Not wishing to disappoint... ;-)

In today's Mirror (and here in the online version) Tony Stenson says of the departing Nelson Vivas that he is leaving "after never being forgiven for blowing last season's title". He refers to the penultimate match of last season, away to Leeds, when Nelson failed to mark Hasselbaink, leading to their late winner. So let's set the record straight.

• Never forgiven? Nelson is a World class player, who gave Arsenal some World class performances. Everyone is allowed to make a mistake or two....
• ...especially in those circumstances. Nelson had come on for Nigel Winterburn (who had been accidentally kneed in the face by Haaland). It would not be fair to expect anyone (not even an Argentine international) to achieve the level of defensive perfection that we have come to expect from Winterburn. Winterburn is a living legend who had been playing in the Arsenal system for over a decade, Nelson had been with us for less than a season.
• And (not for the first time) Nelson was being asked to play out of position. He is not a left back. Like the good pro that he is, he accepted the role given to him and, as always, attacked it with gusto.
• Most importantly however, it is simply not true that that goal at Elland Road cost Arsenal the title. Look at the table if you don't believe me. Give us an extra point, and knock a goal off our "against" column. Man Utd are still on top.
• If you really need a scapegoat look to the matches we drew but should have won, like Soton (home) (Marc Overmars gave the ball away to let them equalise, the ref missed 3 blatant penalties), Charlton (home) (Petit got wound up and got himself sent off, the ref missed at least one blatant penalty). Or you could look at the infamous loss at Hillsborough where Martin Keown's sending off by Paul "pratfall" Alcock was later officially overturned.
• Or... we could put our hands up and say that over the course of the season Manchester United were, by the tiniest of tiny amounts, marginally better than us.
• Oh no, anything but that. No, it's all Nelson Vivas's fault.
• Yeah, right.