Just like Sunderland, Burnley was a strange game, in a way that we had so many goal opportunities that the 3-1 score seems a harsh one. But if 3-1 sounds harsh, what if a Burnley player scored the goal of his life from that 85th minute free-kick giving his team a 2-2 draw? I’m not complaining of course but we need to take our chances when they are presented as sooner or later there will be games where we won’t have so many easy chances in a game.

At the end of the day we took all three points which is exactly what we wanted. If I am to analyse the game in detail, I would say that there were more positives than negatives to take out from the game such as the amazing performances from Samir, Abou and Theo, especially the Englishman who finally produced a fantastic performance.

Together with Nicklas’ missed chances, Theo stole the headlines this morning and I just wanted to spend a word or two on them, starting with the 22-year old.

Nicklas Bendtner

It is amazing how much people are looking into Nick’s yesterday misses, they are all over the headlines, overshadowing the win and the rest. I mean, am I the only one who believes he just had a bad day at the office which however could have cost us the game?

To read some say that the reason of his performance is that he’s still 22 is ludicrous. One, because those were chances which even a 15-year old would have scored and two, going back to what Cesc said not long ago, we have to stop hiding behind the statement of how young some of our players are. These are the players with which we are going out there trying to win the title, players who are good enough – despite their young age – to go on and win the whole thing.

But, it is as equally ludicrous to crucify the kid saying he’s no good for Arsenal. This broken record is becoming very annoying. It is perfectly normal to think that a player may not be good enough to be a regular yet, but to draw a line on his Arsenal career so early is foolish.

Finally, as Andrey said, let’s just hope Nicklas decided to keep all the goals for Porto, a game where I’m afraid we will not be gifted the same amount of goal opportunities gifted yesterday.

Theo Walcott

Had you asked me what I think of Theo, let’s say last month, I would have replied with these words, “He is a formidable player with great pace, capable of running with the ball at incredible speed without actually leaving the ball behind him, BUT, he needs to improve the final ball as getting in great positions and blasting it is not helping the squad”.

Would that have been a bad analysis? I don’t think so. As I always say I love Theo and love it when he brings something to the side, just like yesterday, but please let’s not forget that this is what he has to do in EVERY game, not once every two months. It’s all about consistency, which ultimately is what Theo has been lacking lately.

Looking Forward

Tuesday will be a big night. During the last couple of weeks we made sure to be in a strong position in the English Premiership, the next step is of course to cancel the horrible display at the Estádio do Dragão and qualify for the next stage of Europe’s most prestigious cup.

Unfortunately, it seems Cesc will miss that one, but let’s keep on hoping. After all, it’s already enough if he can replicate the Aston Villa off-the-bench cameo performance. The preview for that one will be online tomorrow, as always, until then, take good care of yourselves friends.