Where do I even start? Manchester City sacked Mark Hughes and replaced him with Roberto Mancini, just an hours after City had won a see-saw goal fest (4-3) versus Sunderland. Arsenal drew against Burnley (away) in mid-week failing to finish off yet another game. They redeemed themselves by beating Hull 3-0 at the Emirates after both United and Chelsea had dropped points. Kroenke has inched even closer to a takeover bid after buying more shares etc.

City's owners are probably the most impatient lot in the world. Just because the team had drawn 8 times in 13 games under Hughes management, they showed him the door and replaced him with Roberto Mancini. For those of you not in the know, Mancini has been very successful in Italian football, more so with Inter Milan, the team he won so many honours with. So there is no doubt that he is a very good manager. It does remain to be seen how he will cope with English football and especially with the pressures and demands of the City owners. It will be interesting to say the least. I do however feel bad for Hughes and think that it was rather hasty to sack him at this point in time. I mean it has only been a few months since the season started, City have lost only twice in the League (Less than Chelsea, Arsenal, United etc) and in spite of the draws they would have had a decent, respectable top 8 finish, if not a top 4 or a top 5 one. (Unlikely with the way they are going at the moment but they certainly have the talent for it)

And this is what gets me all hot and bothered: the fact that so much money is coming into football (especially the EPL) and these owners seem to think that everything can be bought, even success and trophies. Which is not the case at all. Money will buy you the big names and players (and all the traitors who would leave their own team to join another just for more money ... cough *Adebayor* cough). But it will not buy you a 'team', or team-work or loyalty or a cohesive unit. That is something that has to be built. Slowly. Steadily. With a lot of effort and hard work from all the parties involved. The big egos (not unexpected when many big names play together in the same team) need to be kept aside for the greater good of the club. And so on. And I am going to go out on a limb here and say that if Mancini does not deliver by the end of this season, he too will follow the 17 men who have managed City over the last 20 years.

But back to the Gunners. Kroenke is inching closer and closer to triggering a takeover bid at Arsenal Football Club and I don't think anyone can offer a clear-cut picture of what the exact scenario will be like if he does indeed become the owner of the club. How will the American turn out to be like? What would this mean to the long-term future of Arsenal, the club as we know and love it? I do not have the answers myself but watch this space for more.

However all that Wenger and the squad can do is focus on the football, be consistent and keep up the pressure at the top of the table. I really do not know when I will be completely sure that they won't throw away a lead and finish a game when they are ahead and in control. Some may call it wishful thinking but that is beside the point. Arsenal led Burnley 1-0 from very early on in the game thanks to a cool and calm finish from Captain Cesc. But then, minutes after that goal, he and Arshavin threw away really good chances to kill the fixture off. And it did come back to haunt us. Fabregas limped off with what looked like a hamstring injury, Burnley equalised to get a point and the Gunners dropped two crucial points to undo some of the work they had done in winning at Anfield.

Come Saturday, a much weakened United back-line imploded by conceding 3 goals to Fulham and not managing to score even 1 in spite of not having most of the regulars in midfield and up front. A golden opportunity for the Gunners to catch up on some of the ground they had lost mid-week. Their game against Hull at the Emirates kicked off a short while after the Red Devils had dropped 3 points at Craven Cottage and I was trying not to be too hopeful (too many bad previous experiences!) But all was well in north London when the final whistle blew.

Hull threatened early on in the game and the Gunners looked rather under the weather. But they came through in a hard-fought, physical encounter. Minus Fabregas. Denilson scored with a delightful free-kick just before half-time. Eduardo killed the game off in the 59th minute after Almunia had saved Geovanni's penalty. And Diaby added a confidence-boosting-return from injury third in the 80th minute. (Note on Diaby) He is such a good player on his day, physical, powerful, tall, technically good ... and him and Song ran circles around Hull once Arsenal got going. (Fingers crossed that he gets a long uninjured run of games now, even if Fabregas might be back as we face Villa at the Emirates on Sunday and Portsmouth away on Wednesday to end the week)

And to put the icing and cherry on top of the cake, the Hammers held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw (though Chelsea equalised under controverisal circumstances: a dubious penalty which had to be retaken THRICE by Lampard before the goal held.)

You can say that it was a pretty good weekend, as EPL weekends go and at the moment, Arsenal are in 3rd place, 2 points behind Manchester United and 6 points behind leaders Chelsea, WITH a game in hand. But they do have an uncanny habit of taking 2 steps forward and one step back ever so often, and I am not getting too ahead of myself. Though wins in our last 2 games of the year will suffice as one of the gifts of the holiday season (the second being some Arsenal activity in the transfer window come January!) Happy holidays everyone!