Shameful cup defeat to arch rivals could scupper our title challenge

AS hard as it might be to focus on the bright side, considering how badly the Gunners let us all down on Saturday, I would guess that with a track record of two games missed and two defeats, my newly-acquired lucky mascot status means I won’t be short of an offer of a lift to the remaining away matches!

Some suggest that the oldest knockout competition on the planet has lost much of its lustre, ever since managers with more important fish to fry, began to rest some of their stars and use the tournament to bring on some of their youngsters.

However there’s a downside to Arsène’s approach. On the basis that momentum is everything, I would’ve thought that Wenger might have learned his lesson from last season, which showed we simply can’t afford to treat these cup competitions in isolation. No matter that we might be meeting AC Milan this week, I’ve always been a firm believer in playing our strongest side against our principal rivals because I don’t think it’s a good move to have gifted the likes of United the sort of psychological advantage, which might well prove crucial as we approach “squeaky bum time” in the run-in.