1-1 again? Fuck. We needed to win that one, I thought we could win, but the performance wasn’t up to it. Man United have drawn this afternoon too but who out of you lot are really focusing on the title right now? I know I’m not…

Both teams rested players as expected. We played Hoyte and Traore as full backs, Walcott started on the left and Gilberto made up a 5 man midfield supporting the lone striker, Bendtner. Otherwise it was as expected. Liverpool were changed too, Crouch started alongside other subs including some bloke called Plessis, the no.47; so shit his name wasn’t even on the back of the afternoon’s programme.

It was a quiet opening to the game, neither side really creating much. Crouch did hit a decent long-range effort, which was well saved but apart from that it was pretty dull. We had a couple of chances but nothing really worth noting.

The first half was crap, from where I was anyway. It was being played like it didn’t matter, nothing like you might have thought the way Wenger was speaking in the week about how we’re still in the title race.

Our first real chance came about 10 minutes before the break; a mistake from the Liverpool defence and Fabregas powered a shot when the ball was loose, nothing came of it though. However a few minutes later we created a decent chance. We were breaking when Carragher intercepted a ball to Walcott but instead it found the path of Bendtner. He took a touch but then he shot was really poor and Reina had no trouble. An opportunity you would expect a striker to deal with much, much better.

Neither side was really playing that well but it looked like we were just getting going though. So obviously that’s when Liverpool got their opener…the move started right at the back with Reina who punted it long. Crouch controlled it for Benayoun who played the one-two and the English striker turned and shot on the edge of the box. It was actually a quite good effort from Crouch and the ball went right into the bottom corner making it very difficult for Almunia.

So we were a goal down at half time. Not happy at all. Something had to be changed. We were doing nothing with ball and were basically looking a very expensive waste of space. We had that promising spell towards the end of the half but that was cancelled out when Liverpool scored.

We started the half well, and we found the equaliser 10 minutes in. Traore was fouled out on the left and Fabregas was getting ready to whip one in. It looked a crowded area and there were lots of targets for Cesc to aim at. Unsurprisingly, it was the big man, Bendtner who got there first and fired us back to 1-1 with a great header. After thinking earlier in the game, ‘He’s just a shit Crouch really isn’t he?’ I now loved the lanky Dane. He hadn’t had a great game but you have to hand it to him, he does have great talent in the air.

The goal woke up the team and the crowd. It’d been a very sombre mood inside the Grove up to this point and once we scored we awakened. It was a decent atmosphere in there now and the team were playing off it. We still needed another goal though, and just before the hour we made our first change.

Adebayor was getting ready to come on just before we scored but Wenger decided it was still right to bring him on and push for that second goal. Hoyte was the replacement and he was not a happy man being taken off. I sit the opposite side of the pitch but it was quite clear he was having a bit of a strop. It might be frustrating for him but he wasn’t good enough I’m afraid and that’s that really.

We were really going for it now; we needed that goal to get the spirits up but we were well and truly on top now. We had to push for that second goal and we gave it our best shot. We were finding it hard to get through though and our next notable chance was a long-range drive from Flamini, which forced a save out of Reina in the 70th minute.

It was looking good for us but I was still worried about our defence. We needed to score but conceding another would be disastrous. There was a little scare when we went down to 10 men for a few minutes, Gallas picked up a knock on the head and ran straight down the tunnel. He disappeared for a few minutes but came back and carried on. Not sure what he was doing, sorting out a contact lens? Cleaning up some blood? Having a quick piss? I don’t know, but in that time Liverpool were on the attack and it was a bit worrying.

For the final period of the game Liverpool had fresh legs up front in Torres, Voronin and Gerrard and we looked tired. They so easily could’ve punished us and I could just imagine Torres coming up with a late winner. Hleb came on for a knackered Flamini, there were probably a number of players could’ve done with the early bath but Arsene opted for Matty who’ll certainly play a big part on Tuesday night.

We pushed and pushed but the goal just wouldn’t come. In the final minute of extra time the ball somehow found its way to Hleb but he couldn’t react quick enough and get the shot away, the danger was cleared and the whistle was blown.

In the end it was disappointing walking out of the stadium with only one point; after all of that pressure it was hard to believe we didn’t find a goal. However when you look at the bigger picture you have to say it wasn’t a good performance over the whole game. Yes we had some good spells but that’s not good enough. We missed our 1st team players yesterday and we’ll be grateful to get them back on Tuesday night.

Clichy will be back, Sagna might, Hleb will be back, so will Adebayor and van Persie has a good chance. Build up to come in the week tomorrow in a game which will pretty much make or break our season. This is massive. Milan performance anyone? Yes please.