There’s a bloke who sits in front of me at the Grove who arrives ten minutes in and leaves 20 minutes before the end, every game. I was a bit like that last night, with me taking what amounted almost to a mid-game siesta by missing the last 20 minutes of the first half and the first ten of the second. In my defence, it was so I could eat some nice Lincolnshire sausages. Anyway, it was that kind of game. And they were nice sausages.

Arsenal got the point they needed to qualify but had just one shot on goal in a game that was either an intriguing battle of attrition or just plain ordinary, depending on which way you look at it. Whatever, it was the first time this season we have not scored a goal. Not a bad time to add towards your obligatory annual quota of scoreless draws, I suppose.

Perhaps the result and the lack of chances was not surprising really, with just Faulty, Gallas and Clichy remaining from Saturday’s game. And given we didn’t have either of our first choice strikers or our three most creative midfielders.

Still, we’re through, and we managed to go through despite giving much-needed rests to key players. I’d rather it this way than having to rely on other teams’ results with the whole thing going down to the wire.

And a word about Sky. I know they like to get all giddy and carried away, but to describe Slavia’s result as “maybe one of the greatest results in their entire history” is surely taking things a bit far. A 0-0 against a sub-strength Arsenal side is greater than their fourteen league titles, eh? Is it? Do us a favour. Piffle, that’s what that is.