This was the kind of  of performance that we wanted to see from Arsenal. Fast flowing football and lots of goals.

Theo Walcott first goal was purse Arsenal. A 7 man move ripped Blackpool open and Walcott finished off the move with a first-time drive from the right of the box.

Arshavin made it two with a 32nd-minute penalty after Ian Evatt was sent-off off for bringing down Marouane Chamakh with a challenge from behind.

Walcott claimed his second six minutes from the break and then Abou Diaby made it 4-0 four minutes after the restart, Walcott claimed the match ball as the hour mark approached and Chamakh rounded things off with his first Arsenal goal, seven minutes from time.

Let’s be honest. We expected Arsenal to thrash Blackpool and they did. But it was nice to see the Gunners keep a clean sheet, and for Cesc Fabgreas and Rob van Persie both get 30 minutes.

And I loved the performance of Theo Walcott. Yes the three goals were great, but his overall performance was electric and I hope we see more of this type of performance by Theo as the season progresses.

Let’s be clear about this. This was not a vintage Arsenal performance. It was not even a good Arsenal performance. But it was a performance that got the Gunners a point away from home, a performance that in previous years would have resulted in Liverpool winning.

With no Febrgeas in the Arsenal line-up and van Persie on the bench, Arsenal went with Wilshere, Eboue and Diaby in midfield and Nasri providing the link between midfield and attack. Both Laurent Koscielny and Marouane Chamakh made their Premier League debuts.

Arsenal started the game well with Nasri pulling the strings of the Arsenal attack. The Gunners had lots of possession without creating any good goalscoring opportunities.

Right before the half, the game sprung to life. Johnson had a shot tipped over by Almunia and Ngog then had a header cleared off the line from the resulting corner. Then the complexion of the game changed completely in injury time when Joe Cole was shown a straight red for a reckless challenge on Koscielny.

But it was Liverpool that scored first. Wilshere gave the ball away outside the Arsenal penalty box. Vermaelen was too slow to close down Ngog and then Almunia was beaten high at his near post with the shot. A really bad goal to give up.

Even with the man advantage, Arsenal never pegged Liverpool back in their own half. Nasri disappeared in the second half and I have never seen Arshavin play as poorly as he did. Why Wenger did not take him off is a mystery to me.

But with time running out Arsenal conjured up a goal from nothing. A Rosicky cross had misplaced by Reina as Chamakh challenged hi. To the horror of the Liverpool goalkeeper, the ball bounced off the post and then him for an own goal. It was a terrible goalkeeping error.

In the last minute of the game Koscielny was sent off for two bookable offences and will miss the game at home to Blackpool next weekend,

So poor Arsenal performance, but a point away from home from one of the “big six” is still a point gained and that is how I look at it. Thoughts on the game?

Arsenal got rid of a potential distraction to the season by announcing that Arsène Wenger has signed a three year extension to his current contract, taking his tenure at the Club to June 2014.

Arsène Wenger said:

“My heart belongs to Arsenal and my desire is to see this team win silverware. My commitment and drive are as strong and fresh as ever. Signing a new deal means that I can see this talented group of players reach their potential. Trust me, they are ready to deliver. With my staff and players we are in front of an exciting challenge and we are looking forward to achieving much success.”

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood stated:

“We are thrilled that Arsène has signed an extension to his contract. He has masterfully transformed this football club over the last 14 years and the exciting and compelling football we play under his stewardship is admired the world over. Arsène is a very talented man and we believe the young, exciting team he has nurtured over the past five years will reward his and the fans’ patience with silverware.”

First the good news. Marouane Chamakh, who looked good, scored on this home debut as he coolly slotted the ball under the Milan keeper after a burst of pace and precise pass from Arshavin.

The bad news is that once again Arsenal threw away a lead as Milan equalized with 14 minutes left when Pato got ahead of Vermaelen to glance Clarence Seedorf’s free-kick into the far corner.

Next up for Arsenal is Celtic, who drew 2-2 against Lyon earlier today.

It was an interesting team that Wenger put out. Thomas Vermaelen was captain, and he partnered Laurent Koscielny in the heart of the Arsenal defence. Behind them was
Lukasz Fabianski, with Wojciech Szczesny was on the bench, as once again there was no place for Manuel Almunia.

Youngsters Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Emmanuel Frimpong all were given starts as they try to impress ahead of the Liverpool on August 15.

Both teams had chances to win the game late, but overall a 1-1 draw was a pretty fair result. What did you think if Arsenal’s performance today?

Yes it is only pre-season, but I cannot help and be impressed at how good Arsenal have looked in these friendlies.

Tonight Arsenal beat SC Neusiedi 4-0 making it three wins out of three in pre-season with 11 goals scored and 0 goals conceded. Yes the competition has not been great, but I like the three clean sheets.

Against Neusiedi, Marouane Chamakh scored his first Arsenal goal from the penalty spot. Other Arsenal scorers were Theo Walcott, Emmanuel-Thomas and Carlos Vela.

Arsenal competition steps up in quality now with AC Milan, Celtic and Legia Warsaw on the horizon, but the team is buzzing with confidence at the moment and if they can continue this form in the next three games, the Gunners should be flying come the Premier League opener against Liverpool in less than three weeks.

Samir Nasri scored two terrific goals as Arsenal beat Sturm Graz 3-0 on Wednesday evening.

The first was an angled drive after 16 minutes to give Arsenal the lead. But the second was a free kick right before the half that was as good a free kick as we will see al season. rsène Wenger’s side the lead. Then, two minutes from the break, Nasri curled home a wonderful free-kick in to the top left-hand corner of the net to give the visitors a lead they were unlikely to let ever slip.

Teenager Henri Lansbury, who has been linked with a move to Newcastle, added a third 12 minutes into the second half.

The only other point of note was that Arsene Wenger once again picked Lukasz Fabianski and Wojciech Szczesny as Manuel Almunia sat out the game.

After the game Arsene Wenger spoke about how important this preseason is for someone like Jack Wilshere:

“At the moment, I want Jack to gain experience and, if possible, at Arsenal. I will give him a chance to play – now. I want to see if he can integrate with the first team. Of course, I will make that decision later (next month). Ideally, it is better that he gains experience with us. Jack has done well. I am keen not to create too much hype around the young English players because they need to work hard. We do have outstanding English talent at this club, though.”

Arsenal continue their preseason games against SC Neusiedl next Tuesday before returning home to take on Milan and Celtic in the Emirates Cup the following week.

Arsenal’s poor run of form to end the season continued as they lost 2-1 away to Blackburn. Arsenal took the lead through van Persie in the 13th minute, but once again the lack of a killer instinct came back to haunt Arsenal. Blackburn got a goal right before the half which gave them confidence and they went on to win it in the second half.

With the loss Arsenal have managed to take only 5 points from their last six league games. Now I thought that Arsenal had locked up the 3rd Champions League spot with the draw against Man City, but looking at the table tonight, that does not appear to be the case.

Arsenal have played 37 and have 72 points. Spurs have played 36 and have 67 points. So if Arsenal lose at home to Fulham next week and Spurs wins at Man City and Burnley then they would have 73 points and Arsenal 72 points. Unthinkable!

The post-game comments were interesting as Fat Sam admitted that part of Blackburn’s game plan had been to target Fabianski. Allardyce saying:

“We know their weakness is balls into the box and certainly the goalkeeper of late, so we did that positively and in the end it has paid off for us with two goals”

Wenger refused to blame Fabianski saying:

“Their (Blackburn’s) main purpose every time is to stop the goalkeeper, not go for the ball, and both times for both goals that happened.”

Asked if Fabianski was at fault in any way, Wenger defended the goalkeeper.

“No,” he said. “I think he had no chance as a goalkeeper, he was pushed every time.”

Another poor result by the Gunners. What did you think of the performance?

Lets be fair. This was not the most exciting game that we have seen at the Emirates this season. Manchester City came with a plan that was designed to get them a point and they played Roberto Mancini defensive game plan to perfection.

Man City are not the first team to come to the Emirates and packed a bus in front of the goal to paraphrase Jose Mourinho. But they are probably the biggest club to do it, and that was disappointing to see

The highlight of the game for Arsenal fans was seeing Robin van Persie back in the starting line-up for the first time since November 7th. He is obviously well short of match fitness, but van Persie did almost grab all three points for Arsenal late in the game when his free-kick hit the outside of the post.

The win mathematically ended Arsenal’s title dreams for this season, but that was not on Arsene Wenger’s mind after the game. It was the negative approach of City.

“It was an afternoon I must say I’m not used to,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “We created very few chances and Manchester City didn’t create anything. They were highly focused on defending well and we could not find the opener. And, as long as we couldn’t do that, it was a locked game.”

What did you think of the game and performance of Campbell and Silvestre, who I thought were both terrific?

It had not been a vintage Gunners performance, but never in my worst nightmares did I expect Arsenal to throw away a two goal lead in the last ten minutes of a game as lose to Wigan of all people.

An unthinkable loss especially after Spurs beat Chelsea yesterday to give Arsenal a glimmer of hope in the title race. Chelsea’s loss opened the door to Arsenal to put pressure on them and United but the team could not hold on to what should have been a comfortable win

For the second time in less than a week, Wenger blamed Arsenal’s inexperience for a loss saying:

“I believe we were not focused, not disciplined and were caught. In football you have to stay focused for 90 minutes otherwise you run the risk of being punished.”

Even after Watson’s goal made the score 2-1 I was not worried. But then came another Fabianski. It was interesting that Fabianski was playing in the first place, after Wenger’s much publicized comments about Almunia earlier this week when he saud “”I never said he will be my long-term No 1.” After today’s performance Fabianski is not the answer either.

Wenger needs to spend some of that 30 million pound transfer budget on a goalkeeper. Maybe Joe Hart from Man City for 8 million? If he can add Hart, two or three central defenders and Chamakh on a free, I would consider that a good summer!

Tonight’s 2-1 loss to Spurs effectively ends the Gunners title dreams as nobody will catch Chelsea now.

Arsene Wenger conceded as much after the game saying:

“We lost a game we couldn’t afford to lose in the title race. There’s too much to do now. We’re very unlikely now to win the championship.”

What is up for grabs is second place and the automatic qualifying into the Champions League group stages next season. In a World Cup year, when summer breaks will be short for all your stars, I don’t think that you can overstate the importance of that automatic qualifying and not having to play a big match against a top Spanish or Italian team in August.

Rob van Persie made his long awaited return from injury and if it was not for the heroics of Gomes, van Persie could easily have marked his return with two goals. Another bright spot for Arsenal was the play of substitute Theo Walcott. As he did against Barcelona in the Champions League, Walcott’s speed gave the tired Spurs defence fits. At the moment, Walcott’s best position seems to be as a substitute, where he can use his speed in the last 20 mins to run and weary defenders.

What did you think of tonight’s game? Is second in the league and quarter-finals of the Champions League a successful season?