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.

A young man has developed into a vital cog in our team, this man has been slated by fans and pundits in the past, but now we pull our hair when Wenger does not pick him. The player in question in Cameroon international, Alexandre Song.

Wenger bought Song from Bastia, had him on loan for a season and eventually paid €3.

At the start of the season Alex Song was regarded as a last resort for the central midfield berth. He had not shown much over the last few seasons to change people's opinions. In fact when he did play this season there was more frustration than elation over his performances.

The good displays were few a far between, but when Alex played well, then he stood out.

See below, as always, for match highlights and a post-match interview with Arsene Wenger.

Another multi-goal margin of victory. Another "more than two goals" tally. Another soft goal conceded. Arsenal have seemingly picked up where they left off before the international break. Birmingham's visit to North London proved to be an entertaining match that is open to interpretation.

No doubt that it's a big game this morning with a visit from Blackburn. There's no reason to focus or think about Roma now it's over with. Today is a chance to get the three points and put the pressure on Villa for once, as they play Tottenham tomorrow. We all know that Blackburn is a game that we can win, although in recent weeks that's been the problem.

I had a theory. The theory was that since there was such a dearth of Arsenal news, I would leave a reasonable gap between each post - that way I would still have something to write throughout the summer.
Well actually I didn't blog for three main reasons:
1) I had exams and had to pretend that I was revising.

A couple of weeks ago, it was hard to know whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. Many commented that the general criticism of Arsenal post-West Ham was over-the-top.
But the problem was, that on the 29th of October 2008, at about 9.30, the season so far had provided enough to be pretty optimistic.

That just about sums up my Sunday. Thank God my three-year old, Lucien, all decked out in his full home kit to watch Arsenal with his dad, doesn't yet realize that football is game in which you either win or lose, or he'd have been in tears. Sunday was beyond frustrating. I told myself to wait at least 24 hours before writing on the match, but real-life beckons and so I must do it now.

Critics of Arsene Wenger often accuse him of having a utopian view of football which can never realistically be put into action. They point to events like our defeat to Chelsea and argue that this is evidence, that playing beautiful passing football does not work as it is 'powder-puff' and the bigger teams can simply bully Arsenal.

Arsenal fans have been crying out for a defensive midfielder ever since Vieira left this despite the fact that Vieira was not a defensive midfielder in the mould of Makelele. What Arsenal fans have really been looking for is a player to protect the defence and to dominate the midfield.

This season Wenger has realised that to give the defence the protection they need, we need to change formation, and we need to play 4-1-2-3.

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, "Déj Vu," which talked about how the result was reminiscent of all those draws, many nil-nil, from last season.

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.

Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong, born 9 September 1987 in a Cameroon, fondly known by most as Alex Song. He's the nephew of Rigobert Song and plays in the heart of a midfield three at our fine club.

It is only now though that he is regarded as an important first team player for Arsenal by some, and I am firmly in that category.

Our regular Guest Contributor, Ted Harwood, takes a look at Cesc Fabregas' secret weapon, Alex Song, and his emergence this season as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League. Song's form is directly related to Cesc's performances this season of 10 assists in 10 league matches, just one less than the total that led the league last season, as well as his 9 goals in all competitions.

In some corners, this was meant to be the partnership in the Arsenal defensive midfield. Our 'German of Africa', Song would thrive with the Albania midfield dictator and conquer the world. Well, that was the talk anyway.

In fact at some point last season there were even calls for Arsene to sell Song, Denilson and Diaby because none of them were worthy of Cana's shirt.

The latest young star to emerge from Arsene Wenger's awesome academy is the 18 year-old striker Sanchez Watt. He made his first-team debut in the Carling Cup against West Brom earlier this season, and marked the occasion with his first goal for the club too.

He followed that up with another good game against Liverpool, and it seems he has done enough for Arsene Wenger to sign him up on a long-term deal, and it has been announced today that both he and Alex Song have committed their futures to Arsenal.

Tuesday evening brought us one of the strangest matches this supporter has seen in a long time. Arsenal completely dominated the entire match yet they won only 2-nil and Standard Liege hit the post twice. Coming back from injuries, we saw Carlos Vela get a long-awaited start and Theo Walcott get in on some action, but we also saw Kieran Gibbs go out for months just seconds from the final whistle and William Gallas look worse than Rocky after 12 rounds with Apollo Creed.

Regular guest contributor, Ted Harwood, reflects back on Arsenal's 1-nil defeat in Greece in their final Champions League Group Stage fixture.

You know that feeling you get when you realize that there is so much more over the horizon, so much out there that one could experience, so much more to try?

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is not too worried about losing Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue while they are away at the African Nations Cup, he's worried that he may lose them for the rest of the season! Arsenal never have much luck when their players go off to international matches, and he is worried that [.

Arsenal made a statement on Sunday afternoon. This club just will not fade away or go crawl under a rock like many expected after the disappointing home defeat to Chelsea. They refused to believe that the 2009-10 Premier League season had become a two-horse race, if it already wasn't before.

Manchester United closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to 2 points again as they defeated Wigan Atheltic 5-0. The emphatic performance saw Wayne Rooney topping the Wigan defenders at Old Trafford. He scored to get the proceedings going for his team in the 32nd minute. Michael Carrick swept in a low [.

Arsenal closed out the calendar year of 2009 on a high with a 4-1 victory at Fratton Park. It was a cold, mid-week December evening on the south coast, yet an Arsenal side shorn of their two most important players still came away with a very convincing win. Yes, Pompey are bottom of the league, but, coming into the match, Pompey were 12th in the form table over the last six matches.