Bendtner

"He is slow and clumsy. He has a poor first touch and his heading is average. He is very lucky to be playing Premier League football. His age (21 years) is irrelevant. Good players show their talent from day one, Bendtner has not." Steven Cohen, Chelsea fan on his satellite radio show.

Bendtner is only 21 years old. He could be a top player for Arsenal. He has vision and movement that few players of his age have. He can run at defenses, is a physical threat, and showed against Roma that he can play Arsenal's fast, intricate, passing game.

He does need to fine tune his technique and composure in front of goal. He has scored 9 goals so far this season, which for a young, inexperienced, 4th choice striker is not bad.

Look at Aston Villa's strikers and tell me that Bendtner is not better:

Gabriel (a girls name) Agbonlahor (23 years old, 10 goals in 27 games);
Emile Heskey (31 years old, 4 goals in 25 games, 1 assist);
John Carew (30 at the start of next season, injury prone, 6 goals in 16 games);
Marlon Harewood (30 in August, 0 goals in 6 games).

Yesterday was Martin O'Neill's birthday. It was also the turning point in this fascinating season. Villa have a small, old, squad. If they get a run of bad injuries they could free fall like Hull City.

Villa's next three games are not easy. On Wednesday they face Manchester City away. City maybe without Robinho and Bellamy but they will want to rebound from their defeat away to West Ham.

They then face a Spurs team fighting relegation and then Liverpool away. The fact that Stoke scored two goals in last two minutes indicates that Villa's luck is turning. The pressure is on them if we beat West Brom.

Chelsea and Liverpool are not out of the woods yet either. Both are only 9 points ahead of us. They both play on Tuesday.

There are 11 games left. 33 points and plenty of twists and turns.

I was worried after the Fulham game, now I'm confident again.