I, much like our strikeforce, have been awol for a few days.

It was another huge disappointment yesterday – a game that we never looked like taking a hold of. For some reason, despite being unbeaten in the league since August 26th, our confidence all of a sudden looks a bit brittle As a result, we can’t seem to score.

OK, so we should have had a penalty, but we didn’t get it and that’s life. More of a concern is why we didn’t create more chances of our own. Credit should also go to the Hammers, who looked a different side to the one that couldn’t score for toffee just a few games ago. Confidence is a funny thing.

Naturally, the red tops are dining out on the little spat between Wenger and Pardew. Unless something particularly unpleasant was said to Wenger, I can’t see why he reacted the way he did. Opposing managers celebrate wildly all the time.

That said, for the great man to have refused to shake hands (something I don’t agree with because it gives the opposition the ammo to aim potshots at you) and to refuse to give interviews, something must have rattled him. I’m sure we’ll find out in due course, but I suspect much of it was down to frustration at how we were playing.

Strangely enough, this season we’ve actually scored three goals more after ten games than we had last season and lost one fewer, and if you think about it, our league form has been pretty good.

But in league terms, we’re slipping.