Who wants a piece of us?

What a result! Just when things were looking a bit dodgy, and you felt that AC Milan might be the team to destroy our fast fading confidence, we slapped them in their old wrinkled faces and stole into the quarter finals. Better yet, we did it at the notoriously safe San Siro retirement village. No doubt, it is a fantastic result, even the Milan supporters were impressed with the performance. The result in the greater scheme of things though deserves far more applause from us Gooners.

Key to this for me, was the rejuvenated..erm.. juvenile - Cesc Fabregas. Anyone who has watched Arsenal since the turn of the year will know just how important this is for the team because Cesc's form has certainly below par since Christmas. However his ability to put in match winning performances in the big games is a pleasing habit. It seems as though he needs these games every now and then, to have a serious challenge to his undoubted ability, to get him playing at his best.

Meanwhile Theo Walcott showed just how much he has come along in recent months with a wonderful late cameo, after replacing the disappointingly average Eboué (well he is at least consistent). I'm wondering whether Theo might be a bit of a Flamini type of player, not in style but in terms of development. When Flamini was brought to the club around the same time as Fabregas, there was talk in the papers amongst those supposedly in-the-know that Flamini was the better prospect. However it took him several years to develop, struggling and persisting to eventually forge a first team place. Now though, after bossing around Pirlo, Gattuso and World-player-of-the-year Kaka over 180 minutes of football, he is fast developing a reputation as one of the best holding midfielder's in the game (expect a summer bid from Real Madrid!). One thing though, does he tip a bucket of water on his head at half time? Has one player ever sweated so much in the history of football? I know he runs endlessly but he must lose litres of moisture in each game!

Anyway... perhaps there is the need for all of us to just let Theo get on with his business and not over analyse his contributions for a while. He may not hit his full potential until he is (and still young) in his early twenties. If last nights performance is anything to go by, it will be worth waiting for.

So now we're left eagerly anticipating the draw for the Quarter Finals - and what odds on it being our old friends from Manchester? Failing that, I wouldn't be surprised to see us drawn with Barcelona, and a certain Mr Henry. But on the back of the result at the San Siro, I for one feel that perhaps this may be a blessing in disguise. We went to the final by beating the likes of Real Madrid and a corrupt Juventus back in 2005/2006, and we do seem to rise to the challenge in these sorts of games (and sadly tend to fail in Europe against sides we are favourite's to beat). It seems that on our day, we are capable of completely dominating possession of the ball against any side. And oh how I'd like to put Chelski in their place in Europe. The potential for revenge in the next round is high...

For the moment though it really is just a matter of whether we can keep our key players fit and on the pitch. Unfortunately our squad is about as deep as Sp*rs trophy cabinet lately and there is not as much chance for Arsene to give his key players (the likes of Cesc, Flamini and Hleb) a rest as say Ferguson or Avram Grant could do with their teams. And on that note lets not forget we have to face our three biggest rivals for the title within the next month or so - and Liverpool and United are back to back.

However we do have a few players to come back into the team shortly - Rosicky, Van Persie and Super Kolo will now have to fight for their place in the side following the brilliant result in Milan, so hopefully they will feel they have a point to prove when they get a run in the side. This weekends match in that empty shell of a stadium, the JJB of Wigan (surely the only ground in the league where the traveling support can outnumber the home fans), should be the ideal fixture to continue to boost our confidence (and boosting our goal difference wouldn't harm either).

What I am fairly certain of, is that when we are drawn out of the pot at the draw for the Quarter Finals, there will be a lot of rather nervous managers hoping they have avoided us - and that is the way I like it.

By Paul Wright

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