One One To The Arsenal!

I don't mind admitting I spent 78 minutes praying for Robin Van Persie to strike. The odds on the man who could reasonably have been thought to be our likeliest scorer at the Bridge, allied to an Arsenal victory, were too tempting to resist.

Step forward Matthieu 'the maligned' Flamini to put the final nail in the coffin of my hopes to win a grand! What a run I had for my money though, and how pleased was I to see the archetypal squad player put the Kings Road millionaires on the back foot so close to the final whistle? Let's just say everybody around me had a pretty fair idea of just how happy I was at that moment!

It is also particularly irritating that Alan Wiley, who had demonstrated a wonderful grasp of the concept of refereeing such a big contest, should have missed Cole's snidey chop at Hleb in the build-up to Chelsea's equaliser. Don't get me wrong, such incidents are regularly missed, and Essien's strike was magnificent. These things happen, and the result for the neutral was probably about right.

Wiley, and Arsenal, emerged with some credit from the contest. Not so Mourinho. So we only came for the draw did we Jose? Without Toure, Gallas, Rosicky, and Thierry Henry, we dominated the first half. We could have been forgiven for adopting a negative approach but neutrals know we gave everything in a gripping contest.

I'll accept that when the 'special one' finally decided to add some flair and width to his side, with the addition of Robben and SWP towards the end, we were up against it. The dismantling of his boring central midfield quartet also gave us the opportunity to finally break through his safety first formation. One more blast on the whistle for Cole's transgression and we would have been celebrating a remarkable triumph. We know it, and Jose knows it!

So Chelsea now trail United by eight points, and both sides have to come to the Grove. We surely cannot feature in the shake-up at the end of the season, but we could have a major say in who emerges triumphant. It is looking distinctly feasible that, one way or the other, we could be denying Chelsea the title on May 5th. Oh how we shall sympathise with poor Ashley if that is the case!