Then Sky showed Gareth Bale's standard screamer and blimey it was a fine strike. The margin for error had been completely erased so it was down to maintaining that clean sheet. Given all the nerves and fear when I think back, we were relatively in control of the game. The Geordies may have had spells of good ball possession but they really did not test Szczesny anywhere near as much as you'd think. Theo Walcott had finally managed to get that pass where he would be set clear, his foot work to turn the defender was actually quite good but his finish only found the base of the post rather than the net, with Bale's goal still fresh in the mind, the fear of the late sting was a concern. Sky television wanted to let us know every couple of seconds that a Newcastle goal would send heroic mighty underdog Tottenham into the champions league.

I wondered if we would start off slowly to then crank up the gears late on but luckily that was not the case, we went after Wigan from the off. Arsenal fans around the world have been increasingly frustrated with our corner kick routine which are almost the equivalent of giving the opposition a goal kick. Instead of the pointless whipped kick at knee height, Santi was instead floating the ball into the near post for someone, mainly Mertesacker to flick on, Wigan showed why they are fighting relegation rather than

Walcott's goal after 20 seconds caught me out, it was almost too early to celebrate properly as I couldn't quite work out what had happened and how it was possible so quickly after kick off. It was in fact wonderful build up play by many Arsenal players, especially Rosicky who drove the team forward on the right, jinking his way past the QPR defence and to my surprise he opted for a left foot cross to Podolski rather than the usual outside of the right. Mikel Arteta had disguised his shot which allowed Theo to sneak away

You've watched and read enough about the match details but I would like to bring up a few points. Walcott's goal reminded me of Giroud's goal in Munich. We are at our most dangerous when playing one touch football. Even the best of the best cannot stop us when we are slicing through teams without having to think of the next pass. I wish we would try and attack in that way more often rather than holding onto the ball for too long. The team need to accept that some through passes or combinations

I have slapped my knee with envy every time I have seen top sides fail to play well but then score from a well worked set piece so our goal was pleasing from that respect. And it was a well worked set piece, clearly something that had been worked on at training. Just look at the two runs from both centre backs and two players who finished as the best Arsenal players on the pitch. Koscielny sprung

Aaron Ramsey was once again the best player on the pitch and he deserves so much credit for grabbing his place and fighting to keep it. His engine is actually quite ridiculous when you consider how much ground he must have covered a few days ago against Norwich. It is too early to say whether or not he has taken that next step in his development but should he keep this up until the end of the season then Arsene will need serious convincing that another box to box midfielder should replace him whether that be

Mikel Arteta, you can lose any guilt you may feel over the Fulham penalty miss because this was a major pressure situation and you buried it. That said, I still think Lukas Podolski should be first choice if on the pitch. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain deserves a lot of credit for his taking the situation by the scruff of the neck and assisting the winner. We were passing it outside of the area and Norwich had the whole team behind the ball, without dribblers, it is so hard to pass through a team with that mindset. Without Gervinho on the pitch we lost the ability to pull people out of position. Chamberlain was positive, direct and this victory could well be down to that one moment when he took the pass from Cazorla and then drove straight at the heart of the Norwich defence. I still cannot