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In a matter of a few days Arsenal seem to lose the high ground. There is no doubt that they are the most entertaining Football Team in the premiership. But of late the wheels seem to be falling off.

Firstly in the Carling Cup Semi, they were severely beaten by their near rival, Spurs. Last week they were humiliated by a Manchester United Side that is looking unbeatable. Mid-week they only managed a draw against AC Milan and have to do better away from home to progress in the Champion’s League. On Saturday they drew with Birmingham City while Man United romped home against Newcastle and the gap at the top is now only 3 points.

When Arsenal are winning, they look impressive but they are poor losers. Against Spurs in the Carling Cup Semi, two of their front men started fighting each other. Against United, one was sent off and to make things worse, their top striker was booked for diving. This reminds me of the FA Cup Semi-final against Man United when Tierry Henry dived and was booked when they did not have any hope of winning. Sadly Eboue was also booked for diving in the last Champion’s League match. That is two Arsenal bookings for diving in two matches.

To make matters worse, yesterday, their great North London rival, Tottenham Hotspur won the Carling Cup Final bringing silverware to the club for the first time in 9 years. With this manager, it seems there are more to come.

Sad to see a great talent as Eduardo so severely injured. I wish him all the best. There is one good that came out of the last match. It was the first goal scored by an Englishman for Arsenal in a year and he scored twice. It is also good for the home countries that the four goals were scored by British players. That Englishman that scored for Arsenal is a relative of the great Clive Walcott, one of my West Indian Cricketing heroes in my youth along with Weekes and Worrel. The three Ws.

I hope this was just a bad spell and Arsenal will be back firing on all cylinders soon and not keep looking behind them to see where Man United are but I suspect, as Gallas gave the game away, they are running scared.

I hope Wenger stops complaining and get his team back on the winning streak. Against United, he complained that ground was unsuitable. He complained about time wasting when Arsenal are experts at running the clock down. And his remark after that unfortunate tackle, although retracted, will linger and continue to affect a player who was simply beaten by sheer pace and brilliance as seen by the numerous replays on TV.

Good Luck Arsenal. Your course ahead in very bumpy. The Champion’s League will be an enormous struggle and for the Premiership, you have two big away matches. One against Chelsea and the other against Man United. If you win either of these, or both, you will deserve it. The alternative: Another year without a trophy.

Phil Hariram.