"Tonight’s attendance is 59,583." Yes, that’s what the PA announcer actually said on Wednesday night.

I don’t know what it looked like on TV, but from inside the stadium I can guarantee you that there was nothing even approaching 59,000 people at Emirates Stadium for the FC Twente game.

The new Home Of Football has a capacity of 60,355, so if the club are seriously trying to suggest that there were less than 800 vacant seats for the Champions League qualifier, then they must think us supporters are very foolish indeed.

One of my fellow Gooners estimated that every fourth seat was empty – meaning that there were around 15,000 Arsenal fans missing last night. I don’t think it was quite that bad, but even if I was conservatively estimating that one in 10 seats were empty, that’s still 6,000 and there were some gaping holes around the stadium.

This is an ongoing issue I have with the club. I just don’t get it. Why do Arsenal insist on telling us porkies about the attendance numbers?

It was so blatant a couple of times last season that I contacted the club to ask them just how they compiled their stats. Arsenal contend it’s the attendance on the night.