Liverpool were presented with a golden chance of going within 2 points of 4th place after Chelsea were held to another draw on the weekend against Manchester United.

But it was not to be as Liverpool were held to their eighth league draw at Anfield by a determined Spurs outfit.

Andy Carroll went close to opening the scoring early on after Steven Gerrard sent through an inch perfect pass to Carroll who was stopped by an inch perfect tackle by Michael Dawson.

Bolton 0 Arsenal 0
(Premiership)

Last night's clash at the Reebok was a classic example of a football match not being an isolated occasion, and not judged as such, but rather an act in a bigger play, with interpretations not purely taken from the ninety minutes of action, but from the wider context of both clubs.

It was a quiet deadline day for Liverpool in the transfer market with no major first team comings or goings. But they have played well to record a 3-0 win against Wolves at the Molineux.

All three goals came in the second half. Carroll opened the scoring with a prod at the far post in the 52nd minute.

It was a quiet deadline day for Liverpool in the transfer market with no major first team comings or goings. But they have played well to record a 3-0 win against Wolves at the Molineux.

All three goals came in the second half. Carroll opened the scoring with a prod at the far post in the 52nd minute.

Kuyt was the Hero today with a 88th minute winner to put Liverpool into the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. The game ended 2-1 and the result seemed so bitter sweet for Luis Suarez who watched had to watch on from the sidelines serving his 7th match ban after the racial incident against Evra in their last encounter.

Kuyt was the Hero today with a 88th minute winner to put Liverpool into the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup. The game ended 2-1 and the result seemed so bitter sweet for Luis Suarez who watched had to watch on from the sidelines serving his 7th match ban after the racial incident against Evra in their last encounter.

Craig Bellamy once again starred for Liverpool as they booked their place in the League Cup final with a 2-2 draw against Manchester City. This resulted in Liverpool winning the semi-final 3-2 on aggregate.

Liverpool were the dominant team in the second leg of the semi-final and if it wasn't for the heroics of Joe Hart Liverpool could quiet easily run away with the game.

Arsenal 1 (Van Persie 71) Man United 2 (Valencia 45, Welbeck 81)
(Premiership)

The bare facts make for grim reading. Defeat to United leaves us fifteen points behind them, and eighteen off the pace set by their city rivals. Our own neighbours remain ten points above us despite their loss earlier in the day, and that critical fourth spot is still an elusive five points away.

Was another frustrating game for Liverpool supporters as they were held to a draw by stoke. Liverpool dominated position throughout the game by really struggled to breakdown a defensive Stoke team.

more to follow...

Starting Line-up: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Coates, Enrique, Henderson, Adam, Gerrard, Downing, Kuyt

Subs: Aurelio, Carroll, Doni, Shelvey, Kelly, Flanagan, Bellamy

What do our fans think of tonight's surprise line-up?

Liverpool are now one step closer to reaching the Carling Cup Final after an impressive display at Etihad Stadium. Liverpool were by far the better team in the first half, keeping possession well and creating chances.

They were rewarded in the 11th minute when Daniel Agger was fouled in the box by Stefan Savic.

Fulham 2 (Sidwell 85, Zamora 90) Arsenal 1 (Koscielny 21)
(Premiership)

It is always difficult to write a match report after a game like this. I was tempted to pen my thoughts in the immediate aftermath, but decided to let the game settle a little and write in the morning.

Man City 1 (Silva 53) Arsenal 0
(Premiership)

Rarely do you feel so positive after a defeat. Improved form, a greater sense of team spirit and unity, and perhaps a slight readjustment of fan expectation has mended a lot of the bridges between the club and the supporters since our last trip to Manchester, and despite tasting defeat in the league again there yesterday, none of that will have been sullied thanks to a terrific performance that deserved more than it got.

Olympiakos 3 (Djebbour 16, Fuster 36, Modesto 89) Arsenal 1 (Benayoun 57)
(Champions League Group Stage)

It seems the knives are out again. Described as Euro flops in some quarters, and a laughing stock in others, it seems many of the press are finally able to pull the trigger on the negative stories they've been unable to run over the past month, thanks to our improved form.

Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 49, 86) Borussia Dortmund 1 (Kagawa 90)
(Champions League)

You should never get ahead of yourself in football. Sing the praises of a team too early, and they can fade away and make you seem foolish (see the pundits handing Chelsea the title after five games of last season).

Pinch, punch, first of the month and all that.

And pinching is something we've been doing a lot of since Saturday. Did we really go to Stamford Bridge and become the first side in the Premiership era (the twentieth year of it, no less) to score five times? Did we really come from behind twice at a ground that has caused us so much grief over the past five years?

Blackburn 4 (Yakubu 25, 59, Song og 50, Koscielny og 68) Arsenal 3 (Gervinho 10, Arteta 34, Chamakh 85)
(Premiership)

I actually thought we had run out of inventive, hilarious for the rest of the league, ways of losing football matches. Call this Arsenal team what you want they are a creative bunch.

I tried to write about the game in the immediate aftermath last night and got absolutely nowhere, but to be honest an extra 24 hours hasn't made it make any more sense. You can be prepared for most things as a blogger a close fought win, a thumping triumph, an unlucky defeat, a poor display, but now and then something extraordinary comes along and all of a sudden you're lost for words.

Football is back, but it is not football that many will be talking about after an opening game that left a sour taste in the mouths of many that witnessed it. In truth, that is partly because, from a purely football point of view, there wasn't a lot to talk about despite a huge amount of possession, particularly in the first half, we created little, and Tim Krul was rarely and never seriously tested.

That was bizarre. Not just clown showing up at a bachelor party bizarre, but a clown shows up a bachelor party and is really the thought to be dead ex-wife of the groom bizarre.

Toronto and D.C. played to a 3-3 draw that may have been the strangest game at RFK ever. After 90 minutes, a butt-load of stoppage time, and 6 goals, I'm not even sure what happened.

D.C. United v Toronto FC
8/6/2011, Saturday, 7:30 PM
RFK Stadium

Last Four Head-to-Head:

4/16/11 3-0 D.C. United (a) (Pontius x2, Davies)
3/12/11 2-2 Draw (n) (Davies, Ngwenya; De Rosario, Santos) (Carolina Challenge Cup)
10/23/10 2-3 Toronto (h) (Quaranta, Moreno; De Rosario x2, Santos)
9/11/10 1-0 D.

Arsenal 1 (Ramsey 56) Man United 0
(Premiership)

If there is one phrase I have become sick of in the last few weeks, it is 'mental strength', primarily because it has been used by Arsene Wenger when that trait has plainly not been in sight. Ironically enough, he didn't use the platitude today, which is a shame because, unlike some performances of late, this was one packed with belief, fight, determination and a complete refusal to allow United to take control in any part of the pitch.

Spurs 3 (Van der Vaart 7, pen 70, Huddlestone 44) Arsenal 3 (Walcott 5, Nasri 12, Van Persie 40)
(Premiership)

So that is that mathematically it is not over, but realistically we all know the title challenge is now dead in the water after a crazy match at White Hart Lane which swung from us being in complete control to being relieved to escape with a point.

Arsenal 1 (Van Persie pen 98) Liverpool 1 (Kuyt pen 102)
(Premiership)

We conceded an equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time against Sunderland. We lost at home twice to promoted sides. We turned a 2-0 lead at home to our local rivals into a 3-2 defeat. We allowed ten-man Wigan to come back and snatch a draw.

Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0
(Premiership)

I mentioned after the last round of Premiership fixtures that it felt like a day which would be seen as pivotal come the end of the season. United had pinched a late winner against Bolton despite being a man down, meaning our comeback at West Brom wasn't enough to avoid us losing ground.

He may have come off the bench and he wasn't the player of the game, but the night belonged to Charlie Davies. Just one goal was enough to make it an unforgettable night at RFK, but that would have been too ordinary for Davies' story. There had to be something even more special than his penalty conversion, it had to be two.

Man Utd 2 (Fabio 28, Rooney 49) Arsenal 0
(FA Cup Quarter Final)

How can you describe that except to say it was painfully familiar? The majority of possession, complete control of the middle third, and the vast majority of chances. Despite all of that, it was a defeat that felt somewhat comfortable, and certainly once United had taken a two goal lead the result was never in doubt, despite Van der Sar being called into action time and time again.

Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0
(Premiership)

I didn't catch the Leyton Orient game live and as such couldn't comment on it during the week, but it was reassuring to not see a hangover from the cup final defeat that preceded it. On many occasions in the past, one bad performance has rolled into another, and before you knew it, four matches had passed, and all hopes for trophies had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Before I start, let me congratulate Birmingham. I suspect a lot of their fans will be reading articles from every angle in order to soak up their glorious day, and that includes Arsenal blogs. At the end of the day, they were the better team and fully deserved their victory. They were dead on their feet at the end, precisely as you should be, and did not win by roughing us up or playing outside the law.

This blog has been a little abandoned lately, and the reason for such had been forewarned by FIFA's General Secretary almost a year ago: Brazil only starts to work after Carnival (and in 2011 the Carnival will be from 5th through 8th March).

Little happened these past few months (this latest status is still up to date).

What a game. What a night. For an hour it was difficult to understand how any team in the world could live with Barcelona, but through sheer resilience and refusal to give in, we hung in and eventually wore them down, before scoring two brilliant goals to turn the tie around. In the first half Barcelona were at their mesmerising best, and despite not being able to fault a single Arsenal performance, we were playing the apprentice role predicted before the contest.

Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 16, 56) Wolves 0
(Premiership)

Blackburn's 1994/5 Premiership triumph signalled the end of the variety of English champions, and the start of a ten year period in which only Arsenal or United lifted the trophy, ended only when an Abramovich-powered Chelsea arrived to turn the title battle into a triumvirate.

It has been an astonishing weekend. A record number of goals in the Premiership, an unwanted record that will make Monday morning horrendous for many of us, and yet the end result hasn't been the disaster it could have been. How you feel about the current situation says a lot about how optimistic or otherwise you are, and you really could go either way:

Glass half empty

We've just become the first team in Premiership history to blow a four goal lead, and we've done it against newly promoted opposition that have just lost their main source of goals.

Arsenal 3 (Bendtner 61, Koscielny 64, Fabregas 77) Ipswich 0

(agg 3-1, Carling Cup Semi Final)

We're in the final. Nearly four years as a blogger, and that's the first time I've been able to write those words. It feels good.

The scoreline looks comfortable, but for a long time it was tense.

It has been a strange month for Arsenal. A terrific performance against Chelsea was part of a very decent Christmas, and at the weekend West Ham were coolly and efficiently dispatched in the sort of match we have struggled in over recent seasons (in fact one we threw away points in last campaign).

Arsenal 1 (Fabregas pen 90) Leeds (Snodgrass pen 54)
(FA Cup 3rd Round)

Two legs of a Carling Cup semi-final with Ipswich, a replay against Leeds as a result of this draw, and a home tie with Huddersfield in we progress. In each of those games, many of these squad players (or reserves, depending on your point of view) will again feature, and if they play as poorly as they did yesterday, we might find ourselves suffering an embarrassing and costly cup defeat somewhere along the line.

Arsenal o Man City 0
(Premiership)

There is having a penchant for defensive midfielders, there is playing cautiously and hitting teams on the break, and then there the sort of display City put in last night. Dour, dull but effective, it was the single most negative performance I've seen in many years, from an expensively assembled side with plenty of available attacking talent (ignore the absences of Silva and Balotelli, when you spend hundreds of millions on ready made players and leave the likes of Adam Johnson out, you cannot complain about a couple of injuries).

So 2010 is over. The first league game of the year saw Rosicky score a late equaliser against Everton, the final game saw Squillaci score a late equaliser against Wigan. Oh, hang on, for Wigan. Whoops.

After the fantastic display against Chelsea, it was always going to be a letdown that we failed to take three points from an easier game two days later.