A point to prove

On Sunday Arsenal played Manchester City at the Emirates. Now most commentators focussed on the fact that if City lost they dropped to 8 points behind Manchester United and the title race was effectively over. But I feel this was missing the point slightly. For all of us Arsenal fans though there was something else. Something more important going on. It was a grudge match. We had a point to prove. Man City had stolen our players, they wrenched Gael Clichy away from the warm embrace of Arsenal and the warming glow of his (frankly epic) bromance with Bacary Sagna. They turned Samir Nasri's head with their filthy lucre. So the match wasn't just about the league. It was about principles, it was about morals, team spirit and earning something against cold, hard cash and success at all costs. So to see our boys, my boys out there playing Man City's billion pound team off the park was particularly sweet. And outplay them they did. Bacary Sagna was excellent, he was absolutley everywhere. The midfield was outstanding, Tomas Rosicky ran the show (woop), Alex Song was as always a total beast and even poor old Yossi who took a lot of flak for starting ahead of golden boy Oxlade Chamberlain played pretty well and worked damn hard. As brilliant as our immense performance was seeing Samir Nasri being completely anonymous his entire time on the pitch. How does that taste now Samir? But honestly aside from being bitter, it was fantastic to see the team bounce back from a small blip last week with not only a great result but an even better performance. Also Andre Santos returned. And promptly gave Mario Balotelli a big old shove, presumably while yelling "BOOM! You've been Andre Santosed!" He's become something of a cult hero with my friend Simon and I largely because he's so hardcore, unpredictable and as Simon so beautifully put it 'terrifying.' Gary neville was once again on a roll this week with his at once withering and hilariously outtraged  ideas on how he would manage Mario Balotelli "I'd just tell him never to tackle. Ever." Then there was the bemusing but strangely amusing sight of two rather mature man City fans fighting over Vincent Kompany's shirt rather than giving it to the younger fan right next to them. I mean I was pleasantly surprised by how ripped Mr Kompany is and I can fully appreciate city fans harbouring a man crush but seriously let the younger fan take the shirt.