Arsenal's outlook on the world is just boring, boring, boring

This belief is deep-seated, illustrated by Wenger's revelations last week that he still seethes at the penalty decisions which went against his team in the two Champions League encounters last season. You might think a rational individual would have got over this. But that would be to deny the paranoia that clearly drives the man, and imply that he or his team occasionally make mistakes.

And of course Sunday's game gave him plenty more fuel for his phobias. The dismissal of Adebayor, for two clearly cautionable offences, was yet more evidence that the authorities, football in general and perhaps the X-Factor judges all have it in for Arsenal. Wenger's claim that they would clearly have won with 11 men, given the way they responded with 10, ignored the fact that prior to Adebayor's departure, it was the team in the garish grey/red combination that looked the more likely victor.

Perversely, the perceived injustice galvanised the remaining members of his side and awoke the previously slumbering Arsenal support, who at last had the opportunity to indulge in their favourite pastime of heaping derision on someone, anyone: the Emirates suddenly had more boos than Threshers.

So now the manager and the fans were happy, their theories of global conspiracy confirmed once more.

Let's not leave out the players from this mass hysteria. Adebayor's post-match comments were reported like this in the London Evening Standard: "At least one of the players from Liverpool deserved a red card. A player like Carragher just always makes a foul, a player like Lucas makes a lot of fouls. I have maybe made two fouls and got two yellow cards, which is not fair." Yes, that's right, I didn't do it, big boys did. Even that well-known midfield brute Xabi Alonso came in for Adebayor's attention, his perfectly-executed block tackle on Fabregas apparently "a little bit dangerous". Crossing the road is a 'little bit dangerous' but that doesn't make it illegal or inadvisable, Emmanuel.

His claim, backed up by the imbeciles on Match of the Day, was that his second offence was merely 'shielding the ball'. Well, for information mate, you can only shield the ball once you already have it; it's not 'shielding' when you stamp your foot over the ball onto an opponent's shin.

As Bobby Robson once pointed out after his Newcastle side had won at Highbury, a result greeted by similar claims of injustice from Wenger, "they need to learn how to lose gracefully round here". Perhaps they could start with a draw or two, and see how that feels.