Thank God, it's over! This was truly the interlull from hell. Not only was our best current player injured for almost two months, but our best former player has been branded "a cheat" and "a liar." I have refrained from covering and incessantly commenting on this whole affair because I am just absolutely sick to death of the British media.

While the injury to Robin van Persie was disturbing news this past weekend, let's try not to go overboard. Posts on message boards and the like have been raging about how our season is over, etc., etc., etc.... That is hardly the case. Yes, he has been in the form of his life with 8 goals and 7 assists in 15 matches.

There it is. The interlull curse strikes again. Did we really think we would come out of this break unscathed? Every thing was going too well. And now a player who is key to our entire club's fortunes looks set to be out for a while and will definitely miss our upcoming match against Chelsea, and for what?

So we are just shy of being one-third of the way through the season and we're already at our third (!) interlull. When we return, it will be crunch time with 11 matches in the next 42 days, including Chelsea at home, Liverpool away, the final CL group stage fixtures, and, of course, City away in the Carling Cup quarterfinals.

Despite getting off to a start that has gone beyond all expectations, the football pundits continue to dig around for any reason to stick to their idiotic pre-season predictions of Arsenal's impending doom and gloom. The club is 15-2-2 overall having scored 55 goals, 10-0 at home having scored 33 goals at the Emirates.

Last week, Stan Kroenke increased his stake in the club 29.9% and I'd like to speculate, along with others, on what that will likely mean for the future of the club we all love. Mostly, I'd like to respond to an article by David Tully that was posted on Football FanCast this past week. Sadly, fear-mongering has been a great feature of this struggle for controlling interest in the club initiated by David Dein in the wake of his exit from the club.

The headline pretty much sums it up... as headlines are wont to do. Another 4 goals for the Arsenal, another late consolation goal for our poor victims. Wanderers came out into the amped up atmosphere of Molineux and really took it to us for the first 25 minutes. Until a Arsenal went ahead, completely against the run of play on a Zubar own-goal, that is.

Today, ArsenalStation and, regular guest contributor, Ted Harwood, discuss the merits, deficiencies, and perceptions of Abou Diaby. You are welcome to comment on your take on Abou Diaby.

ARSENALSTATION SAYS: I've had this debate about Diaby for 2 years now.

It was just one of those nights. Kind of like the home wins over Sevilla or Slavia Prague match in 2007. Arsenal came off 3-nil win over Spurs at the weekend, in which they had never really hit 3rd gear, and rode that 3rd gear for much of the Champions League match with AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday evening.

With our Champions League match against AZ Alkmaar looming, I am just going to use today to briefly talk about a few issues facing the club this week, including the Fran Merida situation, the impending, or not, takeover bid, and a look back at the delusion that is Spurs', and Harry Redknapp's, view of their side.

Yup, you guessed it... Michel Platini, better known as the Antichrist, is once again in the media criticizing Arsenal and Arsene Wenger. It is truly amazing how Platini has turned into a one-man crusade against Arsenal and his fellow countryman. We here at Arsenal Station have not long forgotten his psychologically-disturbed rant last season during which he exhibited the full extent of his obsession and disgust with Arsene Wenger.

Highlights and an interview with Arsene Wenger below.

I am still walking on air following our demolition of Spurs yesterday. With a glorious 3-nil victory at the Emirates we were able to put some breathing space between us and the four clubs trailing us at the moment.

Personal commitments have gotten to Arsenal Station this week but as a busy week grinds to a close, we look back at the week that was and ahead to the match we've all been waiting for.

In Arsene's 750th match in charge of the club, Arsenal advanced to the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup with another solid Carling Cup performance.

As always, highlights are below and are also archived on the right sidebar. Don't forget to click on "see all videos" at the bottom of the widget for the rest of the highlights from this season and preseason.

Last week, following our last-minute capitulation to AZ Alkmaar, I wrote a post entitled, "Déjà Vu," which talked about how the result was reminiscent of all those draws, many nil-nil, from last season.