Arsenal critics may choke on humble pie
After sleazy front-page headlines of 'roasting', 'dogging' and Leicester City's latest misadventures in La Manga, the game is suddenly looking towards Arsene Wenger's glorious Gunners for inspiration.
That, of course, is the Arsenal side which has had 54 players sent off during the so-called weak-willed Wenger's eight-year reign and who quite recently were fined, suspended and branded a bunch of hooligans for bad-tempered reactions to certain Manchester United players' theatrics in a goalless game at Old Trafford.
How daft the critics look now for their jibes at Wenger's immensely-talented side that promise a treble success which will owe little to the kind of luck that helped United on their way to something similar five years ago.
After this almost casual demolition of poor Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Saturday which even motivated the infamously partisan home fans to give them a standing ovation, they are now in their fourth consecutive FA Cup semi-final and threatening to lift and keep the famous old trophy for a third successive year.
They are also nine points ahead at the top of the Premiership with just 11 games to go, and on Wednesday meet Celta Vigo at Highbury for a place in the Champions League quarter-finals, already 3-2 up from the first leg in Spain.
And it should inject cold fear into all opposition that Wenger, looking back on their breathtaking Pompey cruise, insisted: "We can still play much better than this".
Much better? Surely not much better, because if one team can establish a gulf in class even wider than seen on Saturday between themselves and a squad of more than moderately gifted opponents from the same division, the game will eventually become a procession.
But the Frenchman is spot on as he also said: "I think we are making very positive headlines for football and that is good news. We want to give a positive image and be remembered as a team that gave pleasure to people who came to watch us."
Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, who a champion of typically English values, had to hold up his hands to Arsenal after his team were turned over by three goals in the last 20 minutes of the first half from Thierry Henry, Fredrik Ljungberg and Kolo Toure.
"They must be the best team in Europe and probably the world," he said. "Because I haven't seen one better. They will win the Champions League, let alone the Premier League and money can't buy what they've got. They will win everything.
"These are monsters, great athletes as well as great footballers and there is no magic formula to beating them. Everybody has tried but nobody has succeeded."
Two more goals followed quickly at the start of the second half with Henry clipping past goalkeeper Shaka Hislop from outside the area to make it 4-0 and Ljungberg's shot deflecting off defender Linvoy Primus to beat Hislop.
Belatedly Pompey rediscovered their pride and Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Matthew Taylor both hit the woodwork before Teddy Sheringham hooked home a last-minute consolation goal.
Wenger added: "The most important thing is that we are enjoying our game.
"Other people must be enjoying it as well but I have never seen before an opposition crowd cheer us like Portsmouth's fans did".
"Our team play is good and the individual quality high but I do think we can play much better than that.
"We missed some passes and lost a few balls and you must strive to improve all the time.
"We are on a good way but it is certainly not impossible to get better. We have a good balance away from home now with Gilberto in a new wide role where he is doing very well."
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