Odd game, wasn’t it?

I watched in online, in a browser window about four inches by four inches, and for the first 60 minutes I was grateful for the tiny screen. Anything bigger and I might have burst into tears. We started well but fell away after the first goal, then just about everything that could go wrong did so – red card, deflected goal, buckets of northern rain. Let’s be frank, we looked dead and buried.

Odd game though, as I said.

Gallas could not miss the tap-in that made it 2-1, then Hleb somersaulted his way to our equaliser with a clear penalty, and suddenly from the depths of gloom came the buds of a recovery. At this stage I was shouting at my computer – do they ever listen when you do that?

The confidence returned in waves and despite more defensive pressure, we held on and carved out a pinball winner in stoppage time – and what a win it became. We have four whoppers coming up so this was a shot in the arm we needed so, so much.

I don’t think it will affect the title race, but it made me happy – and that’s what it’s all about sometimes. Five league games without a win is pretty unpleasant when you’re not used to it, and it does make me realise how lucky we are as Arsenal fans that we don’t embark upon these kinds of runs that frequently.

Winning – nice, isn’t it?