ALTHOUGH it pains me to write this - congratulations to Arsenal on winning the championship. I now expect the Gunners to go on and complete the Double by beating Newcastle United in the FA Cup Final at Wembley next weekend.

In retrospect, I can point out two fixtures that were critical in the title race. We met Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham when we had a lot of injuries, if we'd taken four points from those two away games I think it would have disheartened Arsenal a bit - but we only managed one.

They knew at that stage they were only three wins behind and had a match against us at Old Trafford to come. Their 1-0 win at our place really put the cat among the pigeons, even a draw would have kept us in pole position. But you have to take your hat off to any team that can go out and win ten Premiership matches on the trot as Arsenal have done.

Like any successful side, they have the solid base on which to build a winning team. Their defence have played together for a long time and are a well-drilled unit and their midfield players Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira give added protection to the back four in the way that Paul Ince, Roy Keane and Nicky Butt have done for us down the years. The French pair are box-to-box players and are able to play creatively without forgetting their defensive duties. When you are defensively strong, the flair players in your side have the confidence to go out and play - and that's what Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars have excelled at in recent weeks.

Overmars has been important to them after taking time to adjust to the English game. His pace is frightening. We first saw it at Wembley in a World Cup qualifier and he hasn't lost any of it despite a really bad knee injury. Bergkamp is no slouch either, but his speciality is his ability to see situations early and create that bit of magic. And his finishing has been of the highest quality.