I hate comparing to Manchester United but I feel that I have to in this case. When the likes of Giggs, Nani, Evra etc are on the ball you see players bursting a gut to get in the box.

Our last two results are just typical of Arsenal football club over the last few years. We went to Milan and outplayed the Champions League holders only to come back to England and draw to Wigan at the JJB in a fairly dull showing.

The pitch did have a massive part to play, and if the pitch was how it was supposed to be then I would have fancied us to pick up three points but to be honest that is not my main issue here.

The commitment of the players cannot be faulted. I have seen us not give 100% against the bottom sides because we just expect to win the game without a fight but this was not the case as I watched closely when we didn’t have the ball and players like Flamini, Cesc and Hleb chased the opposition in packs as if they were Pirlo, Kaka etc

My problem was a question of tempo, a question of urgency.

We have alot of confidence in our ability to win matches but I feel sometimes that we have to much confidence in that ability. We only switch up the gears after 70 minutes and by the time it is often to late.

The pitch was a major problem to our passing but here is a question for you..

How many times did the midfield players such as Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto get themselves into the box when our full backs had the ball in wide areas?
How many times did you see those same midfield players burst past Adebayor and Bendtner to give extra attacking options?
How many times did we hit the target during the duration of the 90 minutes?

The answer to all those questions is either not at all, or not alot. And it isn’t good enough for a side who have to win the match.

I hate comparing to Manchester United but I feel that I have to in this case. When the likes of Giggs, Nani, Evra etc are on the ball you see players bursting a gut to get in the box. You see the likes of Ronaldo and Nani running past Rooney to get into goalscoring positions.

Even if Alex Hleb isn’t a great – good – decent goalscorer, at least his presence in the box would give the Wigan defence something else to think about. Flamini is great at arriving late into the box as he has done on more than one occasion in the past didn’t look like doing this over the whole game.

We cannot write off the title at this stage because there are plenty of points to play for but you have to say that the momentum is well and truly with Manchester United. Title winners should beat Birmingham (a), Aston Villa (h) and Wigan (a) during the important stage of the season.

Bendtner was by far the better striker and should have been kept on the pitch. Arsene Wenger made substitutions as if it was the first leg of a champions league match. He replaced our best striker on the day and brought on a striker who is versatile enough to play across the front line.

I think Arsene should have replaced Gilberto for Van Persie and played Van Persie on the right of midfield and he could have switched to a 4-3-3 with Cesc pulling the strings from a central position.

We need to stop complaining about the state of pitches because it will only encourage other teams to do the same thing. We need to adapt to different situations.

There are positives to take from this result and that is the return of Van Persie. Although he was not at his best you could immediately see that he brings another dimension to our attacking play.

Van Persie will have to hit the ground running.

Robin needs goals as soon as possible, Adebayor has not been the same player since Eduardo’s injury. He has missed the partnership that another striker gives. He will pass to Van Persie.

We have to go on a fantastic winning streak for us to win the league now.