Better late than never

WITH Aston Villa in such fine recent fettle, Sunday’s clash was always likely to be a stiff test. But when the Gunners lined up with our talismanic skipper on the bench, still nursing a tight hamstring, I have to admit I feared the worst.

Although I’m highly embarrassed to admit that the skipper wasn’t the only absentee at kick-off on Sunday.

To my horror, it was 15 minutes before kick-off when I finally woke up so instead of missing much of the first-half while scurrying around to the ground, I decided to watch it on the box and to bomb around there during the break. The way things subsequently transpired, this proved a most sensible compromise.