How’s your week been? I’ve had a bad one. 

Wasn’t it awful watching Boris Johnson lie through his teeth at PMQs this week? With leadership so poor, so duplicitous, so agonisingly inept, so clearly full of cronyism and corruption, disdain and deceit, that it made you want to weep in frustration at the situation. 

I should add, in these challenging times, that politics — and hatred for the Tories — aside I am lucky enough that a bad week for me involves sport, not bad things happening in real life. Thankfully. 

So, as ever I looked to sport for a boost from the real world. But the England Test team let me down. It wasn’t so much the defeat itself in Tasmania. English cricket teams lose in Australia. That much we know. Yet, it was the manner of the pathetic collapse in the fifth Ashes test, lacking whimper let alone bang, that stuck in the craw. 

Unlike our batting I could go, but it’s best if we draw a veil over such a miserable tour — even if, as a glutton for punishment, I’m hoping to attend at least part of the next Ashes down under. But that’s for another day. 

And despite the strangely mesmerising preening of the increasingly ridiculous — and increasingly irrelevant — Ronaldo after being subbed off during Manchester United’s midweek win at Brentford, any sense of fun emerging from witnessing petulance from the “The Special Winker” soon dissipated when news emerged that Spurs, somehow, scored goals in the 95^th and 97^th minutes to win their match at Leicester. So, no schadenfreude there. Quite the opposite in fact. 

That came after the news that the north London derby was postponed — and all the shenanigans that came with it, not least the energy-sapping nonsense that stemmed from many who should have known better.

No wonder I avoided Twitter for a couple of days, as conflict is so draining, especially when you have a 68-page fanzine to produce on top of your day job as a local journalist. Thankfully, the new issue will be out for Arsenal’s Sunday game with Burnley at the Emirates. Stop me and buy one, as they say. 

Therefore, I looked to the second leg of the Arsenal vs Liverpool League Cup semi-final for succour. As I noted last week, I planned to attend the game as a fan. Which I did. I caught up with old pals for pre-match beers and bonhomie, full of laughs and hope for the outcome of the match. And then the game started. 

Quite simply, Arsenal failed to reach Liverpool’s level. In fact, Jurgen Klopp’s side didn’t even have to play that well, because Mikel Arteta’s team failed to stamp their authority on a match that could have gone down in Emirates history had they emerged triumphant. 

Alas, it wasn’t to be, leaving supporters downhearted, and a gap in the book “Victorious triumphs in big games at the Emirates: 2006 to the present day.”

So, no trip to contest the League Cup final at Wembley Stadium in late February. I congratulate Liverpool and wish them all the best against Chelsea. 

However, judging by the dreadful performance the last time I was at our national stadium back in December, when Chelsea Women comprehensively routed Arsenal Women 3-0 to lift the FA Cup, I’m not sure I could have coped with another awful day out at Wembley next month, capped by another hugely disappointing defeat, this time between Chelsea men and Arsenal men.

With that prospect avoided completely, actually, maybe this week hasn’t been as bad as I first thought …