So what started out to be quite the tussle, ended in a rout. And a more deserved rout I’ve never witnessed.

I’ll start with what pretty much every other blogger is talking about. Was it worth the risk Cesc Fabregas to bring him in? When I first saw him limping, I thought no. But in hindsight, I think it was. That being said, I also feel that we were probably on our way to scoring had he remained on the bench. We had the momentum. You could see a massive improvement after the break. Was it another pep talk from the boss? From the captain? We may never know. But we transformed from a side that played well in the first half, to one that played great in the second. The attacking on the ball was just ruthless. As in, completely without Ruth. Whoever she might happen to be.

Aston Villa had their share of threats in the first half, but we pretty much shut down their efforts in the second. Manuel Almunia, when he had something to do, did it well. The back four were a wall. Not the tallest wall in the league, but a wall just the same. Andrey Arshavin was having a somewhat subdued match, but still played well. He doesn’t seem to have bad days. Have you noticed? He’s either good or great. Abou Diaby put in yet another very impressive performance. Could he be the next on the team to completely revamp his outlook? He’s certainly on his way. On that note, we’ve come to expect excellence from Alex Song, and once again, he did not fail to deliver. He will be sorely missed when he’s off to the ACN next week. I wish him success there as well as good health, but secretly hope his side get dumped as soon as can be managed. Come back to us soon, Alex.

At 57′ Cesc Fabregas came on for Denilson, who also looked pretty decent. He immediately made an impact, simply by being on the pitch. He’s a defender magnet. Within seven minutes, he was fouled about seven yards outside the area. He stepped up to take the shot, and curled it over the wall and into the left side of the net past Friedel at full stretch. 1-0 to the Arsenal. The celebration in the corner with the fans was a thing of beauty. At this point, Song seemed to be playing forward a bit more, with Cesc hanging back. I’m wondering if this was intentional to minimize risk of re-injury to his hamstring.

At 81′, Milner dumps the ball directly to Armand Traore, who decided to pop a huge diagonal up to Theo Walcott on the right side. Theo outstrips his man, as he’s wont to do, and slides the perfect pass in front of the onrushing Cesc Fabregas who simply belts it into the right side past Friedel, yet again. Job done. But… Cesc is now limping. He put a lot into that run to get into position and looks to have aggravated his hamstring at the least. Hopefully it’s not serious and he’ll be back soon. Luckily, the upcoming fixture schedule is somewhat kind to us, so hopefully he can find the time to heal up. No offense to Portsmouth, West Ham et al, but these are definitely the fixtures we want to have in light of our over-crowded treatment room.

Cesc goes off at 84′ for Aaron Ramsey to come out and Aston Villa appear to have been stunned. The defense is positively knackered as Abou Diaby takes the ball in the center circle at 91′, dances his way up to the area and puts in our third. A lovely shot from a man who is making his case to be included in every start. 3-0, match over.

It felt good beating Villa after recent experience with them. It felt good knowing they were beginning to fancy themselves giant killers, having done in the rest of the supposed Top Four. It felt good beating Martin O’Neill after his shenanigans last time around. He’s a fun character to frustrate. Aston Villa had previously scored in nearly every match since the season began, but left Ashburton Grove with nothing. No goals, no points… nothing. Apart from a sore ass, that is. An ass that, I’m quite sure Rafa Benitez and his men will enjoy taking up the task of plugging, when they come to visit Villa Park later today. Big fun.

So, we’re off to Fratton Park tomorrow. Given the travails of Portsmouth lately, it’s reasonable to expect full points from the match. Especially given the high we’re riding and the 2-0 whipping they took from the Hammers recently. And, if Wigan somehow pulls off a draw or even *gasp* a win over United, we may find ourselves in second position by 2010. Imagine that. At the very least, we should only be two behind United and four behind Chelsea. I like our odds… I do like our odds.

Come on, you Gunners!

Denilson 40, Diaby 48 – Divers: Eboue, Agbonlahor

So, I’m in the friggin’ Toys R Us getting my kids some toys with the gift cards they got from some friends/family over the holidays and this fellow who works there sees my Walcott shirt and says “Yeah Gunners… they tied the other day.” But, I haven’t seen the game yet and I say to my wife “I knew I shouldn’t have worn this fucking shirt today…” But I’m thinking to myself, “Ah, he’s an American. He’s probably talking about the Liverpool result or some match that happened weeks ago, not the Villa match from just yesterday.” So I go home and put my recording of the match on hoping this kid didn’t know what he was talking about. He did.

But, for 92 minutes I thought maybe he didn’t. Despite having most of the possession for the first half and only 2 shots on goal, we went into the tunnel up 0-1. Villa had piled on the pressure, rattling the woodwork three times and stretching Almunia left and right with nothing to show for it. But at 40′ a scramble in the area saw Denilson get to the ball before Friedel. Good Ol’ Yankee Brad gets nutmegged by the Brazilian and it’s one nil to the Arsenal.

Man of the Match for me has to be Bacary Sagna. At around 44′ a chip comes in and Almunia is off his line. Sagna simply flies in and makes a lovely reverse bicycle kick to clear it just before the line. It’s probably the  most gorgeous save by a defender I’ve ever seen. Bac made probably four or five other spectacular saves this match. He’s priceless, I’m telling you. Whatever he wants when the contract is up, give it to him.

So we come out for the second half, and three minutes in Abou Diaby struggles up the right, passes off to Emmanuel Eboue who then flicks off back to Diaby who buries it… 0-2 Arsenal. It’s at this point that I’m thinking, “The kid in the toy store had to be talking about the Liverpool match. Fucking plebe.” But he wasn’t. Gallas gave up a PK around 64′ when he cut down Agbonlahor. In real time it looked to be a clear penalty. The replay showed it to be a close call, but if I were the ref I would have given it. 1-2 after Barry buries. FFS.

Lots and lots of back and forth with Villa piling the pressure on all along. The 90th minute comes and goes and I get this feeling in the pit of my gut, I shit you not. I say to my sleeping wife and dog, “We’re going to get this one fucking nicked in the last few minutes.” And 30 seconds later, some claret and blue twat equalizes for the Birminghamininians. Whistle. Draw. Fuck.

And at said whistle, Martin O’Neill was heard to say, “Sweet sufferin’ Jesus! Orange stars, yellow moons, green clovers and blue diamonds! That was a great fookin’ match!” To which Arsène Wenger replied, “Get out of my sight, you fucking myopic leprechaun.” I always thought those two got on just fine, but it appeared at one point that Martin was trying to take a large bite out of The Professors’ ass. For one, I’m not sure that would taste very good, and two that there’d be very much left after the Arsenal board gets done with ol’ AW on recent numbers.

So, we’re ten points off the league leaders on Boxing Day. I’m no statisticianarian, but correct me if I’m wrong when I say that sort of mountain ain’t yet been climbed. It’s now a fight for the Champions League, get as close to the top four in the Prem and the FA Cup… in that order. And, there’s no room left in the injury room. Alex Song came off at the half bitching about an injury and they pretty much just sent him home. Good times.

I really don’t have a lot to say about this match. I watched with enthusiasm, and I watched with hope, and I watched… until the life was sucked right out of me. Again.

I just don’t know what’s up with this team lately. I’m sure Arséne’s wondering the same thing lately. I wish there were one thing we could all point at and say “Fix it FFS!” and that’d be it. But it’s far more complicated than that I think. And, I think it’s going to take a bit longer to fix. The inconsistency rankles in my gut. It’s like being on a roller coaster where the peaks are the height of awesome and the troughs are the depths of suck. All credit to the Villains, who did play a decent match, though. I like Martin O’Neill, and he’s obviously onto something there at Villa Park. Can’t wait to see them there in a few weeks. Should be fun.

On a positive note: nice fuckin’ save, Manuel.

Disjointed. We never seemed to quite get our shit together with this one, and Aston Villa are not a side that’s going to let you slide easily. The players just seemed to be out of step with one another. The OG then just set the tone for the match. We picked up the pace in the second half, but it was only enough to rescue a point.

At 70′, as I’ve done so many times before, I looked at the dog and said… “Let’s just hang in there… it’s never too late for this team… right?” and once again, my beloved Arsenal dug deep and had me screaming at the TV. Of course, the dog couldn’t give less of a shit, since he was only worried about Blackburn handling the Magpies that night, the prick. But, talk about waiting until the very last second… I rewound and watched it several times. Nicklas Bendtner puts that goal away, according to the Barclay’s clock on screen, at 92:57. It just doesn’t get much closer than that. It’s only too bad that it wasn’t a game winner instead of an equalizer. And, poor Phillipe Senderos… I’m irritated with him and feel bad for him at the same time. A lot of defenders make that very same mistake. It’s too bad it’s him though, as he already gets a fair amount of stick from the Arsenal faithful. They’re probably calling for his head. Not I.

Arséne believes we were still experiencing a bit of hangover from the Birmingham game. I suppose that has to be considered as a factor. Whatever it is, I really hope it’s been shaken for tomorrow night. We’re liable to see a completely different AC Milan side than we saw at Ashburton Grove, when we get to the San Siro. The travel will be wont to take its toll on the players as well. On the upside, there’s talk of Robin van Persie returning to the lineup, but not as a starter. I hope he stays fit. We’re going to need him in the stretch.