"Saturday was a very special game for me. Not only was it a great honour to captain Arsenal in a fantastic 3-0 win over Birmingham, but I was of course also delighted to score my first goal of the season for Arsenal.

"I've been working very hard on my form and I've been feeling good after getting some games under my belt. Before the game against Birmingham I felt like I had been getting close to my top form again and on Saturday I was very happy with my performance.

"It hadn't been bothering me that much that I hadn't scored before Saturday. Every striker wants to score goals but it has stopped being the most important thing for myself as a player, doing my best for the team is far more important. As long as we can score from somewhere that is all that matters and I try to play my part in creating chances as well as trying to score myself.

"This is true of many players and Saturday's game was also very interesting because it shows that Thierry Henry - who has been on excellent scoring form this season - can also be a great provider of goals. Thierry played a vital part in all three goals on Saturday and Arsenal are very lucky to have a player as versatile and creative as Thierry in the team.

"Before our game against Birmingham people were saying Thierry is the only person who can score for Arsenal but there are many other aspects to Thierry's game, and also at Birmingham on Saturday Arsenal showed that they have other options for scoring goals.

"At Arsenal, we never take any notice of these comments anyway because anyone who knows anything about football will know that form comes and goes in a season. Every striker goes through periods of good and bad form and it is guaranteed that we will also do so in the future.

"It's funny because I remember a time when people were saying only Ian Wright can score for Arsenal and there was also a period when they said that about me! All that matters is that Arsenal are scoring goals and whether they come from Thierry, myself, Freddie, Robert or whoever, winning is the most important thing.

"Ashley Cole also showed this in our last Champions League game against Dynamo Kiev. It's great that players from those positions come and score goals because it is very difficult to defend against players who get into the box from midfield or defence. It seems to happen all the time to Arsenal that the strikers don't score against us but the goals come from midfield and this is something that we hope also to do more and more.

"On Tuesday we face Inter Milan in a crucial game for us now in the Champions League. After the Kiev game we were making a lot of calculations, even in the dressing room afterwards. There are so many permutations and even if we don't win at the San Siro we may still have a chance, but the conclusion that everyone came to is that we were really only truly safe if we won our last two games and that is the target now.

"I won't be travelling to Italy but I will be watching the game at home. I hate watching games on TV! I get very nervous, I think it's even worse watching at home than when you are actually at a game. It will of course be very difficult to go to the San Siro and get a result and as we learned at Highbury earlier in the season, Italian teams can be very difficult to break down and they will punish you on the break. Losing 3-0 at home to Inter in our first group game was a big blow to our European ambitions, but we have a chance to turn this around on Tuesday and we hope this can happen.

"Arsenal have received a lot of criticism over their form in the Champions League in recent years and it is perplexing that we can win so many domestic trophies but fail to reach top gear in Europe. But if we knew the answer as to why this is the case it would be very easy to win games. We don't lose games on purpose! We really want to do well in Europe and we always try to do our best.

"No-one at Arsenal wants to be in the situation we are in now, but the only people that can get us out of the situation is the players themselves and other opinions do not matter. We have to go about things the way we see it and just get on with things in the best way we think - now we must put in the kind of 'never say die' performance at the San Siro and against Lokomotiv at Highbury that we showed against Kiev.

"Everyone at Arsenal wants to do well in Europe and, for myself, there may not be another chance. But who knows? If I am still playing well at the end of the season and feel as sharp as I do now then I will have a difficult decision in May. How we do in Europe will not affect my decision over retirement, as I would not want to continue just because I wanted another crack at European glory. The only thing that would make me think again about retiring is if I am still enjoying my football. This is the main thing.

"Anyway this is for the future, all I know for certain now is that this Arsenal team deserves to achieve something in Europe and I wish the lads all the best on Tuesday."