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Written by Graham Hitchen

Published: Wednesday, 21 December 2011 22:44

Arsenal made hard work of their victory over Aston Villa, on a night when two of the four teams above them had easy wins - with City winning 3-0, and United thrashing Fulham 5-0 at the Cottage.

But the win takes Arsenal into Christmas with a much needed three points and - hearteningly and, perhaps, surprisingly - two points clear of Liverpool, who could only manage a goalless score-draw at Wigan.

Leading by example

Robin Van Persie scored his 34 goal of the calendar year - with a penalty in the 17th minute, following a weaving run and turn by Walcott, with Ciaran Clark pulling him back by the shirt, leaving the referee with an easy decision. And it was Van Persie who was the provider for the winner - with Yossie Benayoun, one of the smallest players on the field, stooping to head the second from a van Persie corner, with just a few minutes of the match to play at the end of the second half.

So, Robin van Persie’s pre-match briefing on the need to kill off the game and get the win, seemed to have done the trick. As he said earlier in the week:: “Nobody can play beautiful football all the time...“I tell our lads ‘If it’s not happening for you, just try to kill off the game so we can move on’.

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Written by Alex Johnston

Published: Sunday, 18 December 2011 19:53

An admirable display from the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium which has quickly became one of the most fearful strongholds in the Premiership wasn’t enough against the mega-bucks of City. A rebound goal from David Silva and some heroics from Joe Hart were enough to secure the win for City, but Arsenal can be proud of their performance.

Cash vs Class

City themselves played with a point to prove, it would have been interesting to see the result had this fixture taken place before their loss to Chelsea. They were obviously angered by the accusations of stuttering and responded accordingly. It’s starting to feel like we might have to accept results like these against sides with unlimited spending power. There’s no point in using it as an excuse and the onus is on the team to go out and perform, which they did very well, unfortunately so did City and the gulf in quality showed at times.

Some Gunners deserve a mention though. Arteta was once again excellent, his passing in the middle of the pitch is almost always perfect and as someone pointed out when we bought him after losing Cesc, we’ve lost a player who stretch from being a 5-9/10 and replaced him with someone who will put in a solid 7 or 8/10 every game and it’s beginning to look like a welcome change.

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Written by Alex Johnston

Published: Saturday, 10 December 2011 17:33

Arsenal’s 125^th anniversary celebrations went off spectacularly with many legends gracing the Emirates pitch including George Graham, Ian Wright, the son of Rocky and our own favourite son Thierry Henry. The match that followed looked like it would provide a dampener for the classy and stylish celebrations that preceded it, but one moment of magic from Robin Van Persie made sure that would not happen and that Arsenal celebrated their anniversary in a rather fitting way with a 1-0 victory

Centre-backs Galore

With no fit full-backs to call upon, Djourou continued his run of games at right back with an assured performance and Vermaelen was pushed out to the left. This was probably the wisest choice by Wenger as Vermaelen’s penchant for bombing forward runs and defensive solidity was still utilised effectively. However, it was obvious we were suffering from a natural full-back and the attacking threat the likes of Santos bring the team. Over-reliance on inch perfect through balls to Gervinho and Walcott led to many attacks breaking down, but also carved open many chances due to the high line they employed. Walcott showed why he is not quite ready to be playing through the centre, squaring the ball poorly when he maybe would have been better off shooting.

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Written by Alex Johnston

Published: Wednesday, 07 December 2011 07:12

In what was the 200^th Champions League game for Arsene Wenger, he and the team had a night to forget. The game meant nothing in terms of progression to the next round for the Gunners but there were some concerns that Wenger will soon need to address.

Thank God for Szczcesny

I’m sure Bob Wilson cried himself to sleep after watching that. Fabianski has been making noises about his lack of first team football and even despite his injury I can’t see why that should change. His erratic decision making worried a defence that already contained Squillaci. His decision to run off his line for the first goal was rather hard to explain, but I believe it also showed the problem with playing a centre-back out of position. Djourou’s natural instincts pushed him towards the centre whereas a natural right back would have been nowhere near Squillaci. As frightening as Fabianski is at times I think we should remember the form he showed when he got a run of games last season before his injury and the emergence of Szczesny, he can be a good keeper but it boils down to if he can cut out the mistakes and the defence can learn to trust him.

Mannone made an appearance after 25 minutes due to a knee-injury to the Pole that looked rather serious and soon found himself guilty of a clanger. His attempt to try and kick the ball rather than catch it in his own box was due to rustiness in my opinion. He had no idea he had made it back and it would only take a run of games to build up match sharpness.

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