Thanks for the OP Telekon - that was an interesting read.
An international break always seems so much longer after a defeat, especially with the added worry of whether any of our players' legs will fall off on International duty. Hopefully we get enough back fit and firing to bounce back from the West Ham result. There's a feeling that we're 'almost there' this season - loads of goals and some big wins, but also some shaky moments in defence and midfield - not helped by injuries and some questionable refereeing. However, if someone had told me back in March that we'd be 4 points off top in mid-November with only 1 defeat, had won our CL group with 2 games to spare, had all our CB's fit, and a league cup quarter final to look forward to, I'd have bitten their hand off.
As for Arsenal, they're clearly in a mini-revival so hopefully we can take the wind out of their sails. I'm still not fully over that Michael Thomas goal in 1989, so every win over this lot takes me closer to a full recovery.