Liverpool 4, Arshavin 4

He's a god, he's an Owl,

he's a man, he's Arshavin
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic scheme
Designed and directed
by his red Arse team...

- a song for Arshavin that'll never take, mostly because it's not an 80s rock anthem. Sung to the tune of Red Right Hand by Nick Cave

)))

Arshavin scored to put us in the lead. Liverpool scored twice to lead after 60 minutes. Arshavin scored again, a ripping 30 yard effort, and Liverpool pegged us back. Arshavin scored once more, and Liverpool equalised at the death. If we keep playing Arshavin, we're in danger of being a one-man team.

But WHAT a one-man team we'd be...

The rest of the lads were patchy.

Silvestre was a liability and should be dropped, even if it means playing without a centre-half. Fabianksi made some great saves and some hilarious errors. I loved the bit early on where he just kept charging at the attackers; at one stage, I thought he'd follow the ball out of the penalty area and into the corner flag. Sagna crossed the ball across the penalty area and cost us the third goal. Gibbs cleared off the line for the second game in a row, was at fault for the third goal, but overall was okay. He's going to be a good player for us.

Song did well, and showed why he's not the butt of jokes at the Arsenal anymore. The boy does good when he wants to, and he wanted to do good today. After his form of recent weeks, you start to wonder if an experienced defensive midfielder is still necessary. Nasri and Cesc flitted in and out. Bendtner was anonymous. Denilson was absent.

But Arshavin plays like a dream, and at about 6:30am in the morning, with the sun coming up and Arshavin punched his left-footed shot through for goal, I thought I was dreaming. We haven't had a player like him since the Invincibles. He's deadly. He's tough. He's the Alec Guiness of football. He's the Arsenal we once were, and the Arsenal we still hope to become.

We're still shite, though. We let the led slip by twice in the last 20 minutes. It's unforgivable. In the last five minutes, when Liverpool threw everything at us, we couldn't get it out. We don't have a midfielder who can hold onto the ball and take the pressure off the defence. We can't defend set-pieces; actually, with our current back five, we can't defend at all. We're aching for Djouoru and Almunia to return. Up against Man Utd next week, I'm pretty worried. Thank God it's an away leg first up - a 4-4 tie at Old Trafford would actually be a GOOD result.

But this isn't a day for whining. This is a day for celebrating the wonder that is Arshavin.

He scores four goals a game and he's small enough to sit on your hand. What a marvel!