In 2006, Arsène Wenger stared transfixed across the lush green turf of the Stade de France focused only on the most prestigious and coveted club trophy in world football. Make no mistake, the Champions League is the trophy that Arsène and Arsenal know is required to put the official stamp of success on the Wenger years.

Wednesday, 17 May 2006 was not to be our night. We had fought our way through the group stages and somehow sneaked almost unnoticed into the final courtesy of an 89th minute penalty save from mad Jens in the semi-final against Villareal. If we are to reach the final this year, we will have to beat the best teams on the way starting with FC Barcelona at The Emirates Stadium tonight.

In 2006, we had a team about to go into transition.  Our talismanic captain Cesc Fàbregas, Manuel Almunia, the resurgent Emmanuel Eboué and unbelievably, a rejuvenated Sol Campbell are the only survivors of that game.

Since 2006 the team has gone through a gradual and sometimes painful metamorphosis. The inspirational brilliance of Thierry Henry, the gallic artistry of Robert Pires and the gutsy determination of Freddie Ljunberg have been lost in the sands of time. TH14 may play for Barcelona, but his heart and more significantly his best years are with Arsenal forever. Those players have been replaced with a new generation of Wenger protégés.

Whether you believe the development of these players was part of a brilliant master plan by Arsène or a consequence of having to make the most of limited finances, it has to be admitted that they have finally moulded into an outfit that looks capable of winning the highest honours, and they can only get better. Tonight we will see if we have reached and surpassed the achievement of the team of 2006.

This season has been full of the ups and downs we’ve become accustomed to over recent years. We’ve lost our best striker, relived the horror of seeing one of our players receive a devastating injury, been written off by the pundits and fought back to be in contention for the league and still are perceived by most ‘experts’ to have little chance of reaching this year’s Champions League final.

David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle died this day in 2001. He was an exceptional player and a true gentleman of the game. What more fitting tribute to this Arsenal legend than to dedicate a victory tonight to his memory.

I could have written about many aspects of tonight’s game, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised just how much it meant to me and to every gooner across the globe. The details of player selection and tactics seemed almost immaterial. It’s our chance to prove everyone wrong. The pundits, the experts, the armchair critics, the green eyed followers of other teams, they have no idea how it feels to be an Arsenal fan who has lived through these years looking forward to this game, this special night.

COME ON ARSENAL…. COME ON ARSENAL….COME ON ARSENAL……

We needed a miracle before Birmingham we still need a miracle now the only thing that has changed is that we need an even bigger one.

I would like to try and put a positive spin on the match but I can’t, the nausea in the pit of my stomach won’t let me. It feels like I have woken up with the mother of all hangovers and no matter how hard I try and remind myself what a good time I had at the party we call our season, enjoying exquisite football of the highest calibre — it doesn’t help, I still feel absolutely awful.

Wenger’s gamble failed, I am not about to launch into an anti Wenger tirade, I am fully aware just how easy it is to get things right with hindsight but Wenger stressed the importance of ignoring the Barcelona game and being fully focussed on Birmingham which surely included playing our strongest team – well he didn’t, and it cost us.

Playing Theo on a bowling green of a surface such as the Emirates when the play is tight is usually unproductive but playing him on a bobblely pitch like St Andrews and he is more than likely to go AWOL, which is exactly what happened, for seventy minutes he was anonymous — it was equivalent of playing with 10 men.

In normal circumstances playing with ten men against eleven does not deter the spirit of this team as they showed so admirably last week against West Ham but with Howard Webb so blatantly making it twelve against ten, things were tough, throw in an injury that reduced Fabrégas to a passenger and the odds were really stacked against us.

Still the nine men battled on with Rosicky mustering all the enthusiasm he possessed, Diaby was putting on a magic show in the middle, while Denilson albeit light weight was doing what he could but no matter how much they tried this midfield triumvirate just could not get the game under control and it remained deadlocked.

Then on seventy minutes Wenger decided to unwrap the big guns from Wednesday’s cotton wool; Arshavin and Nasri replaced Walcott and Rosicky, the difference was immediate, for the first time in the match there was eleven against eleven, well almost, they still had Webb but it certainly helped.

The two late arrivals were cutting through the Birmingham defence like a hot knife through butter, this galvanised the back line, lifted Denilson’s confidence and gave even more impetus to the Diaby show. It seemed like only a question of time before we scored and so it proved: our saviour was Nasri, a low drive through a sea of legs found its way into the far corner leaving Heart stranded — cue unbridled joy in the 12 Pins pub, Finsbury Park the place went absolutely mental.

Arsenal immediately took their foot off of the paddle and dropped a gear but with only ten minutes to go all seemed fine — wrong — out of the blue in injury time someone thrust their hand down my throat, ripped out my beating heart, throw it into the air and Almunia, instead of catching it, tried to push it over the bar which he pathetically failed to do — it hurts, it really hurts.

By London

Rasputin’s rant

I know other bloggers have moaned about this before, but last weekend’s game against Wham was the first time I’ve experienced at first hand, the ‘over-zealous’ behaviour of some of our stewards. We were unable to get our usual seats and found oursleves high up, one row from the top of the stadium. As I took my seat, I surveyed the ‘regulars’ around me and joked that “I hoped I was in the singing section”. They seemed a really good bunch of hardcore supporters and I felt at home in their company – and the singing was pretty good too.

I was aware in my peripheral vision of a steward fidgeting about at the end of the row and apparently conversing with the guy behind me. I turned and asked him what it was all about and he explained that he was being asked to sit down. Since he was in the uppermost row and there was nothing behind him except concrete, I was curious as to why the steward thought he needed to stay in his seat “Health and Safety” was the answer he spat out with a grimace.

“But what happens when we stand up to celebrate a goal” I asked, a resigned shrug of the shoulders was his only response. This sparked a debate at half time and the consensus was that in areas like the new North Bank and Clock End (= behind the goals), everyone stands whenever they feel like it because the strength in numbers means that the stewards are powerless to do anything about it. I don’t want to stand throughout games, but I also don’t want to be treated like a kid if I do take to my feet.

I have some sympathy with the stewards because they are only doing what they are told, but surely the club can ‘adjust’ its policy to accommodate supporters who wish to stand at important points during the game or where there is no risk to life and limb and no impairment to the enjoyment of other supporters. We have been criticised this season for not getting behind the players enough, well then don’t stop us expressing our feelings by telling us to sit down when it’s not necessary.

peachesgooner’s rant
I’m thoroughly fed with how the club take our money for seats but really offer so little service to the buyer. Yesterday’s attempt to buy tickets for the Barcelona tie next Wednesday caused the usual crashing of the web-site and lack of information about the state of play. Having logged in and been held in a queue for what seemed an eternity, I was finally able to buy my tickets (although it was already too late to get adjacent seats) but when I tried to log-in again to buy more for a friend on his number, the site was blocked. Having checked that tickets were still available I logged in again and waited to gain entry to the box office. I waited for an hour and a half before the thin burgundy line had filled its space only to find that the game was now sold out.

I know of several other silver members who also waited for over an hour only to be disappointed – where did the tickets go? I thought the idea of silver membership was that you should be able to get a ticket. I must have been one of thousands of supporters trying to get through.  Surely it’s  possible to put out a STOP PRESS – TICKETS SOLD OUT so at least supporters don’t waste their time waiting online.

Another problem I think the club have not addressed sufficiently well is the problem season ticket holders face if they can’t go to the game. The Ticket Exchange is a very good idea but shuts 48 hours before a game. From the number of empty seats I see at games every week its clearly not possible to always find someone  to take a spare ticket.

Now that the ticketing system is electronic it must be possible to action changes even up to a couple of hours before a game. Season ticket holders should be able to call a number and give their details, their card gets blocked for that game (which is what happens with the ticket exchange anyway) and silver and red members have their cards turned on for the game.

Come on Arsenal FC  lets make sure we fill the stadium for every game.

As we approach the game at Birmingham this weekend, our thoughts return of the near career ending injury Eduardo sustained just over two years ago. His left fibula was broken and there was an open dislocation of his left ankle. Gary Lewin not only saved his career by his quick actions, but aided by translation from Gilberto, actually saved his leg.

His physical recovery was nothing short of remarkable. Who would have thought that just under a year later we would see him return in an Arsenal shirt against Cardiff City in the F.A. Cup? He scored twice that evening in what seemed a fairytale return. Sadly he suffered a hamstring injury later on in the game and after several niggling injuries in the following weeks finally returned to the Premier league line-up for the opening fixture of this season scoring in the 6-1 demolition of Everton at Goodison Park.

Was our fox in the box really back ? Well he has now played 29 times in all competitions (of which 13 were as subs) for a return of six goals, so we are in a position to assess his progress.

He is hard to weigh up as a character as he has a quiet disposition and never shows much emotion, but the more I see him play, the more he appears to have lost that edge to his game which was just developing before he got injured. In fact, I would suggest that mentally he has lost the sharpness that Arsène identified when he signed him, and it is becoming more and more apparent as each game passes. He frequently jumps out of tackles – but can you blame him? Surely it is in the makeup of any decent striker to avoid impact when it is apparent that they can’t win the ball.  I don’t see him attacking the ball in the box as once he did and the goalscorer’s hunger to score at any cost is missing.

Is his perceived loss of sharpness due to a lack of match fitness or as I believe is more likely, down to the legacy of the mental scars from his horrific injury.

I want him to succeed, but with a new striker in Chamakh apparently joining us in the Summer we may never see the potential of Eduardo again.

By kelsey