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That penalty of course came courtesy of a challenge by Laurent Koscielny on the talented but devious Robben. The Bayern winger had spent much of the evening trying to get up close and personal with the Alianz turf following a series (!) of tumbles that most people would correctly call cheating. Of course, he needed little invitation to go down like a new-born foal under Kos’ challenge but once again, our French centre back made the decision easy for the referee. Every replay you care to watch shows that Kosclieny’s tackle attempt definitely made ‘contact’ with the flailing Dutchman so, while harsh, it could easily be argued that it was indeed a spot-kick.

One of the players in the current squad one might argue isn't likely to be overawed by a so-called 'tough' game is Mattheu Flamini. Since his return, the tenacious Frenchman has been lauded for adding that much sought after 'steel' and toughness to Arsenal's midfield and in the eyes of most, would have been tailor-made for the battle at the Britannia. Inexplicably however, Flamini was left out. It's easy in hindsight to look at the team selection and criticise the manager's decisions after the event but leaving out the Midfielder, as well as Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ozil, was odd before the game and in light of the result, looked borderline absurd. Ok, the team he picked may have been mostly the same as that which comprehensively dispatched of Sunderland a week prior, but if

I have been tempted to suggest that Mertesacker's transfer from Werder Bremen is the most symbolic of the Emirates era. Just like Dennis Bergkamp's arrival served as precursor to the champagne football of the last decade at Highbury, Mertesacker's was the first in a seismic shift. One of the reasons given for Arsenal's regression has been that the French league had gotten progressively weaker. When Arsene Wenger first came to England, he had the knowledge of an unheralded market and he took advantage of this. Jamie Carragher, the ex Liverpool stalwart speaks of how he effectively wrote off any signings from the French league by Liverpool on the basis that "If they were any good, Wenger would have bought them." As Wenger had to devise a plan to save Arsenal from the havoc brought by the departures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, Mertesacker's arrival foreshadowed a more Teutonic outlook. The next year, Lukas Podolski would join. The year after, Mesut Ozil. Wenger, a man born in Alsace, a town that borders

There is a huge irony here – that the same people who never stop banging on about the importance of ‘marquee’ signings where Arsenal are concerned seem oddly unwilling to accept how far twenty marquee signings each might take Manchester City and Chelsea beyond our reach. And have you noticed how they have found all sorts of ways to keep criticising whilst carefully avoiding any real mention of this elephant in the room? One of their favourites is to compare our budget to the teams just below us instead, to show how we ‘under-achieve’. ‘We only just came above Spurs, and look how tiny their wage bill is compared to us’. Well, firstly, Spurs are showing right now just how difficult it is to maintain that kind of form for more than a season. Secondly, if they ever made the

Has there been any confirmation of the extent of the injuries? It’s never a good thing to have too many changes to your back four but regardless I do think we will be okay. Monreal wouldn’t be a huge miss but the absence of Gibbs puts a damper on the whole situation, losing two leftbacks at this stage could be a problem. Koscielny on the other hand is a huge miss however with Sagna willing and able to play center half we should be fine.

On his return from injury, it was clear Rambo was playing tentatively. He was slow and ponderous in possession and was asked to play an unfamiliar position. The thinking behind shoehorning him into right midfield has been questioned by some and lauded by others. In truth only Arsene and his backroom staff know why he was asked to play such an unfamiliar position. This season we are seeing the player we had caught glimpses of pre-shawcrossed; a player who is exuding confidence and class, trying things on the pitch that others would never have deemed possible from the Welshman 12 months ago. Whilst the medical staff, who often come in for criticism over our injury list, deserve a great deal of credit; so too, do the personnel who spent time with Aaron focusing on his

There can be no argument with the decision and it’s difficult to lay blame with our Polish keeper. With Robben bearing down on him, he had to make a judgement call. If he stays on his line he makes it easy for the attacker so coming out the way he did would have seemed like the best option. However, there is no margin for error. In such a situation, you need to 100% sure you’re going to get to the ball first. Unfortunately, he didn’t. Compare it to a similar situation moments earlier when the Ox was closing in on Manual Neuer. The Big German keeper just about made it to ball first and the chance

Laurent Koscielny was immense I thought, and has been for a while now. The Ox looked good early on too, although the red card obviously took the sting out of his game a bit, but he showed enough for me tonight to suggest he could be massive for us for the rest of

On a final note, I do wonder why Sanogo was picked over Bendtner yesterday, I’ve heard reports that Sanogo has been very impressive in training but the same goes for Bendtner, who Wenger has said is sharp and fit. It’s possible that Sanogo has overtaken Bendtner in terms of backup to Giroud and that may partially explain why Wenger didn’t dip into the transfer market. It’s possible that Wenger genuinely believes, on the basis of his performances in training, that he is capable of stepping in until the end of the season. I won’t dwell on the January transfer business but it strikes me that Wenger very rarely plumps for a make-shift target if he has someone in mind – which I’m sure he does. It’s also evident that strikers are in high demand at the moment and with the

The TV broadcasters awarded the man of the match award to Alex whose involvement in both goals ultimately secured the victory. Having been on hand to fire in the rebound to open the scoring, it was the Ox's darting run down the wing that led to him feeding Lukas Podolski for the all important second. Yet it wasn't simply these moments that earned him the post match plaudits and accolades. In the first half, was the beating heart of the Arsenal team and rarely stopped running. So much so, he quite easily managed to give Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard something of a run around. One imagines Oxlade-Chamberlain would be looking to the stellar career of the Liverpool man as something to emulate and on the evidence of this performance, he is certainly heading in the right direction.