Four to the Floor

What a weekend: we're genuinely back in the title race, Chelsea's defence is crumbling, United are looking weak, Liverpool are in crisis... and the scum made fools of themselves at home to Wolves.

Wenger finally unleashed the tirade those players have needed for so long. It must have been like seeing a 6th form Chemistry teacher finally lose it; after years of trying to control misbehaving, underachieving kids and dealing with one distraction after another, the pressure finally got to him. Having to tell Senderos every five minutes to stop picking his nose or chewing gum in lessons; constantly needing to clean up the mess made by Manuel Almunia; trying to break up knife fights possibly initiated by Mark Randall; with all that and Cesc's phone constantly going off with texts from his mates in the Spanish class down the hall, no one could have blamed him for laying into them for fifteen minutes.

He had every reason to criticise at half-time - unlike the Chelsea or United matches, he had literally no one to turn on except for the players, who were being well and truly outclassed. We were lucky it was only 1-0, particularly after Gallas got away with a pretty clear penalty shout (although Liverpool should have been called offside before the play got that far) and Torres had placed a sitter right into Almunia's arms. Immediately after half-time, the boys looked sharper and played as if for their careers.

Arshavin really stepped up a gear. He closed down the Liverpool centre backs, covered all the ground that an out-of-sorts Theo Walcott failed to cover, and got himself involved in every play. His finish was simply sublime, and showed how he turn a game on its head with a moment of magic having been reasonably quiet beforehand. Fabregas kept himself so busy during the second half that, for once, he actually looked a bit tired towards the end. Armand Traore, after several dodgy performances in recent weeks, played very well, using his strength and pace to restrict Liverpool's right side to crosses from deep.

Alex Song was impeccable. Even in the first half when our defending was generally clumsy and his more experienced counterparts were making mistakes, he remained composed and often bailed the others out. At one point, Gallas got himself in a bind and found himself scrabbling wildly to clear the ball; unfazed, Song rolled his eyes, jogged back, calmly took the ball off him and walked it to safety. He has become a remarkably consistent player and has proved himself among a very small number of Arsenal players who can be expected to put in their very best week in, week out.

The midfield played well as a unit, with Fabregas and Denilson showing an almost telepathic understanding with Nasri in the later stages with some clever passing near the corner flag. Nasri is in great shape after the long lay-off, and is looking much faster - if he stays fit, he could be a vital player for us.

There are a few problems to address if we're to really go for it this season. Almunia looked a bit dodgy, and every single cross that came in worried me. The Liverpool goal wasn't really the fault of anyone in particular, but he might have handled it better rather than presenting them with a rebound. Walcott was fairly unhelpful, constantly losing possession and not looking confident at all, although he did cause problems for Glen Johnson and was in the right position to panic him and Carragher into giving us a hand. Vermaelen's marking worried me - he gave his opponents far too much room, and could easily have given them a free header before we equalised. But all of these problems seemed to have been more evident in the first half, and Wenger's words may well have gone some way towards dealing with them.

Anyway, we have plenty to be positive about this week. Burnely away will be tricky, but a good result at Turf Moor would be a strong signal to the rest of the Top Four, whoever the new number four may be...

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