Earlier I had prepared a more reasoned piece, but the server fell over and along with it went my considered appraisal of Matty Flamini.

It covered his arrival from Marseilles in 2004 and the circumstances were not entirely different from his departure. The French club were far from amused.

It covered his early appearances in centre midfield. He was workmanlike but far from the finished article. I described the arguments I had with friends at the time that he should fill the ‘Parlour’ role on the right, or maybe even play at right-back.

It picked up on the contribution he made as a stand-in left-back in the run to the Champions League Final in 2006. Still I wonder, if we hadn’t played the vastly over-rated Cole ahead of him in the Final, would he still be here today?

There followed a season where he allegedly refused to pay at left-back, and rightly found himself behind Gilberto and Fabregas in the pecking order for a regular place. At the seasons end stories emerged of him buying out the final season of his contract and he was linked with a move to Birmingham.

Luck was about to smile on him as Gilberto recovered from skippering Brazil during the summer, Flamini was promoted to partner Cesc in the opening games. He didn’t look back. The ugly duckling quite clearly transformed into a swan during the course of this season.

Part of me is pleased for him, and I was prepared to wish him well on his departure. However, my understanding of the contract situation is that he is our player until the end of May. Seeing his photograph in a Milan shirt on their website along with the details of his signing is both premature and provocative.

If that is all he thinks of us then he can go. Obviously Hleb was not the only player who enjoyed a tasty ice confection while we were humiliating the reigning European Champions in March.

So thanks Matty for a fabulous couple of seasons. We were so close to achieving something special this year, and I had hoped you might stay for the sum of money that caused our second-rate left-back to swerve off the road. Obviously you are driven by something other than any feeling for Arsenal and the supporters who took you to their hearts.

I understand you are a professional, and the money on offer was more than you would have made by repaying the debt you owed Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Football Club, and its supporters.

By the way, if we get the opportunity to give your new employers another bloody good dicking next season, don’t expect to receive a friendly welcome. Take the money and run fella. Thanks, but no thanks.

Well, there was a day of contradictions. You can tell who Arsene is not best pleased with at present. We have also possibly seen one of the players who has turned supporters opinion full circle.

Alex Song was vilified on occasion last season, but he has knuckled down and returned from the African Cup of Nations with his reputation much enhanced. There is no question in my mind that he was the man of the match this afternoon. Given he was at the heart of the defence you can guess that this was typical end of season fare.

If Song is ending the season in a blaze of glory there was a noticeable absentee. On the day that Arsene Wenger gave Jens Lehmann a cameo farewell appearance in front of appreciative fans, Mathieu Flamini sat in the stand exchanging anecdotes with Cesc Fabregas and Alex Hleb.

‘Two of those three may not be with Arsenal next season.’ Don’t you just hate commentators when they overstep the mark? It was painful watching Flamini joking on the sideline through the proceedings, and surely indicative that the gaffer has run out of patience with him and accepted his departure.

I had cautioned that a goalfest was not likely, and in all honesty 0-0 looked on the cards until Armand Traore was introduced on the left flank. In recent months we have lost faith in the young Frenchman as a full-back, but he has found a new lease of life in an attacking role in the reserves, and set up the only goal today with an inch-perfect cross for Nicklas Bendtner to thunder home a header.

Until Traore’s arrival the midfield had not functioned smoothly. Shorn of Fabregas, Hleb, and Rosicky, we were clearly devoid of any creative presence. Walcott gave his all, and Gilberto was, well, Gilberto. Eboue and Denilson have not made progress this season, and both have much to concentrate on over the summer break.

In fact Eboue provided the biggest mystery of the day. Almost cut in half by a scything Jagielka challenge midway through the first-half we awaited the customary five minute Eboue treatment break. However, he got straight to his feet and on went the game. Midway through the second half he unleashed a wild shot high, wide, and handsome and looked as if his knee had spontaneously combusted. Oh well, some things never change.

The team that travels to Sunderland for the final fixture next week will doubtless be shaped by the result of Chelsea’s game at Newcastle tomorrow. If nothing can be gained from the afternoon you could see a very young side being given Premiership experience. Let’s worry about that later in the week.

For now let’s make the most of what remains of the holiday. Have a good one, Gooners.

Listeners to the excellent Arseblog arsecast will already know my thoughts about the impending visit of Everton. The events of this (Saturday) afternoon will not have enhanced the chances of seeing a free-flowing demonstration of attacking football.

Everton now need just a point to ensure a UEFA Cup berth for next season whilst our own slender title hope vanished like bubbles blowing in the wind at Old Trafford. We can mathematically claim second place, and that is a possibility only if Chelsea drop points at Newcastle and against Bolton.

So all we can ask for from the last home game of the season is that the Gunners give it everything for the supporters who have spent huge sums following them this season. A demonstration of Arsene’s feted ‘handbrake off’ football would lift spirits on a cloudy day.

The absence of Robin van Persie has attracted much comment. Holic reader Garrett is among those who would like to see him picked rather than left out ‘as a precaution’ when he has every chance of being injured again playing for his country in the European championships.

That is clearly a view with which many have sympathy, and perhaps it would have been smarter for the club to have declared him unfit yet again. I can understand if he was making way for, say, Nacer Barazite to gain some Premiership experience, but the chances are we will have to adjust our style to incorporate Nicklas Bendtner. Strange.

Anyway, I’m being positive with my pound and plumping for 3-1 to a rampant Arsenal. Odds of 14-1 can be found if you look hard enough, and that has got me saying ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’. Now for a few pounds more I cold cover my insane bet on wining the Premiership last Monday. Mmm.

Anyway, have a great weekend all of you. I’ll be back on Sunday.

The news that Keith Edelman is departing the Grove for pastures new will doubtless spark all manner of speculation as tabloid vultures look for easy pickings.

Before you get carried along on a wave of misguided takeover speculation I would ask you consider all potential scenarios, including this one.

Keith Edelman is not a significant shareholder, more hired expertise who was tasked with bringing the revenue streams online that were required to complete the move to Ashburton Grove.

He has been extremely successful in that role, but the deals that he put in place are partly responsible for today’s announcement. Major income from shirt sponsorship, stadium naming rights, and kit supply, are in place on long-term deals. He can’t get more people into a stadium that posts ’sold out’ notices every fortnight. The property arm is effectively just waiting to move into the business of receiving, rather than spending, cash.

That means the areas in which growth can be accelerated fall in the merchandising and media fields. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Keith’s colleagues have suggested his (extremely well paid) work is now done, and it is time for someone with more relevant expertise to take the job forward. That may well suit his plans as well.

Not surprisingly the areas in which we are reported to have negotiated with Stan Kroenke are very much concerned with merchandising and media. Kroenke would be a key ally in any bid to keep alternative predators at bay, and presumably is being at very least ‘kept in the loop’ about developments.

The twelve month ‘handover’ period suggests an amicable departure for Edelman. The appointment of a safe pair of hands in the shape of Ken Friar is clearly a temporary measure. Lest we forget, it should be pointed out how desperately urgent it was thought to be for us to appoint a new Director of Football a year ago. The job performed by Friar in the ensuing period demonstrates the danger of knee-jerk reactions in such situations.

Understand this. The club is no more at risk of a takeover today than it was last week, last month or last year. The board may even just have strengthened their ability to withstand unwarranted attention.

Finding a balance is sometimes very difficult. I, and my fellow bloggers, have been accused of arrogance by supporters of the vanquished on more than one occasion. Tonight I would love to crow about the quality of the Arsenal performance, and yet the experts on Setanta are putting it down to Derby being the poorest of the poor.

There is no doubt in my mind for an hour at least Derby were quick to challenge all over the park, but were unhinged by moments of defensive naivety. When they got back to 2-3 with just thirteen minutes remaining who wasn’t fearing an equaliser?

Of course the Derby fans have been given a lesson in objectivity as well. Cruel taunts to Emmanuel Adebayor, a second-half replacement for Robin van Persie (once again gone in the fetlock), were well and truly rammed back down their throats as he took his personal goal tally against the hosts this season to six.

In all honesty I felt for them at half-time. Unquestionably when we played it around they were made to labour, but having gifted Niklas Bendtner the opener they were probably worth the scrappy equaliser provided by McEveley. By the time the break arrived big Darren Moore had been caught out again and van Persie finished well as Adebayor prepared to replace him.

The arrival of Adebayor in the second-half gave us another dimension. We were extremely impressive, and I am not entirely sure that was solely down to the shortcomings of the opposition, as the experts later suggested.

Toure, Eboue, and Bendtner failed to add to the goal tally but after Adebayor had notched his first Theo Walcott missed a great opportunity to bury the contest. Earnshaw made us wonder briefly, but his extravagant dance to celebrate pulling the hosts back within a goal would come back to haunt him.

Theo made amends for his earlier miss with a wonderful strike before the Adebayor dance routines were exhibited in full following his double strikes in the closing nine minutes. The first of these, performed with his old mate ‘Tiger-feet’ Eboue, bore a striking resemblance to a parody of the Earnshaw boogie!

My pound had long since hit the deck. I don’t think the bookies pay out on the half-time score. Whisper it softly, I have lodged a shilling or two last night on a title triumph at 250-1. Yes, I know United and Chelsea have relatively easy games remaining, but only two each, and bums are squeaky. 250-1 in a three horse race is extremely generous, even though the thoroughbreds in front only have a couple of hurdles to cross.

Who would have thought nine months ago we would be going into the penultimate week of the season with a chance, albeit an absurdly slim one. Third place is secure. We are moving in the right direction. Sometimes, one or two of us tend to forget that.