Wenger made five changes to the Super Outsiders side which drew at El Madrigal last week, largely due to injuries. Bacary Sagna had a virus earlier in the day and joined William Gallas, Gael Clichy and Johan Djourou on the sidelines as well as keeper Manuel Almunia. In come Lukasz Fabianski, Mikael Silvestre, Emmanuel Eboue and Keiran Gibbs. Yes, we really had a makeshift defence to face the Yellow Submarine. Robin van Persie passed a fitness test and so played in place of Denilson, who dropped to the bench.
Theo scored the first goal after collecting a Cesc flick before running clear and chipping in. Cesc was again instrumental in the second goal when his towering header found van Persie. Adebayor accepted Van Persie’s pass and his prodded finish found the far corner to make it two nil on the hour mark (even Wenger was excited enough to do his version of Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It). Robin then scored the home side’s third goal from the penalty spot after Theo was challenged in the box. The Gunners had torpedoed the Yellow Submarine alright. I’m pretty sure Villarreal were only to happy to hear the final whistle.
We will meet ManUre in a fortnight. Said Cesc: ‘We could have scored a few more tonight but let’s not be greedy. I think for the last five or six games of the season I will be at the peak of my game.’ But best hold the pizza, Cesc, as the article advises.
Hard to believe that this is the team which lost five in the first 14 games enough to attract criticisms against Wenger. But the lads have mental strength – even when their Champions League spot for the next season was hanging by a thread a mere few weeks ago – to bounce back. And they had gone unbeaten in the 18 games following their last defeat. There was also a decisive factor in Rome when they missed the first penalty and still had to come up against penalty specialists in the likes of Totti, Baptista, Montella and Vucinic. Perhaps that was the turning point in the team’s self-confidence and mental strength.
BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Arsenal’s Theo Walcott 8.65 (on 90 minutes).
First test passed for this unfamiliar Arsenal defence. Now let’s see how they fare against Chelsea this weekend...
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Another dead rodent awaited my return from work on Tuesday courtesy of Ginger Ale no doubt. *Sigh* I know other neighbours feed him too so why me?!
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