European spot beckons

Blackburn Rovers 1 Arsenal 0: The result that would undoubtedly have caught the eyes of the dreamers at the weekend was Nottingham Forest's 7-1 victory over Swindon Town, although how many would remember that when Blackburn Rovers, remarkably, broke Manchester United's Premiership hegemony in 1995, Forest finished third?

The late Jack Walker's millions briefly transformed Blackburn into champions a decade ago. Now matters have changed radically. Billions have superseded millions, and finishing third or fourth in the Premiership may be considered the pinnacle of achievement for any club of Blackburn's size, while the demise of Forest is a constant warning of how desperately quickly matters can go wrong.

Blackburn may never win the title again, yet Saturday's 1-0 victory over a team purporting to be called Arsenal placed Rovers in fifth place, ahead of Arsenal and poised to make a late run for next season's Champions League.

Mark Hughes had told his players last summer that such a position was achievable. "I think some of them thought I was mad," he said. If so it has become a fine madness, and there was no disguising the elation after this win.

Suddenly next Sunday's away match against Tottenham has become imbued with a potential significance that neither set of fans might have supposed possible when the season began. "A huge game," said Hughes.

Wenger admitted that his team's wretched away form in the Premiership, just three wins out of 14, remained "a big worry". During the first half Arsenal were shockingly poor, and with a little extra composure in front of goal from Andy Todd and Robbie Savage Blackburn might have been home and dry by half-time.

Blackburn's first principle was to deny Arsenal the space that Real Madrid had allowed them. The second was to let slip Craig Bellamy at ever opportunity. This worked a treat after only 19 minutes when the Welshman, with Mathieu Flamini caught out of position, left Philippe Senderos in his wake and centred accurately for Morten Gamst Pedersen both to score and injure himself in the same movement.

This was hard on Pederesen, and even harder on Senderos and Flamini, who were the only Arsenal players not to wear gloves, and were therefore deserving of a little extra credit.

Arsenal's most notable absentee was Frederik Ljungberg, which left a decidedly off-key Thierry Henry without a foil. Emmanuel Adebayor was, for the most part, neither use nor ornament, and when he was presented with his side's best chance, courtesy of the excellent Cesc Fabregas, he fluffed it, allowing Brad Friedel to make a spectacular but nevertheless comfortable save.

Blackburn's climb has been systematically planned, with Hughes setting a series of interim targets, the majority of which have been achieved. Furthermore his players, unlike Arsenal, are clearly not short of belief.

Bellamy's inability to time his runs can be infuriating, but the threat of his pace is constant and in the centre of midfield Tugay and Savage complement each other perfectly.

"He has all the skills and I do what I'm best at," said Savage, which will bring a wry smile from those bruised players who know exactly what he means.

Hughes knows it is imperative that Blackburn's inconsistency does not follow this win. Six of their last 11 matches are at home, where they have won nine out of 13. Europe is beckoning, providing Rovers hold their nerve.