I am missing me Arsenal now I must say, even more so now that the rest of the FA Cup is filled with a collection of despicable clubs. Everton were our only hope of taking that sick feeling away and now whatever happens, one team will make your stomach churn at Wembley when they lift the cup.

It is almost like a three way fight to the death and the last man standing will spend a month following you around and sleeping at your house. The three choices are David Bentley, John Terry or Luis Suarez. At least Everton were that funny guy from down the road who you talk to from time to time, but they only went and shot themselves in the foot.

Anyway, Arsenal tomorrow at least brightens up your Monday somewhat. Every cloud and all that.

Today’s real talking point would be Peter Hill-Wood’s comments about the future of Arsene Wenger.

Hill-Wood speaking to the Sunday Mirror said:

“For him to stay longer than that (2014) would be perfect. I can’t think of anybody better to run the team. And he has shown how much rubbish people were talking earlier this season. We had a terrible run of injuries and that obviously had an effect.

“I would want him to stay as long as he is happy here. He has been with us 14 years and has done a magnificent job. I want him to stay for the long-term and I see no reason at all why he should want to go.”

Cue thousands of Gooners crashing their heads on their keyboards, sobbing uncontrollably while the opposite end of the spectrum punch the air in delight such is the strange division amongst Gooners when it comes to the Arsenal manager.

Someone posted in the comments yesterday that he knew for a fact that Arsene would be in line for dismissal if we do not finish in the Champions League spots but I cannot help but think he was talking about Chelsea or another short term thinking club who cannot think more than six months ahead at any one time.

The early part of the season was always going to take time to readjust, any sane person would recognise that with 10 players or so being sold or going out on loan and then having to replace that amount would need time but we have come out the other side as a stronger team in my opinion even if we have done so by losing one of the best midfield players in Europe.

The manager has had to hop whilst others have been running during the erection of the Emirates stadium and now we are close to having some of the financial shackles removed from the club due to the upcoming commercial contracts that are soon to be renegotiated. It would only be fair for Arsene to be able to compete on an equal footing with other big clubs for the first time although it will never be at the level of the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea.

While regular readers will know that I am fully in support of the managers work at the club, he and the club have made mistakes but like I have already mentioned we have come out the other side stronger. The Arsenal foundation has been reinforced, the youngsters we have already floating around the first team squad are already experienced players, perhaps we do not see them as youngsters because of the amount of games they have played but players like Szczesny, Gibbs, Wilshere, Ramsey and Chamberlain are all under 23 years of age. Those players will want Arsene to keep developing and improving their game.

While many people are keen to point out that Arsenal FC is bigger than the manager and rightly so, it cannot be underestimated how much of a positive influence Arsene Wenger has in attracting players to the club and indeed keeping hold of existing players.

How many times have we heard players who have rejected more cash elsewhere to work with Arsene Wenger? While the Arsenal name is a huge name and our London base is a massive attraction having a coach so highly regarded everywhere but the English media only works in our favour.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Robin van Persie’s contract extension was closer linked to the future of Arsene Wenger than Champions League participation.

Arsene Wenger will not be around forever, nature will see to that but I am with P Woody on this one. ‘I want him to stay for the long-term and I see no reason at all why he should want to go’

Speaking of extending stays, Wojciech Szczesny has vowed to stick with the club until we win something which is only next season so I am now actually worried. Jokes aside, the charismatic Pole said.

“I stand in front of a mirror and say to myself: ‘Damn, I’m interested in winning trophies only with Arsenal. I want to be part of the team that show fans the bad times are over. I won’t leave until we achieve this.”

After having to suffer with the abrupt departures of the likes of Flamini, Hleb, Nasri, Adebayor and to a lesser extent Cesc it would be nice to have a group of players who are all close to each other and demand that they all stick together through Rooney thick and thin.

Lastly Theo Walcott has welcomed competition from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

I for one am not convinced that Chamberlain’s arrival has ‘put a rocket up Theo’ or whatever the saying is. When you strip football right down, any player at any level wants to do well in the time he is playing the game regardless of which player is sitting on the bench. If you need strong competition on the bench to make you play better then you shouldn’t be playing the sport at such a competitive level.

I pay my own money to play football on a Tuesday night and I do not play for trophies or medals but when I am on the pitch I want to win and want to play my best and I cannot see why that would be different in a game where there is so much more riding on each minute of every game.

I also do not think that the Walcott vs Chamberlain comparison is a fair one. As Theo put it:

‘We are totally different players, to be honest. He’s told me that he’s an attacking midfield player, that he likes to play just behind the striker in that free role.’

From my rather untrained eye, Oxlade-Chamberlain is the more talented of the two, has more versatility and probably has a larger scope to improve with the tools he already has but Walcott can be the most effective player in the league if he finds consistency and rounds up his game. AOC is not a wide forward, he is a player who wants to be on the ball while Walcott wants to run onto the ball and that makes them both incomparable. I would be surprised if both players played the same amount of games in a season and Chambo scored more.

Luckily for us we have both players and comparison just isn’t needed. The Arsenal players will play based on their roles for the team and the balance they provide.

With that, I am off for now but back tomorrow for a Wigan preview. Have your say in the comments.

’till tomorrow.