Didn’t get to see this one, but it looks as though the team has extended their unbeaten run by yet another match. Depending how Slavia do tomorrow, this could put them alone at the top of Group G. The Gunners waited until 76′ before Adebayor crossed to van Persie, who slammed it home.

Amazingly, Hleb played tonight! After seeing the way his leg was bent by that prick Noble Saturday (sorry, it looked intentional to me), I wouldn’t have expected to see him on the pitch until at least this Sunday against Sunderland. But our tough Belarusian was out there working like a champ. Glad to see it too. He’s an important part of the squad.

Nail biter. I had trepidations going into this one for sure. Probably the same sort of trepidations a Man U fan will have the night before facing us this year. Likewise, Hammers did the double on us last year, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I kept telling myself the side going to Upton Park this year is completely different than the one we sent over last year. When Alexandre Hleb crossed and Robin van Persie headed it home at 12′, I began to feel a little better. But when that second goal didn’t come, I started getting nervous. West Ham got way too close on several occasions, some really nice long balls coming in behind far too many of our lads, and I began to dread that we might come away with only a point. The ebb and flow was incredibly obvious in this match. I was absolutely relieved when time ran out on this one. The Hammers seem a much stronger side this year.

Also… I didn’t expect this, but it sort of hurt to see Freddie in West Ham strip. He had a pretty good game, and it was kind of nice to see some friendly banter from him when he went ankles over ass with Manuel Almunia in the 6 yard box, but it still just felt wrong seeing him in those colors. I wish him well, but miss him at the same time.

So, I couldn’t get this match on TV here. I went about my business all the day, avoiding the scores like the plague. I even passed on all the other games of the day that I had recorded so I wouldn’t learn the outcome. When I got home that afternoon, I figured I’d have a try at getting the game via bitTorrent. I found a copy, then downloaded nearly 1Gb of files and fired them up in Nero. So, by the time all this happens, it was half past midnight before I started watching the game. I grabbed myself a nice glass of cabernet and sat down to watch the game on my laptop with the headphones. It was at this point that I realized that this thing we call football really can be a sickness. And boy howdy do I ever have it. But at 2:30am, I was in my kitchen and pumping my fist in the air with the knowledge that West Ham would not have the double on us this year. I managed not to wake up the wife and kids this time… although the dog wasn’t so lucky.