The way I see it - Wolves v Arsenal

Last updated : 06 November 2009 By Jason Hogan

To paraphrase he said that whilst the team were enjoying themselves at the minute, the season was still young and Arsenal haven't won anything yet.

It wasn't so much what he said that had me nodding in sage agreement it was how he said it. It was almost a coded warning to the team not to get too far ahead of themselves and the relatively deadpan delivery of his interview filled me with assurance that Fabregas, for one, has his eyes on the prize.

The game itself was a pleasure to watch. I thought AZ tried to play with good intention but when they eventually conceded a sloppy opening goal to Fabregas, they were forced to abandon ideas of keeping the game tight.

Saying that, it doesn't take away the quality of the other three goals we went on to score after Cesc's rather fortunate opener and Arshavin was creator in chief in all three cases.

First, he sent Nasri away to wrong foot a covering defender and finish despite the AZ keeper getting a hand on his shot. Then after an interception by Diaby in the second half, Arshavin was quick to see the chance to send a defence splitting pass through to Fabregas who administered a finish that Arshavin's perception almost begged for.

The piece de resistance was the fourth goal in which Eduardo also played an intuitive hand. His backheel sent Arshavin scurrying forward and having cut inside his man the little Russian laid the ball off to an onrushing Diaby who did the rest.

A compact, expressive display was marred slightly by AZ getting a sloppy consolation goal but I suppose when you consider that no human is perfect, it is a bit much of me to then ask my team to be exactly that.

Call it me being in a generous mood but I would like to give special praise to Abou Diaby. Over the last couple of years, the boy has infuriated me like no other Arsenal player has. But I'll give him his due here and although he showed that there are still parts of his game that definitely need ironing out, I couldn't argue with his industry on the night and his finishing ability. Keep the good work up, lad.

There have been some significant stirrings at boardroom level over the last few days. Kroenke has taken his shareholding up to 29.9% and speculation is rife that a takeover is imminent.

Even though I work for one of the Governments biggest departments, I am neither a political animal nor particularly well versed generally in the area of politics. Speaking from the heart as a fan though I had braced myself for the inevitability of a takeover from the moment Kroenke and Usmanov first came onto the scene.

When the takeover happens and who will become the new owner of the club I really don't know. But I have said this before and I will say it again; I would be absolutely distraught if a convicted felon like Usmanov owned my club. We are already a club that has to live with the constant ignorance, bigotry and denigration of people outside the club. Can you imagine how we would be perceived if Usmanov became the owner of Arsenal? Our credibility would plummet through the floor at an alarming speed.

So that leaves Kroenke. On the face of things, he has a knowledge of running sporting franchises over in the States and from an operational point of view that is a significant advantage he has over Usmanov.

But if Kroenke does take full ownership of Arsenal he has to realise that we are an institution within the national game and not some basketball franchise which is here today and gone tomorrow. We are not an entity built on the back of some cosmetic fad, we are entity of history and substance that is a massive part of people's lives (least of all mine).

I don't know what Kroenke's intentions are both in the short term and long term but say what you like about the existing board but the club remains consciously well run. If and when Kroenke takes over all I ask is that he puts measures in place to make sure the club stays that way even long after I'm dead.

Now, it's time to look ahead to our trip to Molineux where we will be faced by Wolves.

There are some clubs that somehow evoke memories of how football used to be. I don't know why but the likes of Burnley, Preston, Sunderland and Stoke always stir up a sense of nostalgia in me and Wolves are no different.

They are a grand old club which at present is looking to find their way back not just to the glory days but to again establishing themselves as the giants they once were certainly in the fifties.

At the Wolves' helm these days is Mick McCarthy. Now Roy Keane may not like the bloke much but there is something about McCarthy I have liked ever since he was managing Millwall. I love his blunt Yorkshire brogue and his ability to stay dignified (well most of the time) even in the most trying of circumstances.

McCarthy has taken his fair share of knocks as a manager. So have Wolves as a club over the years. But for me, there is almost a sense of poetic justice in the fact that McCarthy and Wolves are both still very much standing and have earned their place in the Premier League which, in fairness, is where they ought to be.

Their current crop of players are an intriguing bunch. They have good forwards on their books in the shape of Ebanks-Blake, Keogh and Kevin Doyle. All of them are capable of asking questions of us defensively.

For me however the men we need to watch are Milljas and Kightly. Milljas is a Serbian playmaker by all accounts and is very capable of being dangerous in dead ball situations.

Kightly is a highly regarded wide man who was plucked from non-league football and can be a big threat if he has going day.

Whilst I talked about this being a good old fashioned fixture on the faces of things it is also, in the current climate, one of those horrible fixtures in which the Arsenal are in the biggest of no-win situations.

The other factor going into this game is that we are of course in November, a month I personally hate above all others and one that has decimated Arsenal's seasons in the recent past.

Yes, the old phrase about banana skins springs to mind here. Let's hope the lads go into this game with same kind of mentality that Fabregas showed in his interview the other night. We have a chance to make some significant ground up on the teams above us in the table. Let's make sure that opportunity isn't passed up.