Match report – Video – By the numbers
That was, I would wager, our most comfortable win of the season bar, perhaps, the Blackburn game in which we scored 7. Villa came, had a look around, didn’t fancy it, and got well and truly conquered.
I was expecting them to be much more difficult opponents, given the propensity for the withered, sunburnt testicle to set his team out to spoil and deny the opposition, but, even if those were the instructions, the Villa players didn’t carry them out particularly well.
Our opening half hour was fantastic stuff, we always looked threatening as we moved the ball around, at speed, in the Villa half. We made the breakthrough after about 15 minutes, Kieran Gibbs combined well with Gervinho, drove into the box and fired home a shot which deflected in off Shay Given at the near post. The keeper really should have done better but it was just reward for the way we’d started the game.
Alex Song then provided another fantastic pass over the top of the defence, usually reserved for his mate Robin, but this time it was Theo Walcott who controlled it beautifully and slid it home to make 2-0. It could have been more before half-time, Given made a good save from Arteta, and after some wonderful footwork in the box van Persie’s lobbed effort was headed off the line by Warnock.
The second half wasn’t as impressive from an attacking point of view, and Villa were a bit more dangerous but still offered very little to threaten Szczesny. Djourou and Vermaelen coped well with Heskey (Villa fans singing “He scores when he wants” about him was pretty funny), Agbonlahor had a couple of moments but nothing more, and the game just kind of played itself out.
Mikel Arteta’s rocket of a free kick put some real gloss on the scoreline, which we deserved for the way we played overall. Again you might question the keeper but it was a fine hit and I’d be more than happy to see him take a few more like that (his others tend to be a bit wall-hitty).
Inside the ground the atmosphere was enjoyable, appreciative of the players and their effort, and the most sustained applause of the day wasn’t for any of the goals, it was for Gervinho who sprinted back 50 or 60 yards to tackle a Villa player. That effort sums up the way the team is operating at the moment, real effort in all areas of the pitch and we’re seeing the benefit of that in the results we’re getting.
Afterwards, Arsene said:
I felt it was a very dynamic, fluent performance in the first half with top technical quality. It was a controlled performance in the second half, we controlled the game and managed not to concede a goal. Our fatigue came in a bit because we gave a lot at Everton on Wednesday night to win the game.
Overall I am very happy, very pleased because we managed to score goals and not concede any. We have consistency at the moment, so let’s go home and wait for the next game.
So, with Chelsea and Sp*rs playing out a very handy 0-0 draw earlier in the day, it means we’re now 3 points clear of them, and 8 clear of that lot. The turnaround really has been remarkable, we feel like a team that is energised and filled with confidence. And what was especially this week was that even though Robin van Persie was some way below his best we’ve come up with the goals.
Four different goalscorers, two clean sheets, two very solid defensive performances, and you have to say it’s encouraging. Arsene is still espousing the one game at a time mantra, and that’s both understandable and quite right. Next up is an away trip to QPR, three points there next Saturday would be just perfect.
If there was a slight negative it’s the knee injury that forced Koscielny out of the game but we’ve got a week to get him right for the next game. I thought Djourou had a good game in his place, granted he didn’t have that much to do but what he did, he did well.
And that’s really about that for this morning. I am sitting here in my hotel room nursing what could only be described as a hangover from hell combined with a tired, aching body from 100 minutes of football yesterday.
The Green team’s reign as champions came to an end (8-7) on penalties to the white team, and congratulations to them. But the football was the perfect backdrop to a fantastic social event and was more proof that meeting people off the internet is not at all weird and scary (provided you’re not being groomed and that, but let’s not go there).
Now, I must find pain medicine. Does anyone have any morphine? Till tomorrow.
