Thank you Match of the Day. The only sight I have had of the final encounter of this season at the Stadium of Light is courtesy of the dear old Beeb.

I was forewarned by a very fair match report on Arsenal.com from which it was clear that Sunderland had contributed their fair share to the afternoon’s entertainment.

The highlight was clearly a very well taken goal by Theo Walcott from an astute throughball from Gilberto. I wonder if that was the Brazilian’s final meaningful contribution in an Arsenal shirt?

The other talking point was the Arsenal bench, which looked very much like half of next season’s Carling Cup side. Mark Randall came on and only an incorrect offside flag deprived him of a second goal for the visitors. Just the latest in a long line of officials’ cock-ups this season.

Anyway, eighty three points were secured, and if you had been offered that at the start of the season you might have been tempted to take it. Doom-mongers would do well to consider that only four points separated the top three sides at the end of the day.

Talking of the other two it was probably right that Manchester United emerged from this afternoon’s fixtures with another title. Let’s be honest, they played much better football than Chelsea for most of the season.

I endured their contest from a hospital bedside with the sound turned down. One thing is clear. I remember not that long ago when we used to boast that English goalkeepers and referees were the best in the world, and not without reason.

Things have turned full circle. Our ‘number one’ cannot get a game in N17, and his ineptitude has been matched only by the men in the middle this season. There should be an enquiry into Steve Bennett’s performance this afternoon just so the FA can confirm that he is just hugely incompetent. I really hope it was incompetence, because the alternative would be hard to stomach.

One final message for Martin Taylor and Alex Mcleish. He who laughs last roars his bollocks off.

The beer of the week is Thwaites Champion Dark Mild from….oh, sorry. Wrong damn blog. I thought this was the Arsecast (more of which later). It is ages since I have drunk a mild though and I found this in the supermarket yesterday. Yum-yum, a rare treat.

I’m rambling, I know. Apologies first of all for the dearth of posts this week. Mrs ‘holic had an operation on Wednesday so my energies have been expended in other directions. Forgive me.

Much has happened in terms of speculation about who may or may not be going, or coming, or holding us to ransom. At this point the vast majority of it is just that. Speculation. I’ll comment more when things appear to be actually happening or when there is bugger all else to ramble on about.

So the worst day of the season is almost upon us. The last one, boo, or indeed, boo-hoo. We will shed a tear about what might have been when the final whistle blows at Sunderland, and our mixture of non-internationals and sea scouts have ripped apart Keano’s Premiership survivalists.

Actually, that may or may not happen. We obviously travel with a side that would not have taken the field if we could still claim even second place. We know that Kieran Gibbs and Mark Randall, both back from Championship loan spells are in the squad. It would be surprising if one or two more teenagers were not given a chance.

The make-up of the side could be so experimental that a prediction is a wasted exercise. The ‘holic pound will therefore be invested in a bag of chips on my way home from the hospital on Sunday. I suggest you do something similar.

If you are going up to the Stadium of Light, and I know one or two who are, wrap up warm. Every time I have been up there it has been bloody freezing. Know this and remember it. Weather forecasters are lying bastards.

Jealous - Moi? Too Bloody Right!

Now, I cannot let the one bit of big news that really happened pass without comment. Arseblog is going all corporate on us. I think most Arsenal blogs owe a great chunk of their readership to the faceless Blogger. I know the support I have had from him and the good folks at Arsenal-Land is what put Holic on the map, so to speak.

I would like to wish the man, whoever he may be, and whatever he looks like, all success with his new venture under the OleOle banner. Getting paid for writing bollocks about Arsenal. That’s amazing. I write bigger bollocks than him, if any other wannabe OleOle type geezer is reading. My arsecast fees have just doubled, by the way. Where’s my calculator? Now what is nothing times two?

Earlier I had prepared a more reasoned piece, but the server fell over and along with it went my considered appraisal of Matty Flamini.

It covered his arrival from Marseilles in 2004 and the circumstances were not entirely different from his departure. The French club were far from amused.

It covered his early appearances in centre midfield. He was workmanlike but far from the finished article. I described the arguments I had with friends at the time that he should fill the ‘Parlour’ role on the right, or maybe even play at right-back.

It picked up on the contribution he made as a stand-in left-back in the run to the Champions League Final in 2006. Still I wonder, if we hadn’t played the vastly over-rated Cole ahead of him in the Final, would he still be here today?

There followed a season where he allegedly refused to pay at left-back, and rightly found himself behind Gilberto and Fabregas in the pecking order for a regular place. At the seasons end stories emerged of him buying out the final season of his contract and he was linked with a move to Birmingham.

Luck was about to smile on him as Gilberto recovered from skippering Brazil during the summer, Flamini was promoted to partner Cesc in the opening games. He didn’t look back. The ugly duckling quite clearly transformed into a swan during the course of this season.

Part of me is pleased for him, and I was prepared to wish him well on his departure. However, my understanding of the contract situation is that he is our player until the end of May. Seeing his photograph in a Milan shirt on their website along with the details of his signing is both premature and provocative.

If that is all he thinks of us then he can go. Obviously Hleb was not the only player who enjoyed a tasty ice confection while we were humiliating the reigning European Champions in March.

So thanks Matty for a fabulous couple of seasons. We were so close to achieving something special this year, and I had hoped you might stay for the sum of money that caused our second-rate left-back to swerve off the road. Obviously you are driven by something other than any feeling for Arsenal and the supporters who took you to their hearts.

I understand you are a professional, and the money on offer was more than you would have made by repaying the debt you owed Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Football Club, and its supporters.

By the way, if we get the opportunity to give your new employers another bloody good dicking next season, don’t expect to receive a friendly welcome. Take the money and run fella. Thanks, but no thanks.

Well, there was a day of contradictions. You can tell who Arsene is not best pleased with at present. We have also possibly seen one of the players who has turned supporters opinion full circle.

Alex Song was vilified on occasion last season, but he has knuckled down and returned from the African Cup of Nations with his reputation much enhanced. There is no question in my mind that he was the man of the match this afternoon. Given he was at the heart of the defence you can guess that this was typical end of season fare.

If Song is ending the season in a blaze of glory there was a noticeable absentee. On the day that Arsene Wenger gave Jens Lehmann a cameo farewell appearance in front of appreciative fans, Mathieu Flamini sat in the stand exchanging anecdotes with Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb.

‘Two of those three may not be with Arsenal next season.’ Don’t you just hate commentators when they overstep the mark? It was painful watching Flamini joking on the sideline through the proceedings, and surely indicative that the gaffer has run out of patience with him and accepted his departure.

I had cautioned that a goalfest was not likely, and in all honesty 0-0 looked on the cards until Armand Traore was introduced on the left flank. In recent months we have lost faith in the young Frenchman as a full-back, but he has found a new lease of life in an attacking role in the reserves, and set up the only goal today with an inch-perfect cross for Nicklas Bendtner to thunder home a header.

Until Traore’s arrival the midfield had not functioned smoothly. Shorn of Fabregas, Hleb, and Rosicky, we were clearly devoid of any creative presence. Walcott gave his all, and Gilberto was, well, Gilberto. Eboue and Denilson have not made progress this season, and both have much to concentrate on over the summer break.

In fact Eboue provided the biggest mystery of the day. Almost cut in half by a scything Jagielka challenge midway through the first-half we awaited the customary five minute Eboue treatment break. However, he got straight to his feet and on went the game. Midway through the second half he unleashed a wild shot high, wide, and handsome and looked as if his knee had spontaneously combusted. Oh well, some things never change.

The team that travels to Sunderland for the final fixture next week will doubtless be shaped by the result of Chelsea’s game at Newcastle tomorrow. If nothing can be gained from the afternoon you could see a very young side being given Premiership experience. Let’s worry about that later in the week.

For now let’s make the most of what remains of the holiday. Have a good one, Gooners.

Listeners to the excellent Arseblog arsecast will already know my thoughts about the impending visit of Everton. The events of this (Saturday) afternoon will not have enhanced the chances of seeing a free-flowing demonstration of attacking football.

Everton now need just a point to ensure a UEFA Cup berth for next season whilst our own slender title hope vanished like bubbles blowing in the wind at Old Trafford. We can mathematically claim second place, and that is a possibility only if Chelsea drop points at Newcastle and against Bolton.

So all we can ask for from the last home game of the season is that the Gunners give it everything for the supporters who have spent huge sums following them this season. A demonstration of Arsene’s feted ‘handbrake off’ football would lift spirits on a cloudy day.

The absence of Robin van Persie has attracted much comment. Holic reader Garrett is among those who would like to see him picked rather than left out ‘as a precaution’ when he has every chance of being injured again playing for his country in the European championships.

That is clearly a view with which many have sympathy, and perhaps it would have been smarter for the club to have declared him unfit yet again. I can understand if he was making way for, say, Nacer Barazite to gain some Premiership experience, but the chances are we will have to adjust our style to incorporate Nicklas Bendtner. Strange.

Anyway, I’m being positive with my pound and plumping for 3-1 to a rampant Arsenal. Odds of 14-1 can be found if you look hard enough, and that has got me saying ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’. Now for a few pounds more I cold cover my insane bet on wining the Premiership last Monday. Mmm.

Anyway, have a great weekend all of you. I’ll be back on Sunday.