CALL me paranoid if you want but I thought two teams played at Highbury on Saturday.

It's just that when I glanced at the national papers on Sunday and Monday, I could have sworn that only Arsenal appeared to have turned up for the game according to the vast majority of reports I read.

I suppose it's become common practice that when one of the so-called big guns crashes to a 'shock' defeat many of the nationals feel obliged to start conducting post-mortem examinations through the Press.

But what about giving a bit of the credit to the actual victors themselves, or doesn't that warrant a mention?

Okay, Rovers spent most of the game under the cosh but what about a word or two of praise for the way the back four performed when their backs were pressed firmly against the wall?

And, after being treated to one of the best goalkeeping performances I've ever seen, one paper I read actually brushed off Brad Friedel's immense contribution in one inadequate paragraph.

Saturday's result, as far as I was concerned, was not quite the great shock everyone painted it out to be.

Anyone who watches Rovers regularly knows they are more than capable of going to places like Highbury and winning because Graeme Souness is patiently assembling a side full of exciting young talent.

Sometimes, I think even we forget just how good the squad is at Ewood.

Players like Friedel, Damien Duff, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Matt Jansen, David Thompson and David Dunn would be welcomed with open arms by most teams in the Premiership if they got the slightest sniff they might be available.

Yet people call it a big shock when they then go and beat a side like Arsenal without playing to anywhere near their best.

Let's hope a Rovers victory at Parkhead tomorrow gets treated slightly more favourably.

But I can't write this column without commenting on Dennis Bergkamp's petulant stamp on Nissa Johansson on Saturday.

The Dutch striker has got away with murder down the years and it's about time the FA decided to do something about him.

Last season at Ewood, one of his 'stray' elbows caught Johansson in the face and he escaped unpunished.

This time his alleged stamping was missed again but the player himself has since come out and virtually admitted he did it on purpose and now faces a trial by TV.

A three-game ban should be the very least he receives because Dennis has been a menace for simply far too long.