Jens Lehman - brilliant goalkeeper. Kolo Toure - brilliant defender. William Gallas - brilliant defender. Johan Djourou - excellent young talent. Justin Hoyte - fast improving young talent. So a great defence, right? Well, maybe not.

It may seem churlish to criticise a side who have conceded just five times in nine games. But more telling is the fact we have conceded in five separate gamess - and importantly each goal has been the crucial first goal. It’s making life very difficult, particularly at home.

And the point is that we mustn’t let great saves from Lehman or superb interceptions from Toure convince us that all is fine and dandy. The great thing about the likes of David Seaman and Tony Adams was that they rarely needed to make these stunning interventions. As good as Lehman, Toure and the others are (and I mean that), we’re kidding ourselves if we reckon that a defence that has undergone so much change in just 12 months can suddenly become the coherent unit we would all like it to be.

The three draws will infuriate Arsene. So much effort to get back into the games and just three points in total to show for it. How is it that we have managed to equalise three times and yet never find a winner? Infuriating eh?

You’ll notice I haven’t touched on the specifics of the game - which is because I only caught from just before Van Persie’s goal. I ended up sitting in my car with my laptop on the passenger seat parked opposite a house down the street with unsecured wifi. For some reason battery decided to go on 89 minutes. It kind of summed up the day.

SO IT’S Everton in what almost unthinkably is our fifth consecutive Saturday 3pm Premiership game. Admittedly, today and the other four have hardly been TV must sees, though it’s quite clear this should be the toughest of the lot.

Team wise, there’s a little to say. Clichy is rested because the boss reckons he’s not quite 100 per cent there yet. Given the length of his absence that seems fair enough. Of course, we also have plenty of defenders to go round nowadays so we can afford to be a little picky. You would have to think the back four will therefore look something like Hoyte, Djourou, Gallas and Toure, with a midfield quartet of Gilberto, Cesc and in all likelihood Rosicky and Hleb, who seem to be forming quite a partnership. Adebayor’s absence means that by default Henry will start up front with Van Persie - unless the stuff about Walcott keeping to the wing for now was all a cunning rouse.

Seeing as Arsene generally likes to have a keeper, a defender, a midfielder, a winger and a forward on the bench, it’s fair to assume Aliadiere will fill the final one of those places, with Walcott taking the winger slot, Senderos the defender one and either Song or Flamini the midfield one. There’s an outside chance Denilson could scrape in too after his promising debut on Tuesday.

In other news, I’m on the lookout for a pub to watch the game in. I’m currently living up in Manchester (yes, I know), so thanks but no thanks for any London suggestions. I’ve got a car and am happy to travel a little if need be - perhaps heading over towards Merseyside might reap dividends? Any help would be much appreciated - please either put it in the comments below or email me using the contact details at the top.

SOMETHING STRANGE possessed me yesterday afternoon. After finishing work early I figured that if I wanted to I could make it from Manchester (where I’m currently based) down to the Hawthorns for kick-off. I made it, but only just thanks to the M6. Tickets were, amazingly, sold out in the Arsenal end, so I got myself one in with the Baggies but right next to the Gunners fans.

Early reports had suggested the likes of Cesc, Van Persie, Hleb, Toure and Rosicky would be involved. But in the event there were ten changes from Sunday, giving a team of Almunia, Connolly, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, Denilson, Flamini, Song, Aliadiere and Walcott and Adebayor who was replaced fairly early on by Traore.

For a game like this, it’s really individual performances rather than the team performance that matters, so I’m pretty much going to go straight into the playa ratings. Team wise, we were fairly good without being as good as the West Brom boss said we were post match or the ‘Have you ever seen Chelsea play like this?’ chants from the fans suggested.

One thing I should pick up on is that, as I said earlier, the Arsenal end was sold-out. I mention this because in our League Cup tie at the Hawthorns three years ago there were hundreds of empty seats among the Gooners. What’s changed?

Playa ratings:

Almunia: Impressive. Organised his defence a lot and got good hands to balls into the box he couldn’t catch. I was sitting right behind him when he turned away a first half free kick and he can’t have seen it until very late. 7.5

Connolly: Very solid on the whole. I can’t remember a mistake of any consequence and he looked comfortable going forward. Normally a centre-back as far as I’m aware, he was out of position on the right. Which was strange in a way seeing as Arsene could have picked Hoyte on the right, leaving Connolly in the middle. 7

Clichy: Solid defensively against the tricky Greening, who absurdly was named man of the match. Got forward well too, though it was a shame the early substitution robbed us off the chance to see Clichy and Walcott on the left – a partnership I feel has potential. 7

Senderos: Looked very solid on his return to the side. Few signs of rustiness and kept things simple when needed. Up against John Hartson a lot of the time – which is never easy. 7

Djourou: Has benefited so much from a run of games. His confidence has grown and grown. And you’ve got to love the chim chimney: “Who needs Sol Campbell when we’ve got Djourou” song. 7

Flamini: Busy as ever and the more the game went on the better his contributions. Perhaps a little rusty but equally he was in an unfamiliar midfield containing three central players. 6.5

Song: He did ok. But he’s rarely a delight to watch. Observing him, I figured that while Cesc has already looked two or three times before he receives the ball, Song gets it and then thinks about what he is going to do. There was one point where we were faffing on the edge of the box and the fans were shouting ‘shoot’. Then when Song did you sensed the general reaction was: ‘no, not you. 6.5

Denilson: When Arsene described him as a cross between Gilberto and Rosicky I had no idea what he meant. It sounded like crossing a dog with a turtle – just not going to happen. He started slowly but got into the game and looked impressive on the ball at times. Is surprisingly small but makes up for it with trickiness. 7

Walcott: A very well worked free-kick for the Aliadiere goal but other than that he didn’t do a hell of a lot – either on the wing or up front after the injury to Adebayor. A couple of decent runs and he nearly scored at the end after being played in. Huge talent – but there is massive scope for improvement of his overall game. 6.5

Adebayor: Not on for long enough to make an impression.

Alaidiere: Had already set off on a couple of runs that had scared the life out of West Brom before he won the penalty. It looks a little soft on TV, but watching it live he was running at full pelt and any touch would have been enough to send him flying. An excellently worked second, which he celebrated by pointing purposely to someone on the bench. Perhaps it was because the move had come together on the training pitch or perhaps he was making a point that he still has it.

Either way, the player will be acutely aware that his last Arsenal goal was almost three years ago… at West Brom in a 2-0 Carling Cup win. And the sad reality is that since then his career has pretty much stood still. You could argue that for someone who has achieved so little in the game, the fact he has earned more money in five years than most of us will in a lifetime is fairly outrageous. At the same time I’ve never heard of any complaints about his attitude and he has been incredibly unlucky with injuries. Certainly tonight he looked determined to do well and was very alert, often first to the ball when defending corners.

One thing I do think is that he hasn’t always been given the easiest games at Arsenal with which to impress. Sure, quality should always emerge. But away starts at Liverpool and Leicester and out of the blue in the FA Cup semi-final when he was barely fit hardly seems that fair. I do remember him playing the first half of a Boro home game in January 2004 and he was excellent. Sadly, he then got injured – the story of his life.

Now, however, Arsene reckons we could be without Adebayor for up to three weeks. We don’t know if he’ll get a chance. But he certainly looked fitter, more powerful and more direct than we have seen him before. 8.5

Subs:

Traore: Out of position on the left wing but got involved well and looked very comfortable. 7

Randall: Too little time to make an impression.

THE GREAT second Wenger side had a wonderful habit of mutilating the opposition on their own patch.

Eleven times in the two years from September 2002 Arsenal hit four or more on their travels. Sure, we were outstanding at Highbury, but it was on the road that we would hand out footballing lessons like nobody else. PSV Eindhoven (0-4), Leeds (1-4),
Birmingham (0-4), Man City (1-5), Sunderland (0-4), Middlesbro (0-4), Leeds (1-4), Leeds (1-4 again), Portsmouth (1-5), Everton (1-4) and Norwich (1-4) were massacred in contests that were anything but.

Sadly, it all went out with the end of the Invincibles - with the 4-0 win at Fulham in March the only four goal away spanking dolled out since. Until yesterday. Suddenly, that swagger was back. We were picking them off at will - scoring when we fancied it, toying with the opposition. Same swagger, new faces. It was tempting to believe that with five wins on the spin and the football flowing we were back to what we once were.

Tempting, yes. But let’s not get too carried away just yet with too much talk of title challenges - four of our five wins have come against the three promoted sides and the Premiership’s bottom side. And there is still room for improvement. Our defending is currently choc full of great athletic last ditch interceptions. I’d like to see fewer of those and more of the brick wall stuff practiced by Chelsea and the famous back four.

Still, we shouldn’t complain. Fabregas was fantastic and if you were looking for symbolic examples for the whole British v foreigner debate you only had to see the way he out-muscled ex-Gunner James Harper for the first and then completely lost the attentions of ex-Gunner Sidwell for the penalty.

The link-up play is becoming better and better among the midfielders and strikers, we are scoring goals and we are spreading them nicely round the team. The team and the squad look balanced, with back-up in every position. So, so far, so good. But a long way to go.

Playa ratings:

Jens: A good save in the first half after he had, in my opinion, been fouled from the corner. Flapped a couple of times but generally did well. 7

Gallas: I said he was poor against Watford, I said he was poor against Moscow and I reckon most people will agree he was pretty poor yesterday. Maybe he is unfit, maybe he’s tired of playing left-back. Who knows. Either way, I would play Clichy at left-back. 6

Toure: Excellent interceptions and boundless enthusiasm. 8

Djourou: Things are not perfect in the defence but Djourou generally speaking seemed to play well. 7

Hoyte: His best game so far. Very comfortable and got forward. Beginning to justify his position as a squad player. 7

Gilberto: Some good defensive work but also some really sloppy play, particularly at the end. It annoys me. 6.5

Cesc: What more can you say? Sensational. 8.5

Hleb: Great finish and linked up well with Hoyte. Bizarre attempt at celebration with Rosicky. 7.5

Rosicky: Really should have scored himself. But great link-up with Hleb for the second goal. 7

Henry: Pretty good really. A great finish, set-up the fourth goal and generally good link-up play. 7.5

Van Persie: I actually thought he did pretty well. Yes, it doesn’t come off as often as it does for others. But he still scored, put the likes of Rosicky in on goal and generally linked well. 7

Subs:

Walcott, Adebayor, Song: With three quick subs we lost our shape and none of them were really able to get into the game.

SO STEVE COPPELL (in who I think there is much to admire) says ahead of today’s tasty Sidwell and Harper v Cesc clash:

“It may not be politically correct but I believe there should be a quota of five English players in every Premiership team. Without that, it’s not logical to expect the limited number of English players in the Premiership to be successful on the world stage in a national team.”

On paper it’s an argument that could work at some levels of the game. In practice, it is one that will make the chances of anyone other than Chelsea or possibly Manchester United winning the Premiership far, far more remote. Firstly, you need to look at how a manager like Arsene has won us the title. You need to ignore the sloppy excuse of failed Villa, Everton, Spurs and Newcastle managers who bracket our financial clout in the same league as Chelsea while ignoring the fact they often spent as much or more than Arsene while they were at their clubs.

By conducting his transfers from the world pool of players rather than the British one, Arsene knows that try as they might, Chelsea simply can’t sign up every good playa we want to sign. So while players at the very pinnacle such as Shevchenko and Ballack will be lured to Stamford Bridge, players like Rosicky are excellent too and by buying his type we can then try and use better tactics, motivation and realising of potential in the likes of Rosicky etc to close the gap created by quality of transfer purchases.

Of course, I say we can try, but we have all seen that in the past two years Chelsea’s constant spending has made this harder and harder.

Now let us imagine that as Coppell proposes, half our team has to be British. Suddenly the market of players Arsene can sign has shrunk massively. And not only that, but for the players he does want to buy he faces direct competition from Chelsea and United, with their considerably bigger financial muscle. And furthermore, Chelsea know that the more top quality English players they snap up, the far poorer the players we will be forced to play and the greater the gap will become. And if you don’t think they would bother deliberately keeping a player out of the hands of a rival then just look at SWP.

Critics will point to the development of youth systems and Arsene’s failure to blood young British players such as Sidwell. And like many fans, I feel there have been occasions when Arsene has blooded frankly poor foreign players while ignoring the likes of Sidwell. (Though that said few people acknowledge is not completely one sided - Moritz Volz is arguably as good a right-back as Justin Hoyte and never got beyond the Carling Cup.)

But ultimately, you are very, very rarely ever going to be able to blood half a team of top quality local kids like Fergie had 12 years ago. Yes, Chelsea have lots of British players. But apart from Terry they have all been bought in. Yes, Liverpool have Gerrard and Carragher, but that is two in ten years who have made it in truth. And yes, United have the likes of Fletcher, Richardson and O’Shea as well as Scholes and Neville. But surely nobody would argue that their most important English player cost a fortune from Everton and then there is their England centre-back who cost £18 million from Leeds.

Although I acknowledged above his occasional myopia regarding blooding British players, for me the over-riding argument that Arsene dislikes British players is utter rubbish. Offer him John Terry or Steven Gerrard tomorrow and he would most likely snap them up. The same would have been true of Rooney had we any hope of landing him when he left Everton.

But introducing a quota of five and then expecting him to blood the likes of Andy Johnson, Kieron Richardson and Luke Young (which would be the best we would be left with once Chelsea and United had raided the best for themselves) when there are better foreign players out there who would cost less and do a better job is just so wrong.

In the Championship and frankly in most of the Premiership a quota would not matter that much because as player quality gets weaker there becomes a far bigger spread from which to choose from (a bit like an upside down cone). But at the top of the Premiership there is just a tiny pinnacle of players that make the difference between winning and not winning titles. So yes, at the moment the proposals would screw Arsenal probably more than anyone. But it would also make it nigh on impossible for any other club such as Bolton or Wigan or Villa to emerge and prick the Chelsea bubble.

And that’s why in trying to breath new life into the national team, we could suffocate the Premiership.