The Arsenal defence has been much maligned this season and rightfully so, their end of season performances was dire stuff but it is unfair to only concentrate on the bad times and to ignore the occasions when they have done themselves and us proud.
I can easily go through the games when we conceded three goals and on one occasion the five against Liverpool but that is not the point of this article, the point is that there is more than enough room to be optimistic that our backline can stand tall this evening.
Remember, our lads kept Chelsea goalless in a 2-0 win over them at the Emirates, they kept Napoli scoreless in Italy and the Italians have scored for fun this season, we did the same to Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon at their ground, we held Tottenham to just one goal and a dodgy one at that at Wembley, the lads beat Man Utd 2-0, Rennes 3-0, beat Watford and Everton 2-0 and held free-scoring Liverpool to a single goal in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates earlier in the season.
I know, I know, you can easily come back with the bad games and big defeats and I accept that could easily happen this evening but so could the strong defensive displays that the boys have shown on quite a few occasions this season.
They can contain this Chelsea team, they have done it before this season and stood bloody strong against some of the best teams around and there is as much chance of them doing that tonight as there is of them having a bad game.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that we see the strong defensive Arsenal tonight, Mr Hyde and not that bastard Dr Jekyll.