We were so desperately unlucky to come away from the game with nothing when it could have been a very different story had the referee not bottled the big decision of the game by not sending off Gary Neville on his 600th appearance for the club.

...and another for everyone else it seems as Arsenal picked up their 3rd Red Card of the Season to leave Wenger’s cheeks much the same colour as he faced yet more calls of hypocrisy given his outspoken stance on the very same issue the latest card punished, ironically even commenting on it in the game's programme notes.

Stoke were so unfortunate not to get something from this game as we were once again given an inept referee who missed at least one penalty decision and a red for the eventual match winner.

So, Danny Murphy is the latest saint to do the World a favour by trying to rid the game of bad tackles. Murphy joins Wenger in his myopic pursuit of playing the beautiful game without contact, but perhaps Mr Murphy should look at himself before criticising his fellow professionals.

Stoke turned in their best performance of the season and, despite only winning by 1 goal, completely dominated Blackburn as they came out on top in what was wrongly labelled by many lazy journalists as the “battle of the bruisers” to hit the dizzy heights of 7th in the League.