Arsenal have gone from fighting on four fronts to concentrating on the league, if Arsène Wenger's players concentrate really hard they still have an excellent chance of denying United the title, though this FA Cup defeat was an immense psychological blow. Not only did United win as if the blip of the past couple of weeks had merely been a bad dream, they did so with a much-changed, almost unrecognisable side.
Arsenal turned up with quite a decent team despite their injuries, considering they famously failed to manage a shot on target in their last match against Barca.
Rumours from the Arsenal dressing room suggest that after the Barcelona game at the Nou Camp, Nicklas Bendtner was handed a firearm and asked to do the honourable thing ..............
Personally I feel a little sympathy for Arsene Wenger at present .......................
but not a lot. He's stuck by his football principles and, unlike Barcelona, Arsenal haven't spent a fortune on players. They are a well-run club and that's partly down to him. But then you think of the sheer smuggery of the way Arsenal appproached their away games in the Champions League group stage and the symnpathy evaporates. When Barcelona went to play Copenhagen they put out their strongest side (they still only got a 1-1 draw). When Arsenal travelled to play Shakhtar Donetsk, it was quite evident that Monsieur Wenger imagined it would be a doddle, after beating them 5-1 at home - despite the facf they hadn't lost at home for 48 games. So key players were rested. Song, Febregas, Denilson and Arshavin were all in London. Sagna stayed on the bench. And they lost 2-1, deservedly. So they ended up going out to Barcelona, whereas Shakhtar are through to the quarter-finals after thumping Roma 6-2. And essentially that's down to one man - the Professor who never learns. PS... the ref that night in Donetsk was Massimo Busacca.
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