I was actually in an airport in Florida during the game, relegated to tracking it on the Guardian website, clicking refresh and exhaling into my beer each time the score came back 0-0. Those of you who watched know that Arsenal played beautifully, particularly Hleb, Fab, and Adebayor. But still, goals are hard to come by at the San Siro against that Milan team, and the longer the game went the more I had the feeling Kaka was going to walk free on a counter and turn the Gunners hopes back onto a withering domestic campaign. I mean we had just tied Birmingham and Villa in succession, results which not only let Manchester United back even but more importantly drew Chelsea back into the race.

Victory came from Fabregas' long-range strike in the dying moments. It was the first time he had scored in a couple months and the first time he had dominated a game in about the same period of time. What a victory and what a way to do it? I learned of the goal from a text message from Ez that read merely Cesc! And then clicked refresh to find the goal description beaming back at me. I hollered out loud in the airport bar and got some surprised looks from a lesbian couple and a tanned Floridian couple who were talking real estate at the table next to me. What happened, they asked. Arsenal won, I said. Oh.

How to convey the importance? My friend Mitch can't understand how my home team feeling can be placed across an ocean. I can't either. Just goes to show how our pro sports teams have gone to shit. I liked the Redskins, the Orioles, the Hoyas, and the Terps. I guess I still like all of them but I never know who they have playing and both the Skins and the O's have taken particularly soul-less paths into free agency. There it is, my theology creeping back in. Arsenal stand for the Platonic image of football. Clean patterns that create joy from beauty, one being from many. Tic, tic, tic, toc, gooooooal!

But as ebullient as I felt after the Milan game, listening to all the heads and wags kissing our butts like they were in the first weeks of the season, I was in no way surprised when we tied Wigan a few days later. Three ties in a row in the league. That's giving up six hard-earned points from the first half of the season. I'd take the Villa tie but the other two may come back to bite us.

Nine games to play in the league now. Among them Chelsea and Manchester United away, Liverpool, Everton at home. Those games will decide our league fates. We've drawn Liverpool in the Champs League quarters. Between April 1 and April 13 we will play Liverpool three times and Manchester United once, and we will know very clearly whether we are still a team that can win two cups or none.

I believe that luck will play a large role. The loss of Eduardo and Lassana Diarra mean that we are skinny in crucial areas. Flamini is so much better than Gilberto right now that he must be in the side during every big game. The same goes for Sagna and Clichy. The ‘x' factor is the Dutch Boy, Robin V. Persie. He's been out all season but he's healthy again and he must emerge as another scoring threat. The same goes for Rosicky, who's always hurt but when he plays can change a game by cutting in from the right and shooting low and hard. I'd say we need four goals from V. Persie and two from Tomas. Six from Adebayor, three from Fab, three from Hleb.

That's what Swami says. Very happy to reach this stage of the year still at the top of the table, still with a shot at the European Championship.

Who is the best football team in Europe? That's the question the next two months answers, but I think, like last year, the answer will not be conclusive. Last year Man United were best in Europe but they lost out. This year none of the teams still in the tournament look better than the others. Barca, Arsenal, Man U are the best teams left, but Liverpool, Chelsea, and Roma can win.

An Arsenal/ Barca final would be jogo bonito.