What a roller-coaster week for an Arsenal fan, as ever I'll start with my teams performances this week. It all started last Tuesday with a cracking game against Sheffield United. What a great bunch of youngsters Wenger has again this term... It's not just the ability, it's their mentality that must be applauded. To be so young and talented and to play as Wenger likes with discipline in attack is such an accomplishment I think. Well done Stevie Bould and all involved. I thought Wilshire, Gibbs and of course Vela looked the most promising. It was back in the hands of the big boys against Hull City though and a small part of me believes Wenger might have a tinge of regret for not starting with a couple of the lads that impressed in the League Cup. Aside from the result, Walcott was again lively and looks set to have a bright future in world class football without a doubt... at 19 he surely still has years of improvements to make. All credit to Hull for taking the 3 points though, they were again fantastic as I've said before and I always knew it would be a tough game. Geo's goal was amazing and deserves all the applause. Phil Brown stuck to his guns and went out in front of the Emirates crowd with a confident 4-3-1-2 formation and took the game to Arsenal at every counter-attacking opportunity. On another day Arsenal may not have rued so many missed chances but Hull finished deserved winners.

I was disappointed to see Newcastle lose again, I thought they started the season so well and seeing the side devoid of any confidence is the unfortunate result of board level goings-on and that's so unfair to the team. At least the stalwart Shay Given played well, they were just caught out at the back too often to have won the game. At the other end of the scale, what a fantastic show of confidence the lad Torres put on in the Merseyside derby. I thought his two strikes were top, top class and proved he is a typically clinical finisher. It was lucky the Pool won because 3 disallowed goals in 2 weeks is too much for any manager (shame on you Mike Riley)... they have a right to feel aggreieved on 2 occassions possibly? United also won emphatically with Ronaldo back to his best, unfortunately Rob Styles was his usual self as well and disgracefully punished Boltons Jlloyd Samuel for an excellent challenge in the area. A good goal by Rooney however and I feel Man U did deserve the victory in the end. Chelsea completed the inevitable and saw off a Stoke side again short of ideas. They were picked apart and without Delap they had nothing. They need to improve drastically if they are going to have any chance of staying up. I tip Bosingwa to get even better over the second half of the season, such boundless energy to get up and down and he scored a good goal. Was there a hint of a handball in controlling that chip from Lamps tho??
Great to see Young and Gabby thriving again for the Villains... Young's invention and Gabby solid up top works well for the team. With Carew back and staying fit I think Villa will be there or there-abouts at the end of the season, possibly 5th.
Zola's good Hammers start continued against a Fulham side I expect to do well. I was impressed with Carlton Cole who did well getting on the end of the move he started. AJ was unlucky getting sent off I think... he seemed to genuinely go for the ball on both occassions he was cautioned.
Sunday saw Spurs lose again <ahem> and Ramos appears clueless to me now... Their captain Jenas said something quite telling in his post match interview I think. He said something along the lines of "the players to get us out of this... hopefully". A word like 'hopefully' indicates to me that even the players are starting to lose faith and have no confidence they can drag themselves out of the mire. Pompey on the other hand recently stated they were looking for buyers...What a BARGAIN at £60m for the club compared to the £300m Mike Ashley is asking for Newcastle! Lastly, Wigan won again and are progressing despite my early predictions with Zaki getting another goal. I don't think he'll continue to score but the team certainly know how to grind out results and continuing in this form they look good to keep a Premiership spot. No sign of Robinho on Sunday... has he had his 5 minute wonder?

I'll finish with congratulations to Arsenal last night putting Saturday behind them emphatically by beating Porto 4-0 and in all fairness they should have scored a few more by the end. After a nervy opening 15 minutes, Cesc started bossing the midfield and we didn't look back. Denilson again belied his age with a matured passing display and Walcott was electric - he had the defenders running scared every time!! Over in Denmark, it was a shame to see Scholes was injured, I love watching him play but if his knee treatment goes well perhaps Hargreaves might get more of a look-in over the next 10 weeks, a positive for England if he gets some game time in.

PS - In my last write up I completely failed to mention Englands 4-0 win against Croatia... Theee-o, Theee-o, Theee-o!!