From Man Utd to Chelsea

Well, Tuesday night was just depressing, and seeing as you've surely read about 1,165,355 match reviews of it by now I won't bore you with another, but I will share a few thoughts and then talk about Chelsea on the weekend.

The game against Man U was supposed to be the big one; the game where the young guns finally showed their worth by returning to the Champions League final. And with the crowd fantastic as it's ever been and the players up for it, we started brightly, and were far and away the better team.

But then came the Gibbs slip which will undoubtedly live long in most gooners' memories, especially mine. You can't blame the lad for the slip up. Otherwise he was doing nothing wrong: his positioning was fine, he had Park covered, and until he misplaced his foot and it slipped on the always-wet Emirates pitch, he was doing a model job.

But when he did slip, when Park finished brilliantly, and when, two minutes or so later Ronaldo whizzed in an unstoppable free kick, the game was over before it had started. And it only went downhill from there. The spirit and confidence were gone, the goals were gone, and indeed many fans were gone. We conceded another on the counterattack and we scored a consolation penalty, but in the end we were knocked out in agonising fashion.

I was gutted, but just like the players must do, I and all the rest of us Arsenal supporters must move on. No silverware this year, but we can still finish the season with pride, and that begins with Chelsea on Sunday.

We host at the Emirates Sunday night a team who are, if it's possible, perhaps more deflated and dejected than we are. To be knocked out so cruelly (although seeing as I was hoping Barca would win, so wonderfully!) Wednesday night by the late winner from Iniesta killed their spirit and made players like Drogba go insane: cue his post-match antics.

So we have the home advantage, we've got Arshavin back, and we're not the only ones feeling miserable right now. All these things together makes me think that maybe, just maybe, we can snatch a win Sunday. We did it last year here and we did it at Stamford Bridge this season, so why can't we do it again?

And if we do, we'll only be three points behind them in the developing battle for third. Yes, it would be scant consolation, but I'd still like to finish third if we can and avoid next year's tricky Champs League qualifying round. If we win Sunday then all the pressure will be on Chelsea who can then not afford to slip up even once, or we'll pounce and steal their spot.

So come on lads, let's go out there Sunday and get some revenge for the F.A. Cup loss last month. We deserve it, and it can be done, so let's do it. Until next time,

Fab 4