AS PEPE stepped up to take his penalty with his side 2-0 down and a man down with only 17 minutes left I tweeted that Arsenal’s season was "here and now."

Miss that pressure-laden spot-kick and lose the first leg of the Europa League semi-final 2-0 — and the chances of overturning that chasm of a deficit were slim to none, and like everyone knows, slim just left town.

But score, and you grab a lifeline and genuine hope. Not least because 2-1 is the result that has most been overturned on aggregate across 60+ years of European competition. Why? Because the side playing at home in the second leg have the crucial away goal – which is all-important in continental football.

So, a 1-0 victory at Ashburton Grove next Thursday will, incredibly, see Mikel Arteta’s misfiring, inconsistent, maddening, frustrating - yet talented and, at rare times, resilient Gunners, reach the Europa League final. A real chance of glory, silverware, and a return to the riches of the promised land that is the Champions League.

Of course, given Manchester United’s stunning rout of Roma in the other semi-final on the same evening, nothing is certain. It was an impressive result against a Roma side, which, despite containing Chris Smalling, former Gunner Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Edin Dzeko – or, as some would argue, because of them – lost 6-2 at Old Trafford.

I covered 90 per cent of Unai Emery’s pre and post-match pressers in person during his time in charge at Arsenal, not to mention observing training at London Colney on the rare times they opened up to the press for European games, and he is a gentleman.

I saw him up close and fired many questions at him over his 18 months in charge. He is one of life’s good guys. It just didn’t work out for him. We wished him well then and we wish him well now, well apart from this tie. No wonder Thursday is shaping up to be a seminal match.

Of course, it pays not to get ahead of ourselves with anything related to Arteta’s side, nor football and sport in general, so let’s concentrate on Arsenal’s next game, with all eyes on the match against Newcastle in the north east on Sunday.

Or not, as the case may be. I will be there reporting on the match for this newspaper. But you won’t see anything from me on social media. Why?

Because, as a fully paid up member of the Football Writers’ Association I will be taking part in their solidarity with football’s governing bodies in uniting for a three-day social media boycott, which lasts from from 3pm on Friday to 11.59pm on Monday.  

I will be proudly joining my press box colleagues in the “strike,” as well as the FA, Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League, FA Women’s Championship, PFA, LMA, PGMOL, Kick It Out and the FSA in refusing to post during the boycott.  

This is because we all want to send a concerted message to social media companies that enough is enough regarding their dreadfully lame response to combatting racism, discrimination, homophobia and abuse on their various platforms.

As a working-class kid who somehow made it to university – but long, long before I became a journalist – I worked in a jobcentre after graduating because I’d had enough labouring and removal jobs in the cold.

The pay was terrible. The job felt hopeless at times given the lack of support to those on the front line from an uncaring Tory government for so many reasons on so many levels. But there was a union. And when they called for a strike to raise awareness of such things, one of the things that I feel most proud about was that I didn’t cross the picket line.

As a contract worker, I had no rights and lost a day’s pay, and of course, while nothing could ever be proved in writing, when it came to renew my three month contract the very next week, I was let go.

This was despite doing what I thought was a good job. Far more importantly, my colleagues and the people I helped thought so too. But it wasn’t enough for management. Privately, I was told it was because I took part in the strike and refused to cross that picket line.

I was proud then. And I’m even prouder looking back on it more than two decades later.

So. If you’re one of those rare handful of people who might be looking for my opinion on Arsenal, football, sport, music or even politics from me on social media this weekend, I’m afraid I won’t be on there. Because I’ve never crossed a picket line in my life — and I’m not going to start now.

PS, Save The Gooner Fanzine update: we effectively lost a week to fighting the ESL and gearing up for last week’s demo so we are battling hard to make up the time and numbers.

If you appreciate supporter solidarity as well as informed, intelligent, and yes, irreverent writing from passionate football fans, please do consider signing up.

We’ve had a few non-Arsenal fans sign up and we’d certainly welcome more reading our fanzine – which was voted the best fanzine in the UK by the FSF a couple of years ago.

The social media boycott won’t help our cause this weekend, but that’s just something we’ll have to deal with. Because principles are far, far more important.