For anyone who doesn't know, Chelsea had complete control of this match for the first seventy-five minutes, scoring twice through Flo and Petrescu, and were cruising to a comfortable and deeply satisfying win over our main London rivals. Soul Boy Lee Dixon was one caution away from his customary sending off for the attempted murder of Le Saux, having been booked in the opening five minutes, Stone Age throwback Keown had been humiliated by our forwards, and Underpants, Suker, Parlour et al were being suppressed by our back four in a most efficient manner. We had even had occasion to bait Tony Adams with the old "eeyore, eeyore" tune. Things couldn't have been better. Unfortunately we were watching Chelsea, who can be relied on to snatch an unlikely defeat from the jaws of victory at the drop of a hat, and by the final whistle the score was 3-2 in Arsenal's favour.

As we got up to leave, still in shock, we saw a little boy in a Chelsea shirt, sitting there crying inconsolably as his father tried his best to comfort him. The Arsenal fans were only twenty or so yards away, and of course were mercilessly baiting us. It was heartbreaking, but everybody has to learn what it's like to be a football fan, and we all have go through it at some time or other, even followers of Man U. If you're looking for something to salvage from this, just think what it must have been like for Man U and Galatasaray to lose 5-0 to us. As I explained to my mate Neil, as we walked up Fulham Road afterwards, it's character-building to get done at home by teams like Arsenal. Needless to say, he called me a cunt.

The rain had been coming down by the bucketload for most of the morning, and the pitch was showing it. It continued to pelt down for the entire match, and by the end there were huge puddles everywhere, and the ball was leaving a wake when kicked along the ground. I could suggest that the increasingly sodden pitch was more the cause of our downfall than Arsenal's fighting spirit, but I don't want to make excuses. The fact is that it really could have gone either way in that last, desperate few minutes. Chelsea could have had more goals just as easily. The difference was Kanu, who had three shots that resulted in three goals. Earlier Flo had put us in front with a looping header that left Seaman standing frozen on his line, and Petrescu doubled the advantage shortly after the break, as he climbed above Forehead Boy Keown to power home a pinpoint cross from Le Saux.

In the final minute of the game, as Ferrer messed up a clearance which bounced off an Arsenal player right into Kanu's path, and Ed De Goey took it upon himself to tear out of the penalty area to confront him, I remember being gripped with the sort of terror you get when you dream you're being chased by someone wanting to do you serious damage and you try to run but find that your feet are encased in glue. I couldn't look away, even though I just knew what the outcome would be. It was relentlessly, horribly inevitable that Kanu would score, and he duly went round De Goey and slotted the ball home from the acutest of angles. The gooners went absolutely wild as the entire Arsenal team ran over to celebrate with them. Desailly and Deschamps were waving their arms around looking more like they were discussing the latest beef crisis, and Dan Petrescu was absolutely beside himself with anger. The Chelsea crowd just went deathly silent as the ref tried to get the celebrating Arsenal players back into their own half.

Seconds after the restart, the ref blew for full time, and the realisation of what had just happened started to sink in. We had plenty of time to reflect on this numbing reverse as the gooner mob pranced and baited us as we shuffled out. I won't forget this in a hurry, but I won't die of shame either. I know it sounds ridiculous, but there was a lot to be happy about in this match: the way Chelsea completely dominated the game against one of the three best teams in the country for the first seventy five minutes, in spite of the draining encounter with Galatasaray forty-eight hours earlier; the return to form of Tore Andre Flo; our increasingly solid defence (although they let Arsenal score three in fifteen minutes, the conditions were appalling); The moron in front of us who sang the "Wenger Wonderland Paedophile" song continuously for over an hour; Vialli's philosphical and honest interview with Sky after the game.

You have to congratulate Arsenal for snatching it away from us. That took some doing and showed character, but I still think we're the better team. I leave you with this thought: It's easy when you're winning. The real test is if you can take defeat with dignity. If anyone has any pointers on how this can be achieved, do let me know...