ARSENAL MEANS BUSINESS

Whether we like it or not Arsenal are hotly in pursuit of two title-The Premier and the European Champions' Leagues. Ironically this is a team we all wrote-off midway into the season, but the rather erratic run of form by Chelsea and man United has given Arsenal the leeway to have a strong claim at the Premier League title. The walloping of Porto in the 2nd leg round of 16 play-off at the Emirates, even without the influence of Cesc Fabregas, has gone a long way to substatially prove Arsenal, if they can keep on the consistency, are in the verge of ending their 5-year trophy drought.
I must admit, however, that the Porto team that got mesmerised on that overcast London night are poor and highly ineffective. Certainly not in the mold of the team which out of the blues won the European Cup in 2004 under a certain Jose Mourinho, and of course they were a shadow of the team that were narrowly beaten by Man United last season. The highly-rated central defensive pair of Rolando and Bruno Alves played like characters in Last Man Standing and allowed the much-criticised Nicklas Bendtner to have a rump and claimed his first ever hat trick. Whether Arsenal can beat all-comers to reach the final, as they did in 2005, and whether they can go on the clinch their very first European Cup, is entirely a different ball game. It still bedevils Arsene Wenger that upon all his is pedigree he has never led a team, or Arsenal for that matter, to a Europen Cup glory.
Wenger's braggadoccio is well known since taking over the London team in 1997, he now boast that Arsenal can win this season's Premier League title due to the fact that thier remaining fixtures is devoid of any of the so-called Big Four. He has all the moral right to make that boast, and we live to see if the team can roll over the likes of Hull City, West Ham, Man City and Spurs to leapfrog Man United and Chelsea in May to win the title. Whatever the outcome of such encounters, my submission is they CAN do it.
The triumph of Arsenal and Man United in the round of 16 of the Champions' League has sent more signals to the footballing world that the predicted supremacy of English teams in European competitions is becoming real by the day. Who could imagined that giant of European football, AC Milan can be pummelled 7-2 on aggregate by Man United? That night at Old Trafford, marred only by protestations directed at Glazer family by United fans, was one to remember. Prior to this season United have never beaten Milan in any competition over two legs. Revenge was the key word as Rooney went on to score 4 goals over the two legs, they got their revenge and await, together with Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Lyon, the draws for the quarter finals.