The details of the game are:

Hands Across The Ocean
Through the pages of history there have been many memorable meetings. One can only envisage the moment when Rolls met Royce, Marks met Spencer or when Harry met Sally; well now you can add one more famous meeting to that list, when Teabag met East Village Gooner. Children will be having their history lessons in years to come and the date of Saturday 26th November 2005 will be spoken about as the moment the 'NY Gooners' website's two match reporters paths finally crossed.

The short walk was had to THOF before we went our separate ways with best wishes to all, but after half an hour I think we had both wished we'd had stayed in the pub.

It was bloody cold and the team looked like they had other things on their mind. Thankfully the game got off to the best possible start with us taking the lead with a well taken strike from Cesc. This gave Blackburn the incentive to push forward but the difference between a team of Arsenal's class and Blackburn's is the finishing. As hard as they tried Mark Hughes' men could not find a way past Lehmann and when we extended our lead with fine finish by Thierry, it was game over. Yes both teams came out in the second half and went through the motions, but in their heart of hearts the men from Lancashire knew there was no way back. The in-form Van Persie came on late and carried on his excellent goal scoring streak with the best goal of the game - one worth the entry fee on its own. To be honest the 3-0 score line was a bit flattering, but we will play a lot better this season and not win so it all evens itself out over the year.

The theme for today's game: a celebration to our unbeaten run of 49 games, which consisted of a video montage and a pitch-side interview with Martin Keown before the game. The club must think these themed days through though, because most fans don't really take any interest in them, as they look like they have just been thrown together at the last moment. So come on Arsenal do it right or don't bother doing it at all.

A Win is a Win
A team mostly made up of Arsenal's current reserves took on Reading in the Carling Cup fourth round, which had a number of Arsenal reserves from the recent past, and our current crop of kids won handsomely.

It's a worrying sign of things to come when Reading, who arrived at Highbury on a 24-game unbeaten run, sitting proudly on top of The Championship, got well beaten by a scratch Arsenal side. Arsene continued his practice of fielding a young, inexperienced side in the early stages of this competition and it paid off once again. With the average age of our outfield players being just over 21 it makes a joke of sp*rs' claims that they have the best crop of young players in North London. With our manager fielding mostly a reserve side the Arsenal board took the wise move of reducing the price of the tickets for this game as an incentive to get fans into the ground for a competition that 'Le Boss' only really takes seriously if we get into the semi-finals. It's good thinking on the board's behalf following recent half empty stadiums at the current Premiership champion's home as well as at the so-called "best supported side in the world"'s. They have realized that it's better to have a full stadium, even if they don't make as much money through the takings.

Like Saturday, we took control of the game early on. A fine run by Quincy down the left was finished with a perfectly weighted pass to Reyes who took the ball in his stride before slotting the ball under on-loan Gunners' keeper Graham Stack. Our fine form continued when, just before half-time, our goal scoring sensation of the moment, Robin Van Persie, struck a great shot from just outside the box that went like a rocket into the bottom corner.

The second half followed the pattern of the first with us controlling the game and creating chances. The final goal came from our Italian goal machine Arturo Lupoli, who has already bagged 12 goals for the reserves so far this season. He ran from near the half way line before going round the keeper and slotting the ball into the net.

In a season of roll reversals we have come through our bogie month with a record of having played 5, won 5 with 13 goals for and only 3 against. Can't ask for much more than that can we?

Away Day Blues
Have you seen the film '50 First Dates' with Adam Sandler? Well, if you have you will know that he works in a sea world type theme park and one of his jobs is looking after a walrus. Now whenever I see this walrus there is one thing that always comes to mind, Sam Allardyce; big, fat Sam Allardyce with his big, fat, ugly face chewing gum, laughing in press interviews after turning us over for another year. The same Sam Allardyce who must look at the fixture list at the beginning of the season, see when Bolton are playing Arsenal and think, 3 points.

What is it with the two words 'Bolton away' that scares the bejesus out us? They have definitely got a hold over us; we have some sort of physiological block when we play at the Reebok stadium and to tell you the truth it's pissing us off.

We started the game with the left back position filled by the trustworthy Pascal Cygan (wishful thinking) and this was the game he was fully exposed. Arsene only has himself to blame because we could see weeks ago that he was no way a left back. The first goal was partly down to his poor headed clearance from a corner and as the ball was played back into the box he was out of position leaving Cesc to feebly trying to out jump Faye, no contest, 1-0. The second was even worse with our French Buddhan ending up on the halfway line leaving Gilberto to cover for him, who himself was easily pushed off the ball by Davis, who in turn played the ball across the box to Stelios who had the easy task of putting the ball into the empty net.

Bolton hustled and harried us and we had no answers. We had our chances, most notably two long range shots from Thierry that came back off the post but we deserved nothing from this game and that's exactly what we got.

We can kiss the Premiership well and truly goodbye with only 5 points from a possible 21 in away games - that's a relegation standard not the standard of a team that wants to challenge for the big one. Thank God we are 7 and 0 at home.

The good news is that we don't have to go to the home of Walrus face for another year.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Alex Hleb is back in training and should be ready to play against Ajax in the Champions League.

Life After Arsenal
John Hollins has just been named manager of Crawley Town.

Spotted out and about
Freddie Ljungberg in Barney's, NYC in the summer of 2005

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax). Yes, the same player we almost signed last year at least 3 times.

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Some famous Arsenal red heads: Alan Ball, Willie Young, Perry Groves, John Hartson and Ray Parlour. Freddie Ljunberg doesn't count as his was henna-assisted.

Celebrity Gooner
Frankie Fraser, notorious former East End gangster known as 'Mad Frankie' because he allegedly used to torture his victims by pulling their teeth out with a pair of pliers. I wonder if he would ever like to meet Jose Mourinho.

Best regards,
Teabag

You're Just a Small Team From Wigan
The might of English football took on Arsenal on Saturday and the heavyweight's recent unbeaten run was ended. Not many of us would have given Wigan a cat in hell's chance of staying up at the beginning of the season, let alone be lying in second place at the end of November. But if this performance is anything to go by then they are there on merit.

If we learnt anything from this game it's that Pascal Cygan is no left back, because the fundamental part of playing left-back is playing at the back on the left, that's the left Pascal not the centre, or in midfield but on the left. Once he has mastered that then we may have a chance.

Wigan struck back when our left-back was caught somewhere near the halfway line leaving more space than you would find on the terraces of a Juventus home game. We extended our lead with an excellent free-kick from Henry, only for them to pull one back again after our left back was out of...(just fill in as before).

The second half never lived up to the spills and thrills of the first half and everyone left with credit intact - us with the 3-points and them with their pride that they had taken one of England's top teams to the wire.

Swiss Roll
How do you motivate a team that has already qualified and has had most of its players traveling half way around the world playing for their country? The simple answer is you can't, and let's be honest, how many of us would be up for it if we were in their position. We can all talk about professionalism, but Switzerland is bloody cold at the end of November and I admire Arsene for getting a team out that wanted to play. He rested some of the players that had gone on longer international trips, gave Alex Song his full debut and Eboue a chance at right-back. FC Thun had it all to play for but you would never have guessed as they sat back hoping to catch us on the break but, seeing as we had nothing to push forward for, it left a very sterile game.

Thierry simply strolled around (but he could not be singled out for this as you could pick anyone from Ljundberg, Flamini and Reyes) but thankfully Van Persie was willing to chase around a bit to make it look like he was glad to be there.

What happened in the game? They had 2 goals disallowed (one of which was perfectly good), they had a player sent off in the first half and we won with a dodgy penalty that Pires converted.

So we won - making a perfect 5 out of 5 start; let's just hope that this is not our peak.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Roberto Carlos will be off to Qatar after the World Cup giving him a bumper 6M pounds a year contract. Now this will leave Real without a left back, any chance of us convincing them that Cygan is the man rather than Ashley?

Life After Arsenal
George Eastham & Alex Forbes, President and Chairman, respectively, of the Arsenal Supporters South African Branch

Spotted out and about
Jeremie Aliadiere, getting out of his black Lamborghini (reserves get paid too much) in Southgate and going into 'The Tanning Shop'.

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk) Right-sided midfielder who was voted the best Croatian midfielder last season.
Franck Ribery (Marseille) Dubbed the new Chris Waddle by Marseille fans, let's hopes it's only because he has a silly haircut. He looked outstanding in the 2-legged semi-final for France's Under 21s against England but boy, what an ugly git.
Mathieu Bodmer (Lille) Another French midfielder we have been linked with.
Malaga FC. All of them, the players, the manager, training staff and even the tea lady.
Maxwell (Ajax) Brazilian left-back

Useless Arsenal Trivia
On the 16th September 1937 Arsenal and the reserves took part in the first live TV game shown anywhere in the world. The only problem is not many people had TVs then.

Celebrity Gooner
Professor Lord Robert Winston pioneer of IVF treatment and other microsurgical infertility procedures. Which means he helps men who are firing blanks.

All the best,
Teabag

Absent Friends
In the past couple of years the biggest criticism that Arsene Wenger has faced from the English Media is that he does not give young English talent a chance and that he has sold English players too early, but the question is how many of these so called wonder kids have gone on to greater things once they walked out of the Marble Halls of Highbury for the last time.

When the Great One first arrived, Arsenal's reserves were a shambles with very little back-up to the first team - the last player to break through from the George Graham era being Ray Parlour. Arsene's decision at the time was to buy good quality foreign players to bridge the gap until the youth set up was established and ready to produce at the standard that he wanted and it's no surprise when you see what was on offer in the stiffs: Mathew Rose, Paul Shaw and Stephen Hughes. All three were predicted to make it but Rose ended up at QPR, Shaw has done the rounds of lower league clubs and is now at Gillingham and the star of the bunch, Hughes, is now with Coventry via Everton and Watford.

Stuart Taylor and Mathew Upson were both given their chance but neither one could establish a place and they were not willing to bide their time in a squad full of world class players (plus Cygan and Almunia). Jermaine Pennant was given more chances than most but he simply screwed it up. None of these three have proven Arsene's judgment wrong; in fact, not one of the young players that he has sold have come back to haunt us. The same may one day be said about David Bentley or Jerome Thomas... only time will tell.

But let's not just think it's only the home grown players that have been shown the door if they have not come up to his standard, how many of the following do we still wish we had back at Arsenal: Alex Manninger, Alberto Mendez, Fabian Caballero or Juan?

One thing is for sure, AW doesn't often sell young talent no matter what the nationality be they English or not. ARSENE KNOWS!

You Know When You're Getting Old When...
...Your first born passes his driving test and the car you buy him costs only just less than the deposit on your first house.

Can I just say a big thank you to Glen Howard from 'Alan Day - Volks Wagen' in New Southgate who, when he found out I was a fellow Gooner, made sure I got the best deal possible, you know you can trust your own.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
The rumor going around at the moment is that Real and Arsenal brokered a deal last year where they bought Baptista for a year so that he could stay in Spain to gain his European passport and we would do a swap deal with them for him with Cole plus 5 million Euros.

Life After Arsenal
Paul Mariner is now living and working in Phoenix, Arizona.

Spotted out and about
My wife Joanna bumped trolleys with David Seaman at Costco in Watford last week. She wanted to pluck up the courage to speak to him but the only thing she managed to ask him was "Which section were the Kit-Kats in?"

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Steven Pienaar (Ajax)
Samuel Eto (Barcelona) Talk is that if Thierry is Barca' bound we will ask for Eto in exchange, which sounds like a good deal to me.
Didier Zokora (St-Etienne) Giles Grimandi has apparently been keeping a close eye on him... frightening when you think about it.

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Jose Antonio Reyes shares his birthday (1st September) with Gloria Estefan.

Celebrity Gooner
John Challis who plays Boycie in the comedy classic "Only Fools & Horses"

All the best,
Teabag

The Only Way is Down
Okay here is a prediction for you... Sunderland will be relegated. They have to be one of the worst teams to come to Highbury in years, how they managed to win the Championship last season is beyond me.

We knew that this would be an easy game when Sunderland put a young 18-year-old in goal with very little first team experience, what must have Mick McCarthy been thinking? The poor lad looked totally out of his depth; he looked like the last kid to be picked in the school playground. It wasn't a case of if we would score, but when. The curious thing was that it took so long for the first goal to come. A long ball from the back by Campbell caught a very square Sunderland defence wide open and all that was needed was for the in-form Van Persie to lash it into the net. The rest of the half was spent toying with the Black Cats without really stretching ourselves. We controlled the game with ease and our second goal came following a fine run by Lauren down the right who crossed for Henry to score at the far post.

Between our second and third goals Sunderland had the nerve to score through Stubbs, but no one really believed that they would get anything out of this game, least of all Sunderland.

Thierry completed a fairly easy win with our third goal after running onto a through ball from Fabregas and side footing it under the onrushing keeper. So, unless we draw Sunderland in the FA Cup we won't ever see them at Highbury again and, unless they improve, I doubt we will play them in a league game for quite a while.

There Could Be Trouble Ahead
I got into the ground 10 minutes before kick-off, which wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for the fact that I left home at 1pm. It normally takes me about 30 minutes to get from home to Arsenal so I left earlier because I had planed to meet up with a few of the guys off the 'Arsebloggers' site for a drink, but when I got to the station London Underground had decided to do some track repairs and had cancelled all trains from Cockfosters to Bounds Green. So it was a quick sprint back to the car and driving like a madman down to Finsbury Park in the hope of getting into one of the few privately owned Parking Lots. Parking around the ground is non existent with the local council bringing in restrictions on match days, so we are left with no other option but to use public transport. Now you may be asking why I am having a moan about this, well I'll tell you. At the moment we have a maximum capacity of 38,500 but once we move to Ashburton it will be over 60,000. That's 22,000 more people trying to get to the game using the tube and buses, which is fine as long as they are running okay, but what happens when things go wrong as they did on Saturday? People will say that we used to have crowds of 50,000 in the past, but the difference was that in those days people could also drive to the ground if they had the inclination, which eased pressure elsewhere. Now no one has that choice; it's trains and buses or nothing. Do the board care? Do they hell! They don't have the problems we have we have because they will be able to drive to the ground and park in their new executive car park, but for us it could end up being a problem.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
A friend of a friend who knows Ledley King was told that the sp*rs defender says that the hardest opposition he has faced so far this season is Robin Van Persie.

Life After Arsenal
Sammy Nelson, famous for once mooning the 'North Bank' is now an insurance salesman in Brighton.

Spotted out and about
Sol was spotted in 'La Fromageri' a cheese shop (obviously) in Moxon St (moxon@lafromagerie.co.uk)

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Lucas Neill (Blackburn) Us and Inter Milan are meant to be chasing him... yeah right
Diego Forlan (Villarreal) 16.5 million pounds???
Ashley Young (Watford)
Dick Kuyt (Feyenoord)
Salomon Kalou (Feyenoord)
Romeo Castelen (Feyenoord)
Jonathan de Guzman (Feyenoord)
Hossam Ghaly (Feyenoord) okay does anyone see any connection here? Now correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Tony Adams work at Feyenoord?

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapmen played for sp*rs from 1905 to 1907.

Celebrity Gooner
Sharleen Spiteri singer with 'Texas' and mate of Thierry Henry who got in trouble once with the FA for a goal-celebration which revealed a t-shirt congratulating her on the birth of her child

All the best,
Teabag

Let's Get Ready to Fumble
You would not have believed the amount of hype this match was getting; you would have thought that the result of this game would decide the fortune of these two clubs for the next decade.

The sp*rs loving press were telling us about the dawn of a new era, how the power of North London was shifting from one side of the Seven Sisters Road to the other and how, after just ten games, we were about to lose the crown as 'Kings of London'. They have been waiting for this moment for years but we then go and blow it by not rolling over and dying.

We started well in the first five minutes, controlling and passing the ball around. But after that we decided to play second fiddle to a team out to prove something. They out-thought and out-fought us and we should have been down by more than the single goal that we conceded to King after 17 minutes. I must have counted at least ten separate incidences in the first half where we gave the ball away thanks to sloppy passing. When is Arsene going to realize that Flamini and Gilberto are not a combination that works? They are too similar in style and neither has the creative ability to open a defence, also Cesc is not a wide player, never was and never will be.

The biggest talking point in the first half was the supposed elbow by Campbell on one of their nonentity players. Anyone who has seen the incident since will see that Campbell had his eye on the ball at all times and raised his arms for no other reason than to protect himself, and any fool who knows the game knows that there was not intent in the challenge, well, apart from one fool: Martin Jol. His claim that Campbell deliberately elbowed his player has only made him look stupid, and if he is trying to take a leaf out of the book of that scruffy moaning git at Chelski he should think before he opens his mouth because apart from diehard sp*rs supporters, no one on TV or in the press saw what he supposedly saw.

The funniest moment of the first half was when Jens went to retrieve the ball for the sp*rs fans who threw it back at him and almost hit him in the face, his reaction was to go straight to the nearest steward and point out the villains!!! HAHAHA!!

The tide turned for us slightly when Bobby came on as a half-time substitute. Again they had a chance to kill the game off with a Defoe chance, but after that we slowly took control of the game. We started to find our own players, tackles were won and chances were created. The final swing in our favor was the introduction of Robin Van Persie; this allowed Reyes to move out to the wing and gave us more balance overall and I expect this to be the line up for the Sparta game. The breakthrough came from a Dennis free-kick which old butter fingers Robinson let slip through his grasp allowing the ball to fall nicely at the feet of Bobby who scored against sp*rs once again. Following our goal the home crowd almost fell into a depression knowing that they may have blown the best chance they have had in years to beat us. We of course gave it to them with "You'll never beat the Arsenal" along with classics "71...2004" & "61...Never Again", but the best of all was "1-1 in your Cup Final"

At the final whistle, Sol, who was abused throughout again, came to clap the Arsenal fans whilst thumping his chest and Arsenal crest and giving a few big fists at the crowd. This really pissed off the sensitive sp*rs souls who raised the level of abuse as he walked off, only for him to give them some horrible screw faces. Brilliant!!!!

The game had another talking point, like the chestnut thrown that hit Lehmann, the tunnel incident involving Campbell and a coward hiding behind a wall when he came back for him. All in all a draw was a fair result and as much as sp*rs supporters think that a season is played over 10 games we know it takes more than that to rightly be called the 'Kings of North London'.

Parallel Universe
In a season where our home form has dipped, our European campaign has begun with a perfect start. We went into the game against Sparta knowing that a win will take us into the knock-out stages with two games in hand, something we have never achieved in the Champions League before. The closest we have come before was a 3-win start but then we nearly went and blew it by only winning 1 point from our remaining 3 games, but no such fears this year. A first half goal from Thierry and two excellent strikes from Robin Van Persie maybe were a slightly unfair reflection of the game as we did not over run Sparta; however they did seem to lacked any ambition so in the end they got what they deserved.

The Highbury crowd did the usual in these situations by sitting back and acting cool, waiting for the team to get them going as opposed to the other way round. I have tried to work out why we as supporters have never got behind the team as vocally as other team's supporters. Don't let anyone tell you it was different in the old days, Arsenal supporters have never been loud compared to others. During the 70s & 80s when hooliganism was at its height, Arsenal always had a bit of a crew willing to stand their ground and fight for the cause when it was needed. Our crowd was made up of laid back kids who where more into their music or clothes. Mods, Soul-boys and Punks filled the terraces and they could not be seen to sing, it just wasn't 'cool'. When all-seated stadiums were introduced, so were the Yuppies with their flash cars and huge bank accounts, slowly pushing 'the man off the street' away. Now we are in a situation where both groups are intermingling. I have got fed up sitting next to people who can not make an effort to open their mouths, don't get me wrong they are quick to slag off the team if things are not going right but ask them to get behind the team during adversity... oh no! Okay we have our moments, especially in the big games like Man.U, Chelsea, sp*rs and really big European nights but the rest of the time we are so unflappable. The news is that when we move to our new stadium 'Red-Action' is looking to have their own section to try and create an atmosphere; it's going to be needed.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
With reference to the voyeur comment by Jose Mourinho, my contacts tell me that the Chelskie manager was misinterpreted. What he actually said was that Arsene Wenger was a voyager, from the 'Starship Enterprise'... now he thinks he's Captain Kirk.

Life After Arsenal
Ian Ure is a social worker in Kilmarnock

Spotted out and about
Pascal Cygan & wife in the Tescos supermarket on Colney Hatch Lane, North London

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Nigel Reo-Croker (West Ham) One of The Hammers rising stars, which means he will end up at either sp*rs or chelski.
Tomas Rosicky (Borussia Dortmund) Skillful midfield player with a silly haircut
Carlos Vela (Chivas) 17-year-old Mexican midfielder currently training with us. Not really sure how he would get a work permit, maybe we should speak to the producers of 'Goal!' as they did not let this get in the way of their film.
Lille's Mathieu Bodmer (Lille) Another new Vieira

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Gilberto shares his birthday (7th October) with John Cougar Mellencamp & Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Celebrity Gooner
Michael Winner film director of such classics as Deathwish and... well, Deathwish 2 & 3.

All the best,
Teabag

Doh!
What started off as a love fest between a record goal scorer of the past and one of the present, turned into a comedy of errors by the end of 90 minutes.

The day started with a parade of Junior Gunners each wearing a "Thierry 186" shirt and the name of a team on the back along with the number of goals Henry has scored against them on his way to the record. Each JG entered the pitch holding a flag of the respective teams creating a splendid sight around the centre circle. Next onto the pitch was the former record holder Ian Wright resplendent in a three-quarter length cashmere coat waiting for the moment neither he nor us expected to see for a long time; the emergence of the new record goal scorer for the club, Thierry Henry. There was no guard of honour, just the two teams entering the pitch as normal but, after the standard welcomes between the two teams, Thierry was ushered towards Wrighty who presented him with a silver cannon in recognition of his achievement.

This first half was boring to say the least with our only clear cut chance coming from a Henry run into the box and a cut back to Pires. With James stranded out of his goal and two defenders on the line Pires did not so much manage to find the back of the net, more the back of the North Bank as his shot sailed over the bar. I won't say it was just a bad miss but the ball was last sighted bouncing somewhere near the Archway road.

The second half was much like the first with no real great chances being created by either team. Stuart Pierce (any man who is a fan of 70's punk goes up in my estimation) has really got Man City playing some decent passing football and they seem to have lost that soft edge in the side that allowed them to get steam rolled by the Premiership's bigger teams in the past.

Our breakthrough finally came in the 61st minute when Thierry was bought down by James and, as is customary in these situations, the player brought down does not take the penalty. So up stepped Pires to score from the spot and celebrate the birth of his new baby this week with a goal. What should have been the spark the game needed made no difference in the end as the game slumped back into nothingness again.

The talking point of the game came in the 71st minute. We were awarded a second penalty following a fine run into the box by Bergkamp, so we expected Thierry to step up and take the kick. However while the traditional protests around the referee went on I noticed Bobby and Thierry talking to each other just outside the box before Bobby turned, picked up the ball and placed it on the spot.

You could hear the questions being asked around us in the stand. Had Theirry given Bobby the kick because the emotion of the day had affected him? Was Bobby taking the kick because he wanted a hat-trick for his new born? Whatever we thought, none of us expected what we saw next: up ran Pires who attempted to roll the ball to the onrushing Henry, but what actually happened can only be described as a complete cock-up. Instead of rolling the ball to Henry he totally miss-kicked, I have seen babies tickled with more ferocity than Pires made contact with that ball. Because the ball had not made the regulated full rotation Bobby tried to touch the ball again, thus making it an illegal move, the referee awarding Man City a free kick instead.

The crowd was in uproar. Why try something like this with the game so tightly balanced? I have never heard so many moans from the stands. If we had dropped 2 points from this game, as we nearly did but for the sharpness of a linesman's flag for off-side, both Pires and Henry would have received rightful criticism. This game was not won when they attempted their bit of show-boating and although everyone was happy to laugh about it after the game, until that final whistle went there were plenty of people willing to tell Thierry where he should display his new silver cannon. I think it was somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. All's well that ends well though, and in the cold light of day it was funny.

Selling Arsenal By The Pound
In the last few months I, along with thousands of other supporters, have been offered a chance to buy a bit of Arsenal.

The first invite was an open day to view the new apartments at the Emirates Stadium giving me a chance to purchase a one-bedroom flat starting at 255,000 pounds with the added offer of also being able to purchase a season ticket into the bargain; well, who could turn down an offer like that?

The next invitation was a luncheon in the Clock-End suite with a view of buying into the new Spanish golfing complex, which the literature says is so wonderful that one of the first people to buy a villa was our own Jose Antonio Reyes and, with the cheapest going out at around 200,000 pounds, it's not surprising since he is most probably one of the few people who can afford it.

Next through my letter box next was the information telling that the club is opening an auction site that will be selling memorabilia from Highbury. As yet we have not been told what is for sale or the asking prices, but we are being told that everything will go including the kitchen sink. Considering how much I have paid for a 16"x12" piece of plastic over the years, commonly known as a season ticket seat, don't expect too many bargains.

And finally the jewel in the crown, the flats that will be on the site of our current stadium. Along with the information pack that has come through the door, we also have a radio advert with a voice over from our very own Arsene Wenger promising us a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase part of The Arsenal's history; that is until the next once in a lifetime opportunity comes along.

Let's just hope that the biggest sale does not involve a certain French forward.

I Heard It Through The Grape Vine
Former record goal scorer Ian Wright was facing prosecution for 'causing litter to be deposited' by tossing a paper cup out of his Bentley last year. At the eleventh hour a 'third party' appeared at Greenwich magistrates' court to take the blame and subsequent 50 pound fine.

Life After Arsenal
1971 FA Cup Final goal scorer Eddie Kelly now makes double glazing in Torquay

Spotted out and about
On loan Gooner Jeremie Aliadiere out with his last squeeze, topless model Leilani

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid) Apparently we are in secret talks to bring Torres to Arsenal... How secret are they when the its all over the press.
Marcos Senna (Villarreal) Brazilian midfielder

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Libyan Jehad Muntasser played a total of one minute for the club, coming on as an extra time sub in a Carling Cup game against Birmingham in 1997.

Celebrity Gooner
John Gotti Head of the Gambinos (NY family), receives the Arsenal magazine every month. How do I know if this is true or not, I don't - but do you want to ask him?

All the best,
Teabag

Midland Misery
Bob Dylan once sang that "times they are a changing" and that could not be more apt than for Arsenal. On the same weekend last year we beat Aston Villa 3-1 to go 49 games unbeaten and everyone was talking about us being the greatest English club side ever. Fast forward one year, we are beaten by lowly West Brom and suddenly we are being ridiculed as nothing more than an ordinary team of average players. Of course both comments are off the mark but its amazing how opinions change.

We had this game under control, with Dennis pulling the strings; we had enough possession not to lose. We took the lead after 18 minutes thanks to big Phil's first goal for the club, but the lead only lasted 20 minutes as we let in a sloppy goal due to some bad defending and a good finish by former gooner Kanu.

The second half was a copy of the first we us having plenty of the ball but not taking our chances and we were punished in the 78th minute when Carter struck from just outside the box, again after a poor clearance.

A lot has been said about the number of injuries we have, but let's be honest - 9 times out of 10, any side we put out against West Brom should be good enough to take three points, but that is why we all love football so much, because any team could beat any other on its day... unless your name is Chelsea.

Record Breaker
Tuesday 18th October 2005, remember that date because we may never see another day like it again. I never thought after seeing Ian Wright break Cliff Bastin's all time goal scoring record that I would ever see it done again, but then again I never expected to see someone like Thierry Henry come along.

Cliff Bastin's record stood for 42 years before it was broken by Ian Wright and at the time we thought that the new record would stand for another 40 years; but in the summer of 1999 Arsene Wenger brought a young French winger from Juventus and little did we know at the time that this would be the player who would become Arsenal's all time record goal scorer. Things did not start to well for Thierry and it took him nearly 2 months to bang in his first goal. But since then he just hasn't stopped. But the most amazing thing about Thierry Henry is that he is not what you would call an "out and out" goal scorer. I'm sure someone has the statistic somewhere, but I am sure that of the 186 goals that he has scored to date, he must have had an assist in at least 100 of his team mates' goals, sometimes sacrificing his own glory if a teammate is in a better position than him, somehow I can't see that horse up in Manchester doing the same.

From the moment he came on for the injured Reyes we looked a different team, even Robert Pires looked like he wanted to play. His first goal was as sweet a strike as you will see all season; controlling the ball with the outside of his boot he turned just out side the box and hit a shot which curved into the far corner. From that moment on we never looked like losing and when he scored his second in the 74th minute, he took a great pass by Bobby (how long have I waited to write that), before placing a shot past the diving keeper, Thierry looked overjoyed to have beaten the record.

He admitted after that, as much as he wanted to beat the record, he wished he had done it at Highbury in front of our own fans and, to be honest, so do we as we would all liked to have shared this truly historic moment with him.

The following day the press and radio were full of Thierry's record breaking night and also stories about where he will be next season, with the general consensus being Barcelona. I hope that this is one story that they have all got wrong because we cannot afford to lose one of the greatest strikers in the world. If anyone had any doubt that Thierry Henry was Arsenal's most important player they certainly wouldn't have after this night.

Life After Arsenal
Jon Sammels is currently a DSA qualified driving instructor in his home town of Leicester.

Spotted out and about
Dennis Bergkamp and Mrs. Dennis Bergkamp at the "Paparazzi" Italian restaurant in Potters Bar.

Players We Have Been Linked With This Week
Marcell Jansen (Borussia Monchengladbach) Defender
Mohamed Zidan (Werder Bremen) He wears 14, he's fast and he scores lots of goals. Now why does that remind me of someone?
Marcos Senna (Villarreal) At 29-years-old there are two reasons we want Arsene to buy him, that's "no" and "Bob".
Slobodan Rajkovic (OFK Belgrade) The 16-year-old Serbo-Montenegran wonder-kid who has caught the eye of several major clubs. Although only 16 he is already a Serbia & Montenegro Under-21 international.
Chris Kirkland (Liverpool/WBA) Like Liverpool would sell one of England's best young keepers to us.

Useless Arsenal Trivia
Of Arsenal's 13 title wins, 8 have been completed in London, but only 4 at Highbury. The other 4 have been at White Hart Lane (1971 & 2004) & Stamford Bridge (1933 & 1934).

Celebrity Gooner
Ray Davies & Dave Davis of rock legends "The Kinks"

All the best,
Teabag