Pacman to the point / Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 30 December 2007 / Leave a comment

Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco on why Arsenal's superb season caught him completely off-guard

"What do you call 1,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?" Answer: "A good start".

The first time I heard this joke was in the 1995 action film "Fair Game". The film was notable only for Cindy Crawford, at the time arguably the most beautiful woman on the planet, being involved in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it semi-nude scene that was all the talk of the school playground.

At the time I felt the joke was a little harsh on that most noble and creditable profession that is being a lawyer. Six years later, having studied the Law myself, I decided that the joke was not only itself fair game and fair comment, but if anything it was slightly charitable towards lawyers on the grounds that the answer could well have been "a very good start".

Twelve years later I found myself being wrong about something again. In the summer of 2007, Arsene Wenger sold in Thierry Henry one of the greatest players ever to have graced the Premiership, his leading scorer, talisman and captain. This after he had sold Patrick Vieira two years earlier to Juventus, another Premiership great. At the time I felt this was the end of an era and that it would take Arsenal years to rebuild a squad that was competitive at the highest level. It's a good thing for Gooners up and down the country I'm not the one calling the shots in the Arsenal board room...

The sale of Henry has allowed such players as Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, Adebayor and Van Persie to take on responsibility that previously fell on the shoulders of the brilliant but surly France striker. It has also allowed them to express themselves and see their team-mates as equals, as I suspect it was a case of "some players are more equal than others" whilst Henry was at the club.

With the cash generated from Henry's sale, Wenger went out and bought Eduardo, a player with an outstanding goalscoring record for club and country. Despite not having been given many chances so far, Eduardo has scored goals when he's played and the little "Croatian" may well be the "fox-in-the-box" that Francis Jeffers was meant to be, before turning out to be little more than a slightly mischievous stray dog.

Sagna has quickly become the most impressive right-back in the league, Flamini has found a new lease of life in his new holding midfield role, Hleb has been superb playing in a floating role behind the striker and Adebayor has led the line as well as anyone in the Premiership bar possibly Drogba.

At the start of the season I also questioned the choice of Gallas as captain in this very column on the grounds that he had no previous experience of being skipper and had spent most of the summer expressing concerns about Arsenal's transfer policy and indeed ambition, much like I did. But it looks like Wenger got this decision right as well. Gallas has been superb in the heart of the defence and has also played the role of captain very well - vocal and inspirational. Goals at home to Man Utd and Chelsea in the league haven't done his reputation any harm either.

Available at [3.2] for the Premiership, I think the Gunners will just come short. League visits to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge may well see them drop the points that could end their aspirations to regain the title but the loss of such players as Toure and Eboue to the African Cup of Nations in January may well mean they're off the pace even before those daunting trips. But you never know and if anything, Arsenal have in Eduardo, Adebayor, Van Persie and Bendtner arguably more striking options than anything at Old Trafford, though the relentless goalscoring form of Cristiano Ronaldo probably balances things out a bit.

That said, I see no reason why Arsenal can't go on to win the Carling Cup at odds of [4.0] even if they play the youngsters all the way through. The Champions League will be a far more daunting prospect and I wonder how these young guns may fare against a strong, experienced, cynical side from Spain or Italy who can keep the ball well and be good exponents of what I call the "dark side" of the game - gamesmanship and all the time-wasting and play acting that can often win you ties. I do however think they will progress at AC Milan's expense and will happily snap up the [2.06] on Arsenal to qualify.

I wonder if the New Year will prove me wrong about more things. What price on me deciding for example that the animosity amongst X-Factor's judges is in fact authentic and that Louis Walsh was indeed genuinely sacked before Simon Cowell had a real change of heart before bringing him back? I don't know, but all I will say is it's a shame Betfair odds only go as far as [1,000].

Tags: Arsene Wenger, Carling Cup, Cesc Fabregas, Premiership betting