Back With A Vengeance

Eduardo started for Arsenal last night in the fourth round FA Cup replay against Cardiff, shortly after helping Croatia beat Romania last week and being a sub in the match against the scum Spuds. And Dudú marks his return 358 days after being stretchered out with his career in doubt - with a bang and a brace (an early birthday present for himself and the club too)! What a comeback it was! Bendtner and van Persie who substituted Dudú also scored to make it four nil to the Arsenal.

Captain Fantastic and new boy Shava were in the stands watching the game. Shava signed too late to play in this round of the Cup, wait, in fact he almost signed too late to play for Arsenal at all. Cesc was smiling widely when Dudú and Colbert hugged.

The only sour things were Bendtner’s unnecessary lunge towards a Cardiff player earning him a yellow card and at the goalie (shame on you Bendtner and fie on you for this rant), and a mobile phone thrown by a travelling Cardiff fan at Fabianski. And we could have scored so many more goals had the shots not misfired. It could have been a tennis match score - and the Cardiff fans would probably have prayed for another sudden snowstorm (but it was a comparatively mild evening in north London apparently).

No repeat of this last night

BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Arsenal's Eduardo 9.41 (on 90 minutes).