As an Arsenal supporter, I was cock-a-hoop to see the team win a 5-0 victory against FC Porto tonight, securing a place in the last eight of the Champions League. I'm not at all confident that Arsenal can beat Manchester United and Chelsea to end the season at the top of the Premier League, but on this sort of form I'm more hopeful about the Champions League.
But it is as a believer in miracles that I found tonight's result particularly heartening. Like many Arsenal fans, I had given up on Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner. His performance in the match against Burnley on Saturday was all-too-typical, missing chance after chance after chance. He has become a joke on the terraces, a talisman of Arsenal's inability to press home their advantage. His puppy-like confidence in the face of an appalling couple of seasons, his enduring belief in his own scoring ability in spite of all evidence to the contrary, has made me want to shove his bright pink football boots down his neck. (To read more, click here.)
