Not quite the double digit goal-fest that some were expecting, but a good solid performance from the squad, a fair scoreline and the required three points. I wasn’t quite comfortable throughout the match, even at 2-1, with Chris Eagles on the pitch. When the ex-Manc is on his game, he can cause problems for just about any defense. How funny is it though,  that his name is Eagles, he has sharp angular features like a bird, and went so far as to underline these facts by doing a bird dance of some sort with Nugent and Co. after their goal? Squawk?

Speaking of their goal… whiskey tango foxtrot, Defense? It was a great header from one of their boys to put our clearance right into Nugent’s path. His shin pad chip over the Spanish Mule Deer in the headlights Manuel Almunia was well played, but I don’t think even Nugent thought that ball was going in. Almunia seemed to be calling for offsides for some reason, spent a crucial second waving his arms around, then reacted far too late to do anything about the shot. He seemed to leap for it long after it went in. Not that he got any help from the central defense on that one. They were merely bystanders. So, yet another stupid goal leaked when we should have had a clean sheet.

No matter, because we still managed three excellent goals, each one quite fun to look at in replay. I wound up finally getting a copy of the match at nearly midnight. It was decent quality, but the commentary was in Russian. Interesting, I have to say. I was my own commentator in my head. Cesc’s goal was a thing of stark elegance. It started with some excellent footwork by Samir Nasri, who then had the balls of stainless steel prerequisite to then chip not one, two or three, but five Burnley defenders and drop the ball in the one and only place where that play could have worked: exactly in front of the right foot of Cesc Fabregas, who made the ensuing nutmeg of their keeper look like he does this each day. Lovely.

Theo Walcott answered his critics of late, with an overall excellent effort throughout the match, but capped with a lovely little run from the right corner of the 18-yard box, dancing along the line toward the center to shake off the defense and powered  left footed shot into the far side of the goal. Professional. He did some sort of gesture pointing to the empty place on his wrist where there’s usually a £25k watch as he ran over to one of the trainers. Not sure what that meant. It’s “Theo Time”? I sure hope so. More of that, please.

Andrey Arshavin, who came on late in the match, was disappointed that he was not able to make goal any quicker than 30 minutes on the pitch. But when he did, it was a doozy. While his teammates seemed satisfied to jerk around with the ball near the Burnley corners to burn off the clock at 2-1, Andrey simply wasn’t having that shit. He plowed in, stole the ball from that mess, powered toward goal and positively threaded a fucking needle at the near post. I’ve watched the replay several times now and I still can’t see how that ball went in. It seems to go through the post. Accuracy. His celebration said it all. “2-1 isn’t enough, 3-1 is better. 20 more minutes on pitch, I make goal maybe three more times.” Please see out your career with us, Andrey, you Lilliputian beauty.

Niklas Bendtner… yes, he missed a lot of chances. But, man… do I ever like this guy’s work ethic. He is reallly putting in the effort out there. He could have put five goals in yesterday if the winds were blowing in his favor, but alas… it was one of those days. It was nice to see that the fans recognized him for that, too. I think we have yet to see the best from Nik, so I hope he stays in an Arsenal shirt so we get to watch him bloom. He’s close.

Speaking of fans… those banners for Aaron Ramsey were a matter of pure excellence. The Setanta feed I had started a good few minutes early, even before the Elvis song, and they kept showing close-up shots of the One Aaron Ramsey, the Arseblog Do It For Aaron and the other Do It for Rambo banners. And, the players walking from the tunnels in the Get Well Soon, Aaron shirts was a nice touch of class. Well done, Gooners. Well done.

The only other downside of the match is that they took Cesc off pretty early with a potential hamstring issue. I sincerely hope it was a preventative measure, with one eye on the Porto match. I suppose we’ll hear by Monday if he is to play. To lose Cesc for any length of time now would be awful, but the boys carried on quite well without him yesterday. All in all, a great showing by the Gunners. Let’s keep that momentum going and force the other two horses in this race to be on their toes (hooves?) in they want to keep us from overtaking them.