The pressure was now on us but with so many important players returning to Arsenal, I couldn’t see anything other than a victory for the home side who were chasing the Premier League. The signs were positive after the first 2-5 minutes, often the microcosm window where you can usually tell

I am late to the party and as the party is pretty depressing, I will show my face say hello to a few people and get out as soon as possible.

It is Monday afternoon and it is the first time that I have had the chance to write anything about the weekend, the weekend that may have closed the book on our season in 2010/2011.

Something has gone wrong at Arsenal in the last few weeks, something is broken that needs fixing but the broken part is very difficult to find. Diaby, Denilson, Almunia, Squillaci, Bendtner or any of the other scapegoats cannot be blamed for Arsenal not finding the breakthrough against a team fighting to stay in the league.

Earlier in the afternoon, West Ham had taken a two goal lead at Upton Park, they have gone on a good run of late and Manchester United’s poor away record was under threat once again. Whenever Manchester United go behind in that way, something in the back of my mind reminds me that they have an annoying habit of coming back to win but the main part of my mind tells me that it won’t happen this time, they will slip up and give us the much needed advantage.

As soon as I heard that Wayne Rooney had pulled one back with plenty of time on the clock then you just knew what was coming. The feeling of excitement at the prospect that our rivals are on course to drop points had come crashing down due to one Wayne Rooney goal.

As expected with a little help from their friends, Manchester United had completed their turnaround as they have done so many times in the past.

The pressure was now on us but with so many important players returning to Arsenal, I couldn’t see anything other than a victory for the home side who were chasing the Premier League. The signs were positive after the first 2-5 minutes, often the microcosm window where you can usually tell what type of performance will be on show for the remainder of the game. We were sharp and looked hungry.

Blackburn Rovers had defended pretty well but around the penalty box our decisions and execution of pass was not sharp enough. Passes were continuously cut out or passes being over hit at the critical time.

Jack Wilshere should have scored on the half hour but he miscued from close range. That was as good as the chances were going to get for the rest of the game. At half time I wondered if we would see Cesc come on but I wondered who he would replace. We hadn’t created many chances and were not at our best but no outfield player was overly poor.

Van Persie struggled to get into the game, Arshavin looked bright on the left and made one lung busting run back to make a last ditch tackle on a Blackburn player. Yet it was Arshavin to be replaced on the hour for the skipper.

No doubt that Arshavin’s international minutes contributed to the managers thinking but Arshavin looked our best bet in cracking a stubborn Blackburn defence.

Nzonzi was red carded for a late lunge on Koscielny and it only gave the visitors the excuse to drop everyone behind the ball. As the minutes ticked on and Robinson’s goal was being less and less tested, Arsene threw on strikers Chamakh and Bendtner but without Nasri and Walcott on the pitch we then started to use Sagna to cross balls into the box and that only seems to be our game when we are desperate for a goal. Blackburn being the hoof it merchants that they are deal with crosses and long balls continuously in training and it is meat and drink to the likes of Christopher Samba.

We couldn’t find a goal and the game finished scoreless. That is three league draws in a row against teams we should be beating and beating well if we are to win the league.

Conclusion

I was convinced that we needed not only a victory but we needed to play well to set us up for the remaining games, we got neither.

Wenger has said that the team were flat and that he has no idea as to why they were flat. It is the only question that I have today. We had almost our strongest attacking line up at home against a team who have been in decline, yet Paul Robinson has probably been tested more from teams in the bottom three than he was at the Emirates.

When we have collapsed in the past, we have usually had a collection of injuries to key players, this cannot be said of the team that took to the field on the weekend. We have no excuses to turn to, the players must look hard at themselves and ask serious questions.

Could they have given more, did they have anything left? If so why did they not squeeze anything else out?

The title is now in the hands of Manchester United. They will almost certainly concede points at some stage but if we continue to feel sorry for ourselves and go through the motions then undoubtedly this team will also drop plenty more.

We know these players are capable of more but it is certainly time to prove it on the pitch where it really matters.

Almunia (4)
Sagna (6)
Squillaci (6)
Koscielny (6)
Clichy (5)
Song (5)
Wilshere (6)
Nasri (5)
Walcott (5.5)
Van Persie (5)
Arshavin (5.5)

Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions