The visit of Sparky’s current team (after having left Man City and Blackburn) to Ashburton Grove gave Wenger’s charges the chance to return to the top of the premier league table for longer than last weekend’s brief stay.

Temperatures in London had lifted above freezing for the start of the game with drizzly conditions meaning little watering of the immaculate pitch required. Due to our recent home form (Wigan aside) your humble scribe decided the best way to watch would be a well imbibed state that would prevent stress levels rising intolerably.

Suitably lubricated I arrived in time to see the players walk out, led by captain for the day Rosicky, my seat being in block 4 near the Red Action section in the North bank. As ever the atmosphere there being the best out of the various areas of the stadium I’ve watched from – the singing and chanting was more or less constant and the support vociferous.

Arsene Wenger started the game in only his whistle however a few minutes in he put on his longer coat as however Sparky Hughes kept to the bench for the first hour – perhaps his handshake had been snubbed again and a sulk was in progress.

Of the earlier exchanges we dominated with Jack looking lively and Rosicky trying hard, Arshavin although also trying found most of his flicks and deft touches were not working. The trouble with trying a “deft touch” is that if it doesn’t work it looks lazy.

The suggestion amongst the fans was that being over in Zurich on Thursday (for the little matter of the 2018/2022 World Cup bids), may have blunted his match sharpness. There was no such problem when Andrey set up Nasri’s first goal which, after latching onto Arshavin’s through ball, and then after weaving this way and that, Nasri fired emphatically into the roof of the net, one wag behind me saying “You’re only worth £2million!”

With Fulham attacking the end I was in I had a good view of the equaliser – the clash of heads between our centre backs left Kozzer on the deck after the collision, a straight forward incident that should lead to a stop in play for a head injury as it should be? No – referee Foy let play go on and a gaping hole in front of Fabianski meant the pantomime villain of the afternoon from thereon in, Kamara, slotted home. There was also a moment of farce when soon afterwards Kamara faked an injury to slow down an Arsenal attack and the Fulham physio made a stop-start-stop run onto the pitch…which continued on past the other touchline when it became clear Kamara didn’t actually need any treatment.

Can you imagine the reaction of the media if Arsenal had continued to play on and score after an opposition player received a head injury? The sense of injustice, similar to the offside goal scored by Villa last weekend, added to by the start of timewasting by Schwarzer and other Fulham players merely 30 minutes into the game raised the level of invective from the crowd.

Song appeared to be losing the ball uncharacteristically frequently and as the first half drew to a close I noticed how Fabianski always bowled the ball out to Sagna as Fulham players were doubling up on Clichy’s wing to expose the supposedly weaker of the two fullbacks. Fabianski’s stock has clearly risen (and rightly so) with the Arsenal support as there was no more sarcastic cheering whenever he claimed a ball cleanly, as in the Newcastle game. To be fair to Clichy he had no brain freeze moments and he made some telling interceptions that set up some useful attacks also.

The first half ended but Schwarzer stayed out on the pitch practising claiming high balls with a member of the Fulham coaching staff barging into him while he jumped for the ball to simulate match conditions. Ironically Arsenal are the team least likely to apply such Pulis-like tactics so practising that struck me as odd – a good idea for our goal keeping coach though as our goalies are routinely buffeted in such a manner by Fat Sam’s team, McLeish’s mob and various other hoof-ball teams. One would hope Gerry Peyton would already do this.

The second half started and Arsenal pulled and probed at Fulham, with Hangeland quite imperious at the back, however special mention goes to Djourou who ate up all the long punts Sparky’s Barcelona-like team played for much of the game. Once he came on for Kozzer in the first half there seemed little anxiety that we would not deal with the long ball, that reason plus the continuously improved form of Fabianski meant there was not too much anxiety that we would concede again.

What did cause anxiety for the North bank faithful was our ever present tendency to over complicate an attack, exemplified by Chamakh’s reluctance to shoot. That being said I saw one chance where he shaped to turn back and pass then swiveled and shot instead as the Fulham defence anticipated another pass.

Surprisingly Rosicky and WilshEre were taken off when to my eyes Arshavin, though still trying and showing glimpses of skill had seemed to fade and should really have been subbed whilst Jack had done nothing wrong. On came Robin and Theo, with the former managing to receive a forearm smash in the face from Etuhu, which went unpunished. Initially the crowd groaned thinking Robin Van Glassie had succumbed to another injury however when it became clear how he got it the frustration at Robin turned to anger at another example of a Mark Hughes team using strong arm tactics – anyone remember a Blackburn (then managed by Hughes) player’s assault on Robin a few years back ?

The winning goal was scored not more than 10 yards in front of me as Nasri rounded the keeper, after being fed in by the ring rusty Van Persie, and appeared to have taken it too far, but he turned/pirouetted and slid the ball in from a geometrically impossible looking angle.

Cue mass delirium in the North bank while the chances of getting a clear picture of our in-form number 8 running towards me in celebration disappeared behind a mass of raised arms and twirling scarfs. The fiendishly difficult Nasri song was being sung all around the stadium; if you haven’t heard it I certainly can’t help you with it!

Fulham had a few more chances and even 4 minutes of injury didn’t cause as much worry as it could have – a new found pragmatism seemed to be in the Arsenal defence that allowed them to make uncomplicated clearances instead of dwelling on the ball in potentially dangerous areas.

It was funny to see how Sparky’s frustrations at “professionalism” in taking our time with the ball before goal kicks and free kicks once we’d gone ahead when Fulham had done exactly the same thing once they scored their equaliser on 30 minutes. The rapid raising and lowering of the arms, palms upward, reminiscent of a duck trying to flap his wings to achieve lift off, was part of the touch line entertainment late in the game.

Things got even better when a guy in front of me, ear to his mobile, gasped “Beckford’s equalised!” – Chelsea could not go top.

The final whistle blew and a satisfied sense of relief replaced the moderate tension that had built up and as each of our team left the pitch they were hugged and applauded off by the unofficial team mascot Eboue, who even though he wasn’t a sub on the bench made sure he contributed in some way to the game – you have to commend such an attitude.

The feeling around the stadium was we were slightly baffled as to how we found ourselves on top of the League after so many poor home games – I say never mind how we got there, we need to keep concentrating from start to finish in every game and thereafter who knows?