For the best part of an hour, the Arsenal were given a real chasing by the opposition but in the last half hour we got ourselves together and if we were the ones happy to hear the referee's whistle at half time, they were definitely the ones who were happy to hear it at the end of the game.
Whether or not the events at the Shithole went some way to dampening down the almost hysterical claims that the "balance of power" in North London had shifted to Spurs and away from Arsenal depended on which paper you read or what pundit you happened to listen to.
In the eyes of Henry Winter of the Independent, it appears as though there is no doubt that a shift in the balance in power is nigh on imminent. Watching the You're On Sky Sports phone-in on Monday night, he raved on and on about Spurs, their English contingent and how exciting the future was going to be for them as long as they can be kept together. He then went on to claim that Michael Carrick (who was outstanding to be fair to him in the opening 45 minutes) was actually far and away the best player on the pitch for 70-80 minutes. And then, when he asked about Arsenal's second half revival, Winter claimed (without taking into account that Henry, Cole and Hleb were unavailable for Arsenal) that it wouldn't have happened if Edgar Davids was playing.
So there you have it, Arsenal fans. Our second half fight back had nothing to do whatsoever with the fact that Wenger made tactical change here, a couple of substitutions there or that we generally rolled our sleeves up and showed some belated stomach for the fray. It was down to the fact that Spurs didn't have their dreadlocked steroid abuser there to hold the hands of the much vaunted English players Winter and just everyone else is raving about.
As I have already said the suggestions of a shift in the balance in power are absurd. More than that, I have to say that these suggestions are also downright disrespectful to both Wenger and what the club has achieved to this very day under his stewardship.
How quickly people forget. Wenger was the first foreigner not only to win the English title but the League and FA Cup Double. Wenger was the man that showed that the then dominant force in English football, Man Utd, could be taken on AND beaten with a degree of regularity on a fraction of their resources and without the aid of some billionaire's cheque book. Not Houllier, not Mourinho, nor Benitez and not Martin Jol – but WENGER.
Yet, suddenly all that he has achieved at Arsenal to this very day (taking into account the fact that the Arsenal, under his stewardship, are the current holders of the FA Cup) apparently counts for nothing in the eyes of the press and the media when assessing who the top dogs are in North London right now. The press and the media are also happy to forget the fact that as things stand this very day, Arsenal are still effectively in three cup competitions whereas Spurs are effectively only in one.
Instead, they are holding up the fact that Spurs are currently ahead of us by three points in the league having played eleven games to our ten and the fact that they actually gave us one or two things to think about in a North London derby for the first time in years and years as all the proof that is needed that Arsenal are finished and Spurs are now the dominant force in North London. I would expect the average Spurs fan to show that level of ignorance. When you have had to endure a diet of mediocrity and dross for 15 years and are desperate to see better days, you are naturally going to blow any signs of promise out of proportion. But you would expect a lot of people in the media to show a little bit more savvy and objectivity. I guess that it is asking a bit too much.
It all adds weight to my long standing theory that there is an unwritten rule in the press and the media that Arsenal Football Club are not there to be respected or given any credit no matter what we achieve and if you want example as to why I have always thought this way, then let me take you all on an imaginary drive about 200 miles up the road to Manchester.
As we all know, ManUre got stuffed by Middlesbrough up at the Riverside on Saturday night. 48 hours later, Manchester City came out and beat Villa at Eastlands to leapfrog over ManUre in the league. Despite this and the fact that City have already been to Old Trafford and earned a point this season, is anyone in the press and the media shouting from the rooftops about a shift in the balance of power up in Manchester? Are they saying that City are a club on the way up and United on the way down? No, of course they are not.
Okay, I have words such as "malaise" being banded about when referring to United recently. I have also read articles suggesting that there is a crisis at Old Trafford in the wake of the thumping they got at the Riverside. But reading between the lines, the suggestion is that the problems there are only short term ones that can be rectified with the odd tweak here and the odd investment there. But nobody has come out and damningly suggested are in the same sort of terminal decline that Arsenal supposedly are.
Whilst I am drawing a parallel between the current state of affairs in North London and Manchester, it's also worth remembering that we have won more trophies than United have in the last four years or so and we have finished higher than them in the league two years running and in three of the last four seasons. So, how come we are considered categorically to be on the slippery slope toward oblivion and United are not? The simple answer to that is the press and the media have a level of unconditional respect for Ferguson, his achievements and the club itself which is conspicuously absent where Wenger and Arsenal are concerned.
Why are things this way? I think that it's a combination of the fact that he not British, that he is not prepared to pay extortionate amounts for British players of late just for the sake of it in order to satisfying his critics AND the fact that he happens to be, quite simply, the manager at Arsenal Football Club that is probably behind all of this.
There us one thing I do know for sure though. Everyone was going around saying that the time is now for Spurs. Everyone thought that Saturday was the day when Arsenal were going to be faced with the beginning of the end. But it DIDN'T turn out that way.
And my message to every Spurs fan in the world is a simple one – they like to talk about us Arsenal fans living in the past and not living in the here and now. Well, I've already spoken about the reality of how things stand to this very day about both clubs – now I've got a message for you for the future.
No Spurs fan can take away what we have achieved over the last ten years up until the present day. The fact is, certainly as far as the North London scene goes, only a complete fool would attempt to argue against the fact that Arsenal haven't raised the bar in terms of the things we have been done to emphasise that dominance in that time.
Therefore as far as I am concerned, if Spurs and in particular their much hyped contingent of English players are going to dominate the North London scene then it's only right that say, over the next five years, they are seen to be doing the sort of things that we have done over the last ten.
Even in the unlikely event that Spurs DID finish above us in the league this year, that won't mean nothing to me. Everton finished above Liverpool for one season and look at them now. If Spurs finish above us every year for the next five years AND they are winning league titles when we are not AND they are winning cups we are not then and ONLY then will I even think about holding my hands up and admitting that there has been a shift in the balance of power. Considering that is exactly what Arsenal have done over the last ten years, I don't think that I am asking a great deal of the so-called up and coming force in North London.
Stranger things have happened at sea I suppose. Mind you, there's more chance of seeing Arsene sharing a bottle of red wine with Old Purple Nose and starting up a mutual appreciation society on live TV than seeing Spurs winning a title anytime before the year 2025 for a start.
Now, it's time to look forward, briefly on this occasion, to Wednesday's game against Sparta in the Champions League.
Arsene has already stated in the media that Thierry Henry will start on Wednesday which I find strange given that he has admitted he rushed Henry back too early after the game in Prague two weeks ago. I really think that Van Persie deserves to be given a go up front. He has shown signs of real sharpness in the last two games at Sunderland and at the Shithole.
I think that it would be a good time to take Reyes out of the firing line for a while. Up until two weeks ago I thought that he has been our best player but I feel that he has lost his way a bit lately. Pires who redeemed himself superbly on Saturday, should start down the left and I would bring in young Eboue down the right in the absence of Ljungberg.
I'm always ultra cautious about Champions League games as a rule but the Arsenal are on their best run in the competition for quite some time. It may not have registered with people in the press and the media but we have actually lost only one of our last 11 matches in the tournament going into Wednesday's game. Sparta may have one or two players back who were missing from the first game in Prague but they are notoriously bad travellers in Europe.
A win would guarantee us a place in the last 16. We have often made life difficult for ourselves when trying to qualify for the latter stages in the past. Let's hope we can do it in style and two games to spare this time.