end all in the football world.
Micah Richards was quoted in the press this week saying that the basis for City's success last Sunday was based around the fact that Sven Goran Eriksson told him and his fellow City players not to be scared of ManUre. Regardless of what personnel we have got available to us there is no reason why we should go into this game with mindset that is any different.
After all, what do Arsenal really have to lose here? Let's face it, if you did a nationwide poll amongst football fans in this country and asked them who is better out of ManUre and us I'm sure at least 90% of them would not pick Arsenal.
So, given this and the fact they have just suffered their first defeat to City at Old Trafford in a local derby for the first time in well over 30 years the onus and indeed the pressure is very much on ManUre to do the business in this cup tie against us.
On the other side of the coin the thing I want more than anything is to see the Arsenal go there, put on a show and not sell themselves short. I don't want to see the lads come off that pitch at the end regretting that they didn't give it their best shot.
I'm not suggesting that I have any doubts over Arsenal's ability to win. It's more a case of wondering how much are Arsenal prepared to give collectively as a team in order to make it happen. That is the question that remains unanswered in my mind right now. I can't wait to find out the answer.
Overall, I thought we were OK against Rovers the other night. We started very well and as early as Senderos' opening goal was, it was a goal that was coming from the moment the game kicked off.
Over the last few years I have lurched from being Big Phil's biggest supporter to his biggest critic. And, although I still have grave reservations about Senderos and whether he really is good enough to be an Arsenal player, I have always said that there is nobody in the game with a bigger heart and a will to try in spite of his limitations.
And from that point of view, I will admit that I was delighted that he was the one that broke the deadlock. Because if goals help to improve his self esteem as well as an extended run in the team, then all power to him.
But, after a bright start we lost our way as a team for the last 20 minutes of the first half and we were so sloppy it was excruciating to watch. I even made the commentators right when they said that the half time break was more of welcome to us than Rovers.
In the second half we were a little better though. Rovers had their fair share of possession but they created absolutely nothing and, but for a combination of Brad Friedel and the woodwork, the Arsenal would have been three or four up before Adebayor came up with his 22nd goal of the season right at the death.
Whilst it's true that we did make heavy weather of putting Rovers away on the night, the fact is our win put the seal on what was a smashing weekend for Gooners everywhere.
In the aftermath of the weekend's events it was no surprise for me to see that sections of the press and the media were quick to point out that we were in a similar position at about this time in the season back in 2003.
Indeed, it wasn't a surprise for me to see that most, if not all, of the so-called experts come pundits come media hangers-on, are still swearing their allegiance to the notion that ManUre will end up prevailing in the race for the Premier League title this season and indeed in Europe too.
Personally, I'm OK with all of this. I have found that experience has taught me not to be overly consumed with resentment about it because, save perhaps for Mourinho and his time in charge at the PRF and what he helped them win in recent times on the back of some faceless Russian billionaires money, the fact is that ManUre have invariably always been considered to be the be all and end all in this country and a shoo-in to win virtually everything covered in silver every season pretty much since the advent of the Premiership/Premier League era began in 1992.
So, if people, particularly in the press and the media, want to refer our current situation to that of 2003 by way of justifying the fact that ManUre are still very much in the hunt for the title, then let them.
Because if, by doing this, they are insinuating that Arsene Wenger and the teams he has built are the kind that choke and bottle out every time the going gets tough, it is worth remembering that not so long ago, we did go unbeaten through an entire Premier League campaign without being beaten once.
It's something that Arsenal achieved under Wenger in spite of seeing his team go out of both the FA Cup to ManUre and the Champions League to the club formerly known as Chelsea in the space of a few days. Hardly the sort of thing bottlers naturally go and do, is it? And, for all ManUre's achievements down the years and indeed all the spending power available to them, that is something THEY have never done under any circumstances.
Wenger and Arsenal have also managed to win back to back FA Cups, something again that neither Ferguson nor ManUre have never done. I would say that a fair bit of bottle would have been involved in doing that as well.
Wenger also took a side to Old Trafford in 2002. If I remember rightly, Arsenal only needed a point to secure the title that night. But Arsenal didn't settle for a point that night, did they? Despite the desperate, cynical attempts by ManUre to kick us from one side of Salford to the other we went and bloody beat them to finish the title race as a contest there and then. Not bad for a side that supposedly bottles out regularly, I thought!
But ultimately, when I hear pundits in the press and the media mention that Arsenal are going to bottle out of doing this or that, when they make claims that this current side do not have the experience or the squad depth to win a Premier League and when I hear the God forsaken Manc fans giving it large about the same thing, I think back to 1998. Because when it comes to the art of bottling out, they proved that season that were not exactly immune to it.
ManUre, fortified with the experience of winning the title both in 1996 and 1997, blew 12- 13 point lead that season and succumbed to an unfancied Arsenal side who reeled off something like 10 straight wins on the spin to win the title and lest we forget we beat ManUre of course in their own back yard along the way.
Who was in charge of Arsenal at the time? Who was the man that went on not only to win the league but indeed The Double in his first full season and therefore, something that his adversary never did in his first full season at ManUre? None other than Arsene "The Bottler" Wenger himself.
And, lest we forget who was his adversary in the ManUre dugout that season? Matt Busby? No. Tommy Docherty? No. Dave Sexton? No. It was of course none other than Old Purple Nose himself, the supposed man with all the plans for every occasion.
What I'm driving at is this. I can't stop people pinning their colours to the mast of ManUre regardless of whether they are supposed to be impartial or not. But, the fact is that Arsenal, under Arsene Wenger, have shown more than once over the years that they CAN take ManUre on and win major honours fairly regularly at their expense and it has been done against considerable odds - every time.
The idea that people, in the context of our chances of winning the league this year, continue to dismiss these facts and therefore underestimate us as a result in this current climate only steels my resolve as an Arsenal fan - and I mean that come what may between now and the end of the season.
I know, as an Arsenal fan, that in the foreseeable future we will not beat the system that has been already in place for the best part of 15 years (i.e. you are not going to change the fact that ManUre are going to be invariably held up as the be all and end all and a shoo-in to win everything that moves virtually every season).
But, I also believe that Arsenal are one of the clubs that have a genuine chance of maybe breaking even in that environment more regularly than most and maybe, just maybe that time is on the verge of coming round once again. And no member of the anti-Arsenal brigade is going to take that feeling away from me.
This leads me nicely onto the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford this Saturday. The Arsenal may be short of their full compliment of players going into the game but that is a side issue.
If Arsenal lose this game then most people will instantly start adding 2 and 2 together and making 144. Once again, people will make assumptions that the season will have finally caught up with Arsenal and that a defeat at Old Trafford would send us into a downward spiral akin to that what occurred after the infamous Pizzagate affair of 2004 or a spell of form that saw us lose out in the title race back in 2003.
I don't personally see it like that. I have always said that a game against ManUre is to be relished and never feared. In fact, if anything, I think every time the Arsenal get the chance to play them gives us an opportunity - the opportunity to blow another great hole in the widely held perception that these bastards are the be all and end all in the football world.
Micah Richards was quoted in the press this week saying that the basis for City's success last Sunday was based around the fact that Sven Goran Eriksson told him and his fellow City players not to be scared of ManUre. Regardless of what personnel we have got available to us there is no reason why we should go into this game with mindset that is any different.
After all, what do Arsenal really have to lose here? Let's face it, if you did a nationwide poll amongst football fans in this country and asked them who is better out of ManUre and us I'm sure at least 90% of them would not pick Arsenal.
So, given this and the fact they have just suffered their first defeat to City at Old Trafford in a local derby for the first time in well over 30 years the onus and indeed the pressure is very much on ManUre to do the business in this cup tie against us.
On the other side of the coin the thing I want more than anything is to see the Arsenal go there, put on a show and not sell themselves short. I don't want to see the lads come off that pitch at the end regretting that they didn't give it their best shot.
I'm not suggesting that I have any doubts over Arsenal's ability to win. It's more a case of wondering how much are Arsenal prepared to give collectively as a team in order to make it happen. That is the question that remains unanswered in my mind right now. I can't wait to find out the answer.