With Chelsea stirring fury from the most placid of football fans, Arsenal seemed destined to be the heroic foil to all those grim and inevitable 1-0 grinds from the champions. But an impressive winning run couldn't be maintained, and Arsene Wenger's side are back in the funk that marred the "rst few games of their season. Plus their "nest player has been unsettled and forced to deny rumours of a rift with his manager. But without Thierry Henry they managed one of their most impressive results of the season, a 3-0 hammering of Spurs last week. Back-up striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored the opener, with stand-in captain Gilberto Silva scoring two penalties, both indicative of a team emerging from the shadow of a dominant "gure. Arsenal are available at 5-1 today (which might have seemed ludicrous after their Old Trafford win in September) but aren't worth a punt, particularly with a tendency to concede "rst that has dogged them all season. Yet they have enough about them to get a result against a side yet to truly impress at home, making a Chelsea lead at half-time being cancelled out before the end worth a small interest at 18-1.

BACK DARREN CLARKE TO WIN THE 2006 BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR 2-5 Odds quoted are from Betfair Back in June 2004, Babs Keating, in his role as columnist with another Sunday newspaper, advised his readers that if they had a spare 80,000 handy, they should put it on the Kilkenny hurlers to beat Wexford at 1-8. The Cats promptly went out and lost the Leinster semi-"nal, proving that just because something is big odds against, that don't make it a sure thing. Darren Clarke has been the runaway favourite for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ever since he downed that pint in one at the K Club, but this is a safe bet. The only thing stopping How's the Form from "lling every boot in sight at the time was the sneaking suspicion that Clarke may withdraw himself from the race. This hasn't happened, with Clarke quoted as saying that to do so would be to throw the public's votes back in their faces.

This year's award will be decided by public telephone vote during the ceremony, and once the pictures of a tearful Clarke hit the screen, it's a done deal. If you've a spare. . .

actually we're not going there.

Where the money was. . .

AUSTRALIA TO WIN THE SECOND ASHES TEST 49-1 (Betfair) They had been awful in Brisbane, but after a stoic batting display in the opening days at Adelaide, few thought that England could lose their way in the second Ashes test. But lose it they did, as Shane Warne's stunning bowling display, followed by the sure footedness of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey saw England incredibly fall to defeat from a seemingly unbeatable position. Almost made you feel sorry for them. Australia were backable at 49-1 at one stage, which would make anybody feel sorry.