At least we'll learn from it... right?

I will have to bring myself to admit that we just weren't good enough to beat Tottenham. Another daft defeat, a bit like when we lost to Sunderland and that Darren Bent chap...

We had no excuses. Both teams had suffered several injuries. The referee did nothing wrong, and there wasn't even a villain of the piece among the Tottenham players.

The introduction of Robin van Persie had an enormous impact, and it frustrates me that he was brought on in the 68th minute when he was clearly needed 10 minutes earlier, presumably held back to prevent another Gallas incident. Had he not come on, we would have passed it aimlessly around the outskirts of their third for a solid half-hour and achieved little; when he was brought on, we at last threatened to score.

Van Persie brought our play forward and helped to bring others into the game - most notably Theo Walcott after the winger had struggled to reach long through-balls from further back, and Nicklas Bendtner after he had been marked out of long periods of the game. The latter scored yet again and at least showed that he can still keep poaching in matches where he has been otherwise average. Van Persie himself came close with an exceptional chest-volley and an almost perfect free-kick, both of which were met with very good saves.

Samir Nasri was on the ball more often than it seemed but simply wasn't given the options, meaning that when Emmanuel Eboue or Tomas Rosicky received a decent enough pass they were then punished by Spurs for dallying or not finding space. He wasn't one of our worst performers last night and he worked hard, but Nasri and the other central players didn't click with each other and clearly he is, for the time being, more effective playing out wide.

We dominated possession, but our strength in going forward and playing the passing game seems utterly futile when each time we lose the ball we are thrown into disarray at the back. This team is constantly on the idiomatic brink but I don't think we will win silverware while our second choice in the holding role is Denilson, our back-up at centre-back is Mikael Silvestre and, of course, Manuel Almunia is in goal.

Denilson has never really turned up for a big game and was lacking last night; he sits too far up the pitch for someone who is among our slowest players, he doesn't look nearly as committed when tracking back as he is when helping with our build-up play (or, as was the case several times last night, trying to help but lightly tapping short passes to an opponent) and if he has any specialty other than long shots it surely isn't for defending. Mikael Silvestre was being mocked by people in my local who support Southampton and Stoke, and I doubt that he is giving us much more than we would get from the kind of centre-backs that Southampton face every week. Last night we saw little pace, little communication and little commitment, and the fact that he is one of few players in our team who can kind of mark an opponent is no reason to keep him on. Thomas Vermaelen wasn't outstanding in the first twenty minutes but he was stronger than Silvestre on all of those fronts, and he showed his tenacity again by throwing himself at an early shot like Didier Drogba to a soft piece of turf. Manuel Almunia made yet another big mistake and I'm struggling now to think of a game this season when he hasn't made one, whether it was punished or not. A weak punch, a slip, and a strange attempt at a save - he made a good block later on but an Arsenal goalkeeper should be making both the good saves and the easy saves.

The full-backs both had good games and Gael Clichy was one of the best players on the pitch, dominating the left flank. Bakary Sagna was mostly effective out wide against Gareth Bale, who has been exceptional lately, but it was his dreadful playground positioning that let Bale in for their second goal - an uncharacteristic yet unforgivable lapse in concentration. Sol Campbell was again the heart and soul of our team, certainly our strongest performer, and he simply didn't deserve to be on the losing side. He was screaming at his team-mates like a man possessed, muscling his opponents off the ball and doing everything a classic centre-back should do. He will begin to show his age eventually but after yet another strong performance I think he should be given a contract for next season.

Our midfield was unconvincing and Denilson wasn't the only one who disappointed. Abou Diaby was back to his former self, the player that 12 months ago span around the middle of the park in a daze and spilt possession. A couple of good dribbles were offset by several bad touches and weak passes which on another night could have been extremely destructive, and his body language said it all. Both Tomas Rosicky and Emmanuel Eboue were heavily involved and each had one or two moments of brilliance; however, they were ultimately inadequate going forward, and some strange decision-making cost us what would have led to two or three unmissable opportunities.

I won't go into too much depth regarding the Spurs team, but a few things were worth a mention. Gomes was superb and it actually came as something of a surprise when Bendtner scored following a series of world-class saves - full credit to him, the Brazilian deserved a clean sheet. Both Dawson and King were impressive, particularly the former, and I would hope that the success of Tottenham's defence this year has got Wenger thinking about his own options at the back. Danny Rose was generally decent and while it would be naive to think that he was one of their best players, he struck that shot as cleanly as they come and regardless of the goalkeeping it was an outstanding goal. Many Tottenham fans I know have said they were poor as a team, which was true to an extent, but at the back they were too strong for us.

Yes, it is annoying. The title has gone from being a slight possibility to a distant dream, but we have to push on and win our remaining (all winnable) fixtures, hoping at least that United will drop points against City this weekend and continue their poor run. Chelsea can't really blow it now, but every game still counts and the boys have to play for the points if not pride. 

Second place would be a damn sight better than what most people were expecting this season - the same would go for third place - and the most important thing is that we should finish this season with Champions League qualification out of the way. When Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor were sold to the team tipped to knock us out of the top four, we were completely written off, but we ended up challenging Chelsea and United for the league title and it is clear that we have made genuine progress.

Let's learn from last night, strengthen up again in the summer, and start North London's next red decade.