The 2011/12 Season Review (1) – Overview

Many Arsenal fans will remember this season as one of their toughest seasons they have ever experienced. Our faith in Arsene Wenger was severely tested at the beginning of the season (or all through the season for those sceptical) and we faced a number of ups and downs throughout the season.

We got off to the worse start to a season in 58 years. Amid the disturbing newspaper reports regarding the departures of Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, we went into the first game of the season, during and after which we lost Gervinho and Alex Song to suspensions. Things didn't get any better in the following match against Liverpool, as Frimpong was sent off and Arsenal were beaten 2-0 at home partly thanks to a very unlucky own goal. By the time we faced Manchester United at Old Trafford, Nasri and Fabregas had already left us, it had been made clear that we would have to do without Jack Wilshere and Thomas Vermaelen for some while, and the tough battle against Udenese in the qualifying for the Champions League Group Stage had taken its toll on the physical side of Arsenal's game. On top of three suspensions, injuries and illness forced Arsenal to field a largely inexperienced side consisting of mainly second-string players against the reigning champions. The rest is history.

The crushing 8-2 defeat seemed to have served as a wake-up call. On the final day of the summer transfer window, Arsenal signed five new players, including a loan deal. Although none of the new signings overly excited us at the time, we were happy with the fact that Wenger took some action to rectify the present situation. At least, we didn't endure the humiliation at Old Trafford for nothing. If you thought these seven days, starting from the dramatic victory over Udenese to secure a place in the Champions League Group Stage and ending on the busy closing day of the summer transfer window, were an emotional roller coaster, it was only a beginning.

Before the newly-rebuilt team gelled together, Arsenal had to suffer two more defeats, by the hands of Blackburn and Tottenham. On 18 September, Arsenal were 17th in the Premier League table with only four points from five games. On 15 October, they had collected only seven points from the opening seven games. Apparently, no team had ever finished in the top four from such a poor start.

Following the bitter defeat to the north London rivals, Arsenal's unbeaten run started, which lasted for 10 games in all competitions until it was ended by the Carling Cup defeat by Manchester City. However, Arsenal maintained their solid league form, suffering only one defeat in December to Manchester City (which was very unlucky as we played very well and should have been given a penalty).

January was a dismal month. Arsenal did not manage a single win in the Premier League, although they won two FA Cup matches thanks to a great help from Thierry Henry, who rejoined his old club on a short-term loan. The poor form in January was largely attributed to the fact that we had no recongnised full-backs.

In February, Arsenal's winning streak resumed in the Premier League, but they suffered a devastating blow to their hopes of progressing in the Champions League and got knocked out of the FA Cup competition. When Arsenal had been knocked out of different competitions successively in a short space of time, the effects were detrimental as seen in recent years. However, this crop of players showed great characters and responded perfectly to their disappointment in the next game, a massive north London derby.

At this point, "the gap" between the two rival clubs was 10 points (on the final day of January, Arsenal were 13 points adrift of Spurs). The fortunes of the two clubs were to be turned around as Arsenal extended their excellent league form into March and April, while Tottenham's form was adversely affected by speculations that Harry Redknapp might have been offered the England coach position. We witnessed the gap being quickly closed and then Arsenal overtaking Spurs.

Arsenal's scintillating form continued through to early April until they lost Arteta to an ankle injury against Wigan. The last four games of the season were very nervous affairs for Arsenal and us supporters, too. Arsenal could have secured third place before the final day, had they not dropped so many points in the previous four games. Nonetheless, we got what we wanted in the end on the very final day of the season. The team showed that they could still get the job done, even when they could not play beautiful football.

This season will also be remembered as a year of comeback. A new Premier League record of four successive comeback wins established by Arsenal speaks volumes for their resilience. Stats show that Arsenal gained 24 of their 70 Premier League points (34.3 per cent) from losing positions, winning seven games from behind. In fact, the season itself was one massive comeback story, rising up the table from the 17th to finish third spot. Combined with the evidence on the last day of the season that this season's crop of players can grind out the result even when they cannot play well, this mental strength is a positive we can take from this season.

After the disastrous start, our goal for this season was always a Champions League spot to build on for the next season. In October, many doubted that we would even finish in the top four. We are aware that there are quite a few fans moaning about another trophy-less season, but there are only three trophies worth winning and they are hard to come by. Liverpool's dismissal of Kenny Dalgleish implies that a Carling Cup success is not good enough to make up for a disappointing Premier League result. Considering what Arsenal have been through this season, a third-place finish is not such a bad thing. Besides, the "worse-ever" Arsenal team finished above the "best Tottenham team since 1961". That's something to shout about.

We will look back at games that marked the 2011/12 season and reflect on our key players' performances in the next posts.

West Brom 2 Arsenal 3

It was not our best performance, but we got the result we wanted, which was all three points. In fact, we were disappointed as we expected Arsenal to turn up with a big performance in order to secure all important third place, which would be the only way to ensure the next season's Champions League football. After they were given a second and last chance to do it last Sunday following both Tottenham and Newcastle dropping points, we were hoping our team would appreciate the chance even more and give it everything to seal third spot. With last Sunday's results going our way, we were filled with some kind of optimism that we were destined to finish third, apart from a few pessimistic members, of course. However, Arsenal being Arsenal, any long-standing Arsenal fan knew that they would not make it easy.

In hindsight, probably it might have been a good thing that we didn't play very well because it is clear even through rose-tinted glasses that some of our second-string players are not quite up to the level required for the title chase yet and we lacks depth in squad. Hopefully, Arsene Wenger realises the need of a couple more new signings.

One of the pre-match talking points was the team selection as usual. We expected Jenkinson to deputise injured Sagna. This proved right, despite Arsenal.com's preview, which predicted Coquelin's deployment at right-back. To our surprise, Conquelin took Ramsey's place in central midfield. As posted previously, we thought Wenger was not keen on playing two defensive midfielders together. Perhaps, Coquelin was fielded to cover inexperienced Jenkinson. Santos came in for Gibbs, who dropped to the bench. Maybe Arsene expected an open game? It turned out to be a right decision by the way how the game developed. Theo was fit again, but only made the bench. Gervinho and Benayoun were given the starting places on the flanks.

As for a West Brom side, we were aware that captain Christ Brunt would be out after having his tonsils removed and Odemwengi and Thomas were both doubtful. These were all handy for us, but we didn't realise until the kick-off that Ben Foster was sidelined due to the injury he sustained during training. Their number-two keeper, Fulop, came in for him, which turned out to be a goof fortune for us.

We must admit that we were lucky and probably owed at least two out of our three goals to Fulop's mistakes (Santos' effort was powerful, but probably a good keeper would have saved it on a good day). When our main goal source did not have many chances, it was lucky that other players were gifted with chances to score and they took them. Opposition keepers always have good games against us, so it was a welcome change that the West Brom keeper had a bad day in the office on the particular day.

The game panned out in a very similar way to last week's. Benayoun scored an early goal after taking advantage of Fulop's mistake. Then we were soon trailing 2-1 inside 15 minutes. However, fortunately unlike the previous game, we were level before half time thanks to Santos' superb shot. Theo came off the bench at half time to replace Rosicky. Just 8 minutes into the second half, we got our third goal thanks to Fulop's gaffe once more, but 36 minutes plus injury time was a very long time to hang on to the narrow lead. We could not even hold the one-goal lead for 10 minutes last week. We knew it was going to be an agonisingly long 36 minutes plus and it was.

Arsene Wenger substituted Gervinho for Gibbs to prop up the defence, an important decision that paid off when the left-back made a match-saving late challenge on Billy Jones. Ramsey came in for Santos in 80 minutes as Wenger looked for Arsenal's fourth goal, which never came to calm his nerves and ours.

After the game, few seemed to have been interested in talking about the game itself or Arsenal's performance. If this had not been the final game of the season, we would be analysing the game, discussing why they failed to put in a decent performance for the past five games and identifying solutions to the problems. However, all that mattered for this game was the result and the performance was almost irrelevant. How we got those three goals did not matter. What mattered was we got three goals to undo the two goals we conceded and held the lead for the remaining 41 minutes.

The victory on the final day of this season sealed third place, which meant that we are guaranteed next seasons' Champions League football, no matter what the result of Saturday's Champions League final will be. Securing a place in the Champions League for the 15th consecutive season is a very proud achievement. We have collected 70 points from this season's campaign, 2 points more than last season, and finished one place higher than last season when we were in the title race for most of the season. Not bad for the so-called worst-ever Arsenal team. Sunday's win also meant that we finished above our north London rivals again. This means a lot to us Gooners. Even RVP couldn't help pointing out this in his post-match interview.

The automatic qualification spot for next season' Champions League should help to keep our captain and attract world-class players. RVP made it clear that a Champions League spot is vital to his decision over his future. Various newsaper reports suggest that M'Vila deal is just awaiting the confirmation of Arsenal's Champions League qualification. (We cannot see Wenger spend £17.7 million on a defensive midfielder, when we have Song, Frimpong, and Coquelin. That said, if the reports are true, we will be delighted with his addition to the squad as he seems to be a good player.) Should Tottenham fail to qualify for the Champions League Group Stage or end up in the lesser competition, Europa League again next season, why should Jan Vertonghen choose to join them, especially when his current club Ajax have already secured thier place in the Champions League Group Stage by winning the Dutch Eredivisie?

Apparently, there have been a few articles being sniffy about Arsenal fans celebrating third place energetically. We have received a disdainful comment from a local Chelsea fan, too. They don't know what third place means to us nor what we have gone through this season from the disastrous start to the anxious last four weeks. Arsenal fans have every right to celebrate and be proud of the Club's third-place finish.

The 2011/12 season is over. Our eyes are now on RVP's contract talk and transfers.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 6
In the post-match interview, Arsene Wenger revealed that the Polish international had been playing through injury for the last five weeks. He has been carrying a shoulder problem and has an injection on the day of a game. That might explain those uncharacteristic mistakes against Norwich. He wasn't decisive enough for West Brom's first goal. At one stage, Arsenal conceded a series of corners, at least two of them shouldn't have been needed if he had shouted. Made an excellent save of Andrews' late attempt, though. Hope Euro 2012 will help him restore his confidence.

Jenkinson: 5
Clumsy with some tackling. He needs to improve, but we still think he will make it. Look forward to seeing more of his crossing.

Koscielny: 7
Apart from West Brom's second goal, he was solid. Scored the winner.

Vermaelen: 7
Strong.

Santos: 7
Scored the valuable equaliser in the 28th minute. Upon the introduction of Gibbs in the 67th minute, he moved to a more advanced position on the left wing and eventually was replaced by Ramsey in the 80th minute.

Rosicky: 7
Worked hard to win the ball and played a cenral role in Arsenal's offensive in the first half. Replaced by Walcott at half time.

Coquelin: 5
Was he better than Ramsey as Arteta's replacement? Maybe just marginally.

Song: 7
Stepped up his defensive game from the previous match.

Gervinho: 6
He did everything right and well, except for his final ball. His decisions in the final third were poor.

Benayoun: 8
Scored the opener. Our Man of the Match. He was good in all aspects. We should award him a one-year contract to keep him.

van Persie: 7
Had a quiet game as he was marked tightly by West Brom defenders. He had two good chances: a free-kick from just outside the box, which hit the wall, and a shot after getting behind the West Brom defence line, which flew far over the bar. His frustration nearly got the better of him. Shown a yellow card.

Subs

Walcott: 7
Second-half substitute for Rosicky. Lively. Got involved in some good attacking moves.

Gibbs: 7
Made a match-saving challenge.

Ramsey: 6

I didn't notice him in the game, but he seems to have played reasonably well from what I've heard from other people.

Arsenal 3 Norwich 3

It was 90 minutes of an emotional roller coaster, which mirrored our whole season. We were 1-0 up in just 66 seconds through Yossi Benayoun's beautiful curler. This should have been an ideal start for Arsenal to build on and a perfect birthday celebration for Benayoun. However, after the early goal, we soon found ourselves totally outplayed by a newly-promoted side and at half time, we were trailing at 2-1. We were disappointed with Arsenal's below-par display. After the break, the game could have gone beyond our reach, with Norwich threatening our goal on several occasions. Arsenal then stepped up the gear, pressing forwards with the sense of purpose. They got a well-deserved equaliser and another goal by RVP followed. We were ecstatic with a belief that we had all important three points in the bag. Then, what happened next was beyond our belief. Norwich grabbed an equaliser in the 85th minute. We tried to find the net one more time, but the time was up.

We thought we had grown to maturity though difficult times this season, but it was very disappointing to see Arsenal throwing away a precious lead with just 5 minutes left to the end of normal time. Even our captain tried a cute back-heal pass in the Norwich half only to be intercepted. It was a crime that we failed to keep the ball in possession and just run down the clock.

This draw was definitely two points dropped rather than a point gained without question. At the final whistle, we were left with a gut-wrenching feeling. There was no wonder why this year's end-of-season lap of applause that took place following the match was a relatively muted affair.

All the positive signs we saw in the previous game did not materialise in this game. Passing was slow and we were the second best on loose balls in the first half. Our defence that looked so solid against Chelsea and even a physical Stoke side appeared shaky on Saturday.

It was no coincidence that we haven't won a game since we lost Arteta to an injury. The balance and stability in midfield and cohesion throughout the team seem to have been seriously undermined by the absence of Arteta. We thought Ramsey had a better game against Stoke, but in this game he was clearly attack minded and slow to get back to defend.

After Arsenal's defensive fragility was exposed, some fans argue that Song should devote his entire attention to defence, like Makélélé to Chelsea. However, we think his qualities as a playmaker, including his vision and skills to deliver those killer passes, are so valuable to us that it will be a shame to restrict his role to just a defensive midfielder. Besides, the current system worked fine with Jack Wilshere or Mikel Arteta alongside with him, as he and his midfield partners had excellent understanding between them. When one goes forward, the other drops deep to cover the defence. Unfortunately, no one has successfully filled the void Arteta left yet. As Diaby has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a calf problem, the Ox and Coquelin may be alternative options for Areta's replacement. However, Wenger is not keen on playing another defensive midfielder alongside with Song, as it makes our midfield too defensive, so Coquelin may not be the boss' choice. The Ox came off the bench to replace Ramsey in this game, but he actually played better after he had moved to the right flank.

Another post-match tactical talking point was if Arsenal should revert to the 4-4-2 formation since it seemed to have revitalised Arsenal attack upon the introduction of Chamakh, with the Ox and Gervinho providing the width. Especially with Arteta's replacement still to be found, this is a very interesting option. It may be too late for this season, but when our new signing, Podolski, who can play up front as a lone striker, just behind a main striker, or on the left wing, joins the squad next season, his addition will widen the scope for Arsenal's attack.

It was confirmed that Bacary Sagna suffered a broken fibula, which rules him out of Euro 2012. It was a blow as the return of the regular full-backs was the major factor behind our excellent run of form in March and early April. However, we don't mind Jenkinson getting a chance to show what he is capable of. As he was not on the bench, Coquelin came in for Sagna, but Wenger may prefer a specialist right-back. Whoever takes Sagna's place, hopefully, Arsenal will prepare themselves well for the next game and sort out their defence before next Sunday.

One of few positives to take from this game was that we scored three goals. After the previous match, Wenger pointed out that his team's inability to find the net one more time against Stoke was due to the lack of confidence because they hadn't scored many goals recently. Hopefully, three goals against Norwich should have helped to boost their confidence. Especially, it was a huge relief that RVP has rediscovered his goal-scoring form. In personal terms as well, RVP made a massive step forward towards winning the Golden Boot by netting two goals in this game, which increased the gap to second-placed Rooney to four goals. With just one game left, it is almost certain that he will be crowned as this season's Premier League top scorer.

Tottenham's draw with Aston Villa and Newcatle's defeat to Manchester City on Sunday meant we were let off for Saturday's slip-up and given one last chance to secure third place. It's all in our hands once again now, but nothing less than three points guarantees next season's Champions League football. We have to make sure we will win the next game. As Norwich proved, a middle-table club that has nothing to play for is hardly a pushover. However, we can beat any team when we play to the best of our abilities. Since the superb performance against Manchester City, Arsenal haven't really played to their full potential yet. It is about time for Arsenal to put in some decent performance. If the next game is not big enough to motivate them, what else would be? Let's hope they will turn up with the level of commitment that matches the magnitude of the match and deliver the result this time around.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 4
He had a poor game. Norwich's first goal was a goalkeeping error. We think he could have done more to stop their third goal going in. Did he think it would go wide? Hope it was just his off day.

Sagna: 5
Sustained a fracture in his right leg and replaced by Coquelin in the 33rd minute.

Koscielny: 5
Nearly gave away a penalty by pulling Russell Martin's shirt. On the other hand, he put in some crucial challenges.

Vermaelen: 5
Had a quiet game. The two centre-backs were easily split up.

Gibbs: 5
Unlucky deflection that led to Holt's goal.

Rosicky: 6
Not as sharp as in recent games.

Ramsey: 4
Maybe he was lucky to stay on the pitch. He got off with a talking to, after he had already been shown a yellow card. It was disappointing after he showed some improvement against Stoke. Missed a couple of goal-scoring chances. Replaced by the Ox in the 63 minutes.

Song: 6
Defensively not up to his standard, but delivered an inch-perfect pass, which set up RVP's first goal. Attempted an Henry-esque back-heel shot, which was denied by Ruddy.

Gervinho: 6
Lively in the second half. Good link-up play with RVP.

Benayoun: 6
Scored a goal.

van Persie: 7
Scored two goals, but missed some good chances as well.

Subs

Coquelin: 6
33rd-minute substitute for injured Sagna. Worked hard. We agree with the referee's decision to turn down Norwich's penalty claim against his challenge on Hoolahan.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 5
Replace Ramsey in the 63rd minute. Some good movements, but failed to make a difference.

Chamakh: 6

Came on in the 69th minutes to replace Benayoun. After the shift to the 4-4-2 system upon his introduction, Arsenal's attack seem to have stepped up. Missed a couple of chances, but had his best game in recent months.

Referee

Anthony Taylor: 4
RVP should have been awarded a late penalty. Why should he have to go down when he only needed a tap-in unless he was pushed over. It was definitely a penalty. That said, Norwich had a strong case for a penalty against Koscielny's shirt tagging, so some may say that it has evened out the things, although the shirt-pulling happens all the time and many of them go unpunished. Also, a Norwich player's handball totally went unnoticed.

Stoke City 1 Arsenal 1

Asked if the draw against Chelsea was a point gained or two points dropped after the London derby last weekend, Arsene Wenger answered that it could only be found out at the end of the season. Is the draw against Stoke a point earned or two points dropped? Thanks to Newcastle's heavy defeat at Wigan, the point kept us in control of our fate. If we win the remaining two games, we can still secure third place regardless of other results.

We needed all three points to consolidate our place for a top-three finish, which has more significance after Chelsea had sealed their place in this season's Champions League final. However, games at the Britannia Stadium have always been tough, as the stats (P4, W1, L3) showed, while other big clubs also dropped here this season. Although the run of three games without win hurts, a point from the Britannia Stadium may not be too bad. Certainly it could have been worse, especially considering the fact that we were 1-0 down just in 9 minutes.

There are positives to take from this game. Firstly, RVP scored his 28th goal of the season to extend the gap to Wayne Rooney on the top scorers table. More importantly for the team, it was his first goal from open play in seven games.

Secondly, our performance in the first half was quite encouraging after the lacklustre display in the last two games. We saw Arsenal's trademark one-touch passing and the game was entertaining with high tempo, intensity and commitment. When Vermaelen said prior to the match that the team's focus would be on playing their own game with quick passing, we doubted if Stoke would allow it. It was a pleasant surprise that Stoke was more open than expected, certainly a lot more open than Wigan and Chelsea were in our last two games. During our attacking spells in the first half, we created a lot of chances with a number of good inventive ideas and link-up play. This was refreshing after the last two matches, in which Arsenal's attack appeared to have lacked cohesion.

Thirdly, we showed our resilience again. Stoke's early goal didn't damp our spirits. Within just 6 minutes of conceding the goal, we got a deserved equaliser, ending the first half in ascendancy.

Also, our defence didn't look intimidated by a physical Stoke side, looking solid in set-pieces.

However, despite all the encouraging signs in the first half, our second-half performance was rather disappointing. We couldn't maintain the tempo and intensity we demonstrated in the first half. Also, our players made things too complicated unnecessarily both offensively and defensively. They passed around or tried little one-twos, when they should have simply taken a shot. On the defensive side, they tried to do too much with the ball in the dangerous area, when they needed a straightforward clearance.

An interesting fact is our passing success rate was a mere 79.8%, well below our average of around 84%, despite their flowing football in the first half. Is this the result of the contrastingly sluggish second half performance? Incidentally, our overall possession was 62.9%.

We felt Stoke fans' jeers at Aaron Ramsey unacceptable. He was the victim of a horrendous tackle, which could have ended his professional career and certainly put his career back by two years. Any football fan should only be pleased to see a player, who has overcome such a horrific injury, back on the pitch, playing as if nothing had happened on the very same ground. We are glad that Alan Hansen condemned Stoke fans' behaviour on the Match of the Day. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Talking about Aaron Ramsey, how wrong we were about team selections. After Arsene Wenger had ruled out Abou Diaby from the starting line-up due to his illness during the week, Ramsey's inclusion in the starting XI was widely expected. Actually, this turned out to be one of Ramsey's better games. He upped the tempo of his passing in line with the rest of the team and showed his commitment in tackles, which was brave of him, considering what happened here two years ago. As Rosicky emphasised the importance of the balance in midfield before the match, he and Ramsey shared attacking and defensive responsibilities very well. Upon the introduction of Diaby in Ramsey's place, which was probably written in the script before the kick-off, the tempo of the game seemed to have dropped. At this moment in time, improved Ramsey appears to be a better option as Arteta's replacement than rusty Diaby.

We were not happy with Wenger's decision not to bring on Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Frenchman might have relied on the experience of older players in such a tight game, but we want to see more of the promising 18 year-old.

The next two fixtures will be absolutely must-win games for us to secure third place. With the trickiest game of our run-in now out of the way, let's hope that our players will get the job done. It would be nice if RVP can add more goals to his tally and maintain his position at the top of the Prem top scorers table in that process.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 7
He looked solid after conceding the early goal. Made a good reflex save of Jerome's powerful shot.

Sagna: 7
Although he was guilty for Stoke's goal by allowing Etherington a space to put in a cross, his performance was solid otherwise. Made a crucial clearance just a couple of yards off the line. He also put in an excellent cross, which Gervinho's famous forehead failed to make a contact with.

Koscielny: 7
Solid.

Vermaelen: 7
Solid.

Gibbs: 7
Often involved in attacking, going forward. We were worried that he might be caught out, but he was quick enough to get back.

Rosicky: 8
Our Man of the Match. Delivered a few brilliant crosses, one of which set up RVP's goal.

Ramsey: 6
His decisions to have a shot were good, but his finishes left much to be desired.

Song: 7
Covered the back-four very well, while dominating in midfield.

Gervinho: 6
Missed a couple of glorious chances. His adaptation progress is agonisingly slow. He was a regular starter and looked to be becoming an integral part of the team before the African Cup of Nations, which hampered his progress largely.

Benayoun: 7
Had some chances and made good runs to get in dangerous positions. His link-up play with Rosicky was a part of the build-up to RVP's goal.

van Persie: 7
Back in some form. Scored a winner. Unlucky not to score a goal, when his header was denied by Begovic's fine save.

Subs

Diaby: 5
73rd-minute substitute for Ramsey. He still looked rusty.

Chamakh: 5
Came on the pitch in the 78th minute to replace Gervinho. He did a good job of holding the ball against physical Stoke defenders, but unfortunately that was all he did.

Santos: 5

83rd-minute substitute for Benayoun.

Referee

Chris Foy: 4
He was poor on the following three key moments: (1) Benayoun should have had a penalty, (2) a free-kick should have been given just outside of the box, when a Stoke player forming the wall handballed Vermaelen's free-kick, and (3) Whitehead should have been given a yellow card, which would have seen him sent off, after Christ Foy had played advantage.

Arsenal 0 Chelsea 0

Under the normal circumstances, a draw against Chelsea wouldn't have been too bad, but Saturday's result was disappointing for a couple of reasons: (1) we should have been able to beat a weakened Chelsea side and (2) all three points would have cemented our position for a top-three finish.

Not just the result, but our performance was frustrating as well. Again, too many players were not at their best. Arsenal started the game in a cagey way. Passing was negative, going either backwards or sideways, and the pace was slow. After the defeat by Wigan, their aim seemed to have been not to concede an early goal rather than to score one. Apart from the last five minutes of the first half, we never found our rhythm. However, overall, we had better chances, hitting the woodwork twice and dominated the game with 56.7% possession. Unfortunately, both sides lacked quality in the final third on Saturday (I cannot believe I said this with RVP playing upfront) and it wasn't an exciting game.

We are surprised to hear that Wenger had expected an open game, based on his assumption that Chelsea wanted to win as much as Arsenal did. It was widely known that Roberto Di Matteo would be resting a few key players with the priority given to the Champions League and Drogba was reportedly injured (Surprise, surprise. He is now fit for Tuesday night's clash with Barcelona). It was obvious that Chelsea would park the bus in front of goal and look to attack on the break, just like they did and will do against Barcelona.

We were not happy with Wenger's decision to replace Rosicky at the time as he looked the only person that could offer a creative spark. However, after the match Wenger revealed that the Czech Republic national team captain woke up sick that morning and played through illness. Wenger had no choice but take him off as the midfielder conceded at one stage that he could not run any more.

Another talking point among the fans is once again the inclusion of Ramsey in the starting line-up. He was often caught in possession as he tended to dwell on the ball too long. Obviously he wasn't comfortable playing in Arteta's place.  However, we have to admit that he worked hard to track back and win the ball back. He played better later when he moved to a more advanced position after Diaby's introduction. Ramsey is so out of form. To keep playing him out of position does not seem to do him and his confidence any good at the moment. As soon as Diaby or Coquelin has regained their full fitness, they should take Arteta's place, with Ramsey used as a sub for Rosicky.

On the more positive note, our defenders, particularly Koscielny, played well. He is easily our Man of the Match. Keeping a clean sheet was one of few positive results coming out of this game.

The gap to the fourth-placed Newcastle has now diminished to only three points and we have played a game more, which means we have to keep an eye on other results, as well as winning all the remaining three games (Wenger reckons we need to win at least two). However, with Newcastle still to play against Manchester City, depending how the title race pans out after next week's Manchester derby, there is a strong chance of Newcastle dropping points. Also, Newcastle and Chelsea will have to play each other. Great news over the weekend was Tottenham's loss to QPR, which meant the gap to the north London rivals slightly extended to six points. In this context, a point taken from Saturday's Chelsea clash may look more like a point gained rather than two points dropped.

Our next game is against evil Stoke, whose sole mission is to stop their opposition playing football (What's the point of having Stoke in football?). We have failed to break down the stubborn opposition defence in three games (against QPR, Wigan and Chelsea) recently and haven't been at our best for the last two games, which is a worry. Wenger told his team to relax and play their football, but Stoke will do everything to stop us playing our football without doubt. Although the next game is unlikely to be an exciting one, we just have to get the result we want this time.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 7
With Chelsea registering only two shots on target and their finishes not clinical enough to threaten our goal, he had little to do, but he was pretty solid.

Sagna: 7
Solid.

Koscielny: 8
Impressive performance. His tackle to deny Sturridge's shot was well timed and proved to be crucial.

Vermaelen: 7
Solid.

Gibbs: 7
Worked hard, going forward and as well as coping with Chelsea's counter attacks.

Rosicky: 7
He was the only player that could offer some creativity. Replaced by Diaby due to illness in the 65th minute. Hope he can recover by the next game.

Ramsey: 5
This was his 100th game for Arsenal. Considering the fact that he spent 10 months on the sidelines and he is only 21 years old, it is impressive, indicating Arsene Wenger's faith in him. He scored 9 goals in 100 games (to put it another way, during the course of his 100 appearances for Arsenal, nine unfortunate celebs have died).

Song: 6
He battled hard and won the ball only to give it away. His defensive display was impressive, but his passing let him down.

Walcott: 5
Replaced in the 60th minute. Apparently, it was him who insisted to stay on after he sustained a hamstring injury. His season for Arsenal is almost certainly over. Losing a player at this stage of the season is always a blow without doubt, but not as big a blow as the loss of Arteta. He has been very inconsistent of late and we have the Ox, Gervinho and Benayoun (and Santos as seen in this game) as wingers.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 5
Made occasional runs, one of which led to a free-kick, but other than them, he was almost anonymous.

van Persie: 5
Hasn't scored from open play for 7 games. After scoring against Wolves for the first time in four games, he stated that the goal "drought" hadn't bothered him at all because he believed that goals would eventually come as he had had chances to score during those four games. Now it is a worry that he cannot score when he has chances. In this game, he had a few chances to score, which he would have buried a few weeks ago. With his chief assist provider, Walcott, now sidelined, RVP's goal scoring form is in serious doubt. Wayne Rooney has closed the gap on the top scorer table to just a goal after his double strikes this weekend. Hopefully, RVP will add more to his goal tally and end the season as the Premier League's top scorer.

Subs

Gervinho: 6
60th-minute substitute for Walcott. Made an impact when he came on. Some good link-up play with RVP.

Diaby: 5

Came on in the 67th minute for Rosicky. His display appeared to be somewhat rusty. He was booked and some of his passes were poor. Hopefully, he will step up his game over the next three games and fill the void Arteta left. 

Santos: 6

Made an impact, by making runs on the flank.

Referee

Mike Dean: 4
He brandished too many yellow cards. We should have been given a penalty for Cahill's push on RVP in the box.

2012 End-of-the Season Beach Party

We have made the front page of the Post newspaper.

Please click on the photo below to enlarge the image

Alternatively, you can read the article on the Post website.

Arsenal 1 Wigan Athletic 2

With the defeat at Loftus Road still fresh in our memory, it is easy to compare this game with it. Both opponents are fighting for survival. The scoreline was the same. They took a lead as a result of our defensive errors. However, we think Arsenal actually played better this night than in the QPR game, but Wigan played better than QPR and us.

Obviously, the most damaging factor behind the loss was the two early goals conceded within a minute of each other. They were the result of a series of mistakes. The build-up to the first goal started with RVP's poor corner. Wigan's clearance was then met by Sagna's loose header, on which Wigan did not fail to take advantage. Arsenal defenders, who were high on the pitch, ready to receive the corner, were totally caught out of position. Arteta may have been the deepest player on the pitch, but he could not even walk, signalling for a substitution. Szczesny made a right decision to come forward to the edge of the box, but he was beaten to the ball.

Sagna was unable to stop Moses from crossing for the second goal. Djourou did nothing to prevent McCarthy stubbing a shot, which Szczesny failed to gather and allowed Gomez to tuck the ball into the net.

These mistakes were "horrendous" according to Arsene Wenger, but we were also unlucky because during these minutes we suddenly found ourselves playing with 10 men after Arteta had succumbed to injury. We didn't see the incident in which Arteta sustained an ankle injury, but the subsequent events, including two goals, happened so quickly that we didn't even realise Arsenal were one-man down until the camera showed Arteta having a treatment off the pitch.

The early two goals had a detrimental effect on the deat without doubt, but we should still have been able to outscore Wigan. We think the real decisive factor lied in our attack.

We started the game very well, but Arteta's injury changed everything. In the post-match interview, Wenger explained that Ramsey wasn't ready when Arteta took himself off the pitch and as a result, the team had to play with 10 men much longer than they had liked. Ultimately, it cost us dearly.

Being a natural central midfielder, Ramsey was an obvious choice for Arteta's replacement, especially with the urgent nature of the substitution, but he is an attack-minded central midfielder and often plays in a more advanced position. He was hardly an ideal replacement for Arteta. In fact, he didn't seem to understand his role. The Welshman didn't possess Arteta's fluency and accuracy in distribution. Perhaps he played his usual role, but that upset the balance of the team set-up.

If you remember how well Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played in midfield against AC Milan alongside Rosicky and Song when we had mini midfielder crisis, he could have been an interesting option instead of Ramsey, but we would never know.

We still looked to be able to win the game or at least take a point at the end of the first half, especially just after Vermaelen scored a goal. We created enough chances to score another goal and had momentum to do so. The team's desire to win the game was embodied by Vermaelen. At the same time, Wigan's defence showed a gaping gap we could have capitalised on. After the break, we had very bright moments and could have scored an equaliser, but it was jut not our night. How Satos' deflected shot missed RVP and then went through between Walcott's legs is beyond our belief. Wigan had tightened up their defence afterwards.

It's always disappointing and disheartening to see our team outplayed by the opponents. We don't think we lacked urgency. Wigan just defended so well that we could not get through their defensive wall. Too many Arsenal players were below-par to beat a good Wigan side as well.

We would like to mention the referee's appalling decisions. They were inconsistent and even one-sided. He blew the whistle so often he interrupted the flow of the game, especially when Wigan players went down. On the other hand, he didn't even give us a free kick against Figueroa's challenge on Walcott, even though it was clear that the Wigan defender made no attempt for the ball. Also, Andre Marriner took too long to penalise Al Habsi and Wigan for time-wasting. Such behaviours should have been stopped much earlier as they had started it in the first half.

Arsene Wenger called the defeat by QPR "an accident" and we have seen how Arsenal responded to it in the Manchester City game. Hopefully, we will see a similar kind of reaction this time around in the Chelsea clash on Saturday. We have Koscielny back from suspension, which is a massive plus. Although Arteta's injury seems to be serious and he could be sidelined for quite some time, fortunately, Diaby and Coquelin started full training this week. They should present more suitable options as Arteta's cover than Ramsey. Although it sounds a little feeble just after the home defeat, we are still on a decent home form. We always play better against top teams than lower-table clubs.

Obviously the loss to Wigan is a big blow for our bid for third place as we were looking to cement our position by extending the gap to Tottenham and Newcastle to eight points. We are still five points ahead of them, having played a game more. Yet, a top-three finish is still in our hands.

We have to see how Chelsea's Champions League game against Barcelona on Wednesday turns out and how it affects Saturday's league game physically and mentally. Let's hope the mid-week game will take some energy and sharpness out of the Blues for Saturday, but the result will be just good enough to keep their hopes alive for the second leg so that they may be tempted to rest some key players against us ahead of next Tuesday's clash with Barcelona.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 5
He could have done more to stop Wigan's second goal. Made a good save to stop the game going beyond our reach.

Sagna: 5
He had trouble coping with Moses all night.

Djourou: 4
Unconvincing defensive performance. Nearly scored, though.

Vermaelen: 7
He showed his determination to win. Scored his sixth goal of the season. Not a bad record for a defender who missed two months of the season.

Santos: 5
Typical Brazilian defender's performance. Good going forward, not reliable defensively.

Rosicky: 7
He was all over the pitch in the first half. Set up Vermaelen's goal via a brilliant cross. Faded in the latter stages of the second half.

Arteta: N/A
Suffered an ankle injury early and was replaced in the 8th minute by Ramsey. If he was rated by the impact he could have made had he stayed on the pitch, it could be 8. His impact on the team was obvious by his absense. He could have kept the whole team together by keeping the shape. He was sorely missed.

Song: 6
Tried those incisive passes of his with no success. Played a central defensive role after the Ox replaced Djourou in the 74th minute. Not at his best.

Walcott: 5
Very quiet. Couldn't get behind Wigan defenders.

Benayoun: 7
Made two very good headers, which forced two excellent saves from Al Habsi.

van Persie: 6
Not his best game. He fired a powerful long-range drive, which was a good effort, but too straight at the keeper. Although his goal drought ended in the last game, it is a worry that he seems to have lost his magical touch which have saved us from dropping points a quite few times this season.

Subs

Ramsey: 5
There is a superstition or conspiracy theory, whatever you call it, going around among some Arsenal fans. When Ramsey scores a goal, a famous person dies within a couple of days. Apparently, those famous people include Osama Bin Laden, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston. Whether they are major celebs or minor ones, sadly people die everyday whether Ramsey scores or not. With the latest news about the health of a certain pop legend grabbing the headlines for the last couple of days, it wasn't too difficult to imagine what those fans would have said if Ramsey had scored on this night. Fortunately for the pop legend, and unfortunately for Arsenal, Ramsey didn't score.

Gervinho: 5

60th-minute replacement for Benayoun. Had a quiet game. He didn't have cohesion with the rest of the team, but in the latter stages of the second half, none of Arsenal players seemed to have it, as Arsene Wenger described it as "we dropped our level, lost our team play, our cohesion and tried too much individually".

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 5

Made a good run, but could not get through Wigan's defence.

Referee

Andre Marriner: 4

Poor.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Arsenal 3

Despite what the scoreline might suggest, we felt that it wasn't one of Arsenal's best performances. We were disappointed because after we watched Arsenal commit themselves in the whole 90 minutes and put in an impressive performance against Manchester City, we expected a similar display this night. With two goals inside 11 minutes and a numerical advantage, we were looking forward to goals galore. One may say that Arsenal controlled the game, but at Las Mimosas bar, we didn't feel totally comfortable until Yossi Benayoun scored the third goal to seal the victory in the 69th minute as Wolves threatened our goal. If their finishes were more clinical and had it not been for Szczesny's two brilliant saves, we could have ended up surrendering a 2-0 lead. It was disappointing to see Arsenal taking their foot off the gas when they could have pushed further to score more goals.

However, the more important thing than the performance was the result. After the costly lessons learned from the defeat by QPR, there was no sign of complacency seen in Arsenal's performance. They started brightly and executed the game plan (i.e., getting an early goal) precisely. Three points put us firmly on course for a top-three finish, opening up the gap to Tottenham to five points.

There is a discrepancy in possession rates. BBC believes the Wolves/Arsenal possession split was 50:50, while Sky Sports thinks it was 28.1% against 71.9%. We feel that Sky Sports figures are more credible. According to Sky Sports, Arsenal's passes totalled 828, a whopping 90.1% of which were successfully completed. Perhaps based on these stats, most of the media seemed to have rated Arsenal's performance as solid.

There were some positives from this game which looked like one of Arsenal's routine wins. Arsenal claimed the fourth clean sheet in five games. As Koscielny started a two-match ban, Djourou came in in his place to form a central defensive partnership with Vermaelen, which worried us prior to the match. With another game left for Koscielny to serve his suspension for, a clean sheet was encouraging for our back-four.

RVP's goal drought ended after 444 minutes of the Premier League games, which was a relief, but without a goal from our goal-scoring machine, we have managed to win three games—not bad for a so-called one-man team. His first goal in five games also marked a goal against a 17th different opponent out of 19 Prem sides this season. Only three players, including our own Ian Wright, had achieved this remarkable feat before him. He could have established a new record if he had scored a goal against Manchester City on Sunday.

In-form Wigan awaits us in the next fixture. Some may say that it is a bad time to face them on the back of their defeat of Manchester United and their spirited performance against Chelsea. However, Man U's defeat is likely to serve as a warning for us. It is a good example to show that anything could happen in football and how important it is to keep producing a consistent performance till the end of the season. One slip-up can suddenly change the whole picture of the title race. The same thing can happen to the top-four finish battle. We need all our players to play at their potential in the next game.

If we beat Wigan on Monday night, we will be 8 point clear of Tottenham before they play their next Premier League game on Saturday 21 April or the gap could be as massive as 12 points if we beat Chelsea earlier on that day. It will put a huge pressure on the top-four finish rivals. But let's look at only one step ahead each time.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 8
Made two excellent saves. Especially, the one that denied Kevin Doyle's close-range header was out of this world. Wenger praised the young keeper for his alertness.

Sagna: 7
His crossing was not at its best this night, but a reliable display by our most consistant player.

Djourou: 7
A few clearances were dubious, but he did his job OK.

Vermaelen: 7
Solid.

Santos: 6
Lost his mark a few times.

Ramsey: 6
Missed a few good goal-scoring chances.

Arteta: 8
Dominated the midfield.

Song: 8
Provided an assist for Benayoun by cutting the ball back, after latching onto RVP's pass.

Walcott: 8
He used his pace well and posed a threat to Wolves defenders all night. Earned a penalty and scored a goal.

Benayoun: 8
He was always in a dangerous position. A well-taken goal from the edge of the box.

van Persie: 8
It was an untypical penalty for him, who usually smashes the ball into the back of the net. It is nice to see him try something new. It was a very cool penalty. Played good one-twos with Walcott: one that led to the penalty and the other that set up Walcott's goal.

Subs

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6

76th-minute substitute for Walcott. Made little impact.

Jenkinson: 5

Replaced Sagna in the 84th minute. Jenkinson's involvement was somewhat expected as we had heard Sagna was doubful. We were saying that we didn't mind him before the match, but we weren't very impressed with how much space he allowed Wolves players to have in and around the box at times. Perhaps he needs more playing time.

Referee

Neil Swarbrick: 5

Apparently this was the young referee's 10th Premier League game and the first Arsenal match to take charge of (no wonder he didn't look familiar to us). His penalty decision was spot-on, but even for us, Arsenal fans, the sending-off of Bassong looked too harsh.

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 0

This game presented Arsenal a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how they could respond to the previous week's disappointing defeat to QPR and they did it in an impeccable fashion. Arsenal kept their concentration and urgency almost through the entire game. This match didn't turn out to be a goal fest as RVP expected (in the Arsenal matchday programme, he wrote it might end up 5-5!), but it was a quick and intense game. Overall, it was a very good match from the Gooners' point of view. In a way, I was a little bit disappointed as a football fan, as Manchester City's attack was toothless. It could have been a more competitive and better game, but all credit should go to the Arsenal players, who kept the possession well with complete determination and commitment and didn't let City play their football.

All stats showed that it was Arsenal's comprehensive victory, despite what the scoreline might suggest. We had a 64.3% overall possession, 5 shots on target vís-a-vís City's none and an 81.6% passing success rate (slightly lower than Arsenal's average) against City's 74.9%. If all the chances that we had had been converted, it could have been a goal fest as RVP predicted, albeit lopsided.

Luck looked like a more likely spoiler for us rather than Man City's attacking players, when RVP and Theo hit the woodwork and Vermaelen inadvertently cleared RVP's goalbound header off the line. No such luck as Manchester United and Chelsea enjoyed earlier this weekend came our way. Man U, Chelsea, and Arsenal all had offside goals, including Chelsea's both goals against Wigan, but ironically enough, the closest of all was disallowed, while the blatant ones stood. However, this resilient Arsenal had already gone to win the games from similar situations quite a few times. And they kept going until the final whistle was blown. Even after they scored the precious goal, they didn't take foot off the gas.

City's dashed title hopes and Balotelli's behaviour dominated the headlines, but here we focus on Arsenal's performance. We totally outplayed an expensively assembled City side in all departments. Especially our midfield excelled. The ultimate goal came from Arteta's solo effort, but all the players worked hard and produced an inspired performance as a team, which made a difference from a Manchester City side on that day.

There was just one change in the starting XI from the side that faced QPR. Benayoun came in for Ramsey. Although I disagree with the aggressive criticism targeted by many fans at Ramsey, I thought Benayoun should have been considered as a starter against QPR in Ramsey's place as he has often played on the left flank (certainly more often than Ramsey) and can be relied on defensively. After his gutsy performance against Tottenham, he deserved another start.

When Arsenal had finally found the net through Arteta's exquisite strike, Las Mimosas bar, our usual venue, erupted in cheers, followed by "1-0 to the Arsenal" and other Arsenal songs. It was just like being at the Emirates. We were looking for the figures of our members on the TV screen, who were actually at the Emirates on that day. They must have thoroughly enjoyed their opportunity to watch one of Arsenal's greatest performances this season first hand.

We have the last mid-week fixture of the season on Wednesday, facing a struggling Wolves side. With 6 games remaining and our sights firmly set on third place (i.e., an automatic Champions League qualification spot) and finishing above Tottenham, we cannot afford to repeat such a below-par performance as seen against QPR. We look forward to another excellent display on Wednesday night.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 7
Some poor distribution, but his decision was spot-on when he dashed out of his area to kicked the ball out of Balotelli's path. Made a fine save of Aguero's close-range effort. With Man City registering no shot on target, he had a relatively quiet afternoon in comparison with Joe Hart at the other end of the pitch.

Sagna: 8
Defended bravely despite two nasty challenges by Balotteli.

Koscielny: 8
Solid. Along with Vermaelen, he kept Balotelli and Aguero quiet throughout the game. The 10th yellow card of the season he picked up this afternoon means he will be suspended over the next two games against Wolves and Wigan, which is most inconvenient for us. We would probably have to do with Djourou for those two games. The only consolation is that Koscielny will be available for the big London derby in two weeks' time.

Vermaelen: 8
Solid. Didn't put a foot wrong defensively in this game. Missed a great chance to score.

Gibbs: 7
His crosses were disappointing on this day. Replaced by Santos in the 56th minute.

Rosicky: 8
Maintained his excellent form.

Arteta: 9
"One of Arsene Wenger's August panic buys" showed his class through his sublime shot, which followed a deft interception and a wonderful run.

Song: 8
Carried on after Balotell's dreadful challenge and battled hard as usual. His lofted pass which is becoming his trademark this season, found unmarked RVP, whose header unfortunately hit the base of the post.

Walcott: 6
Had a quiet game.

Benayoun: 8
Missed a few glorious chances, but got involved in most of attacking moves. Made an important block in the box as well.

van Persie: 8
Unlucky not to score. His effort was denied by the woodwork for the seventh time this season. Stats show that he is the second unluckiest player to hit the woodwork most often after Suarez in the Premier League this season.

Subs

Santos: 7
56th-minute substitute for Gibbs. Did his job, but it was a bit disappointing that he wasn't as effective going forward as expected. Made little difference to Gibbs, hence the same rating as Gibbs'.

Ramsey: 6

Replaced Benayoun in the 78th minute. Some compare him with Chelsea's Sturridge in terms of selfishness in front of goal, but it's unwarranted. So far Ramsey's decisions whether to pass or have a shot haven't been wrong. If any, he is guilty of not having a shot like the other Arsenal players. His problem is composure in front of goal and clinical finishing, which he is fully aware of. That said, in this game, he may have made a mistake to take a shot himself, when RVP was screaming for the ball in the middle of the box. Did he know that RVP could have been the fourth player to score 17 different Prem clubs in a season if he had scored against Man City? (This can be still achieved if RVP scores against Wolves) On the other hand, he could have justified his decision if his finish had been more clinical. However, people tend to forget that he is only a 21 years-old whose progress was severely hampered by a horrific injury and yet to have a full season as an Arsenal first-teamer. There is no doubt about his talent and potential, if you look at his goals before the injury and his movement this season. He wasn't made Wales captain before Gareth Bale for no reason. It is too soon to say that we should sell him.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6

Came on the pitch in the 86th minute for Walcott. Too little time to make an impact.

QPR 2 Arsenal 1

Arsene Wenger's post-match analysis summed up the game: "It is very frustrating because they left us the ball and waited for our mistakes. We took the ball, did not do a lot with it and made the mistakes. At the end of the day that made the result." We had plenty of the ball (with a 67.6% overall possession), but we didn't do very much with it. Especially, watching Arsenal pass around away from the box was very frustrating.

As Arsene Wenger said, it is difficult to single out any reason behind his side's poor performance. It is still a mystery to us why this team played so badly against AC Milan in the first leg and Sunderland a few days after that in the FA Cup tie. However, we try to discuss what may have been behind Saturday's below-par display.

We felt that the players didn't look like they wanted it and Wenger seemed to agree with us by admitting that his side lacked commitment. However, it is difficult to put a finger on what was the exact reason behind it. Going into this match, Wenger refused to kindle the media notion of his side being favourite for finishing third or envisage the possibility of overtaking Manchester City. He was fully aware of the difficulty of facing a side battling for survival in the top-flight football. He may have thought he had prepared his team properly for this game, but players did not seem to be quite as focused on this game as their manager was. In his later interview, Wenger admitted "Maybe we sensed it would be easier than usual and once you have that in your heads it is difficult to come back to reality." So, complacency may be the culprit.

The players had had a week break since the last match, including two days off from training. Fatigue and heavy legs were no longer excuses. Instead, now the gruelling schedule including mid-week fixtures is behind them, the week-off might have taken the edge of their competitive spirit.

We are a bit surprised to read Wenger's post-match interview because he didn't blame the pitch. We were arguing that probably the narrow pitch helped QPR keep their defence compact and led to our players struggling with judgement on long passes, a few of which went astray. However, asked about the pitch in his post-match interview, Arsene answered that the pitch is not smaller than any other pitch, although he acknowledged that the pitch was bad. We saw our players slip quite a few times, including Vermaelen's unfortunate one that led to QPR's second goal. However, Wenger did not blame anything else other than his side's disappointing performance for the loss, which was refreshing and good to see.

There were two changes to the starting XI from the last game. Fit again Koscielny came in for Djourou, which was great news for us. The other change was Ramsey in place of Gervinho. Wenger seemed to have expected the same kind of game as at Goodison Park and relied on the central midfielder's all-round, defensive in particular, capability rather than the winger's pace. Some criticise Wenger's decision but we can see his intention. The difference from the Everton game was that we made mistakes and were punished for them.

However, what we couldn't understand was the reason Arteta was subbed. In our view, he was Arsenal's best player on the afternoon. Every ball went through him just like when Fabregas was playing. He was the hub of the team. We understand Arsene desperately wanted to add more attacking power in the shape of Oxlade-Chamberlain at 2-1 down with 9 minutes left to the end of normal time, but he should not have done that at the expense of Arteta. When we won a free kick on the left-hand side a few yards outside the box in stoppage time, how much we missed Arteta on the pitch!

We don't know which hurts us more, the result or the performance. The result was a big blow as it has ended our fantastic run of wins and the league table has suddenly started looking very tight around us, with Chelsea, Newcastle, and Tottenham all bagging three points and narrowing the gap. Saturday's performance crashed our belief in the consistency that the team have built up over the recent months. Let's hope it was just an off-day and it will not happen again for the rest of the season.

We shouldn't overreact to the defeat. Yes, our performance was disappointing because we know by now that our players have qualities to beat any team when they play to their full capacity. We wouldn't say that we deserved a win because we were the second best side, but we don't think we played as badly as some fans slag off. In fact, we were quite confident at half time that we would be able to win this game just like we had done four times in a row recently. The way Arsenal finished the first half, with Theo's equaliser from seven minutes from the break, was promising. Unfortunately, the second half didn't really pan out as we hoped. It is silly to speak doom and gloom now. These things happen and with seven games left to play, maybe it's better to happen now than later. Hopefully, the players have learned how important it is to commit themselves to each game.

The next game is a massive one against second in the table, Manchester City. We have been producing better performance against top five/six this season and our home form is fairly decent with only two league losses to Liverpool and Manchester United (on both occasions, we were unlucky), while Manchester City's away form is on the patchy side. Hopefully, all the players will be well prepared for and fully focused on this big game.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 6
Many seem to believe he had little to do with QPR's two goals, but he didn't even move for the second one. He didn't leave the line to claim the ball in order to make his defenders life easier. He is a good stopper, but he needs to dominate in his area.

Sagna: 7
Maybe not his best game, but he was still a consistent player.

Koscielny: 8
Did a hard job reasonably well alongside hapless Vermaelen.

Vermaelen: 5
Had a terrible game.

Gibbs: 7
Although our left-hand flank was exposed a few times, he did OK. He went close to score his second league goal in a row with a header, which went just past the far post.

Rosicky: 7
Nearly set up a goal for RVP. Made a good effort for a goal.

Arteta: 8
He had a tough treatment by QPR players, but battled for the ball bravely.

Song: 7
Unlucky with some passes, each of which could have been one of those killer passes of his, with a fraction of difference in weight (This is the example of what we are talking about by "we didn't play that bad"). His vision was good.

Walcott: 8
Scored the equaliser. Made some good movement, but we don't think he was as effective as he should have been.

Ramsey: 6
He was taken off in the 69th minute for Gervinho, but we believe that it was part of the game plan.

van Persie: 7
He wasn't given much space and under such circumstances, he sometimes dropped a bit to play other players in. He made a beautiful move to prod Walcott into space just inside the box. Unlucky not to score from the one-on-one situation with Paddy Kenny, who denied RVP's chance with a brilliant save. Our worry is that he hasn't scored for three games. Has he gone off the boil? As Rooney has crept up in the top-scorer table of late, we hope he will start scoring goals again, although goals coming from other areas are welcome.

Subs

Gervinho: 6
69th-minute substitute for Ramsey. Made little impact.

Oxlade-Chamberlian: 7

Replaced Arteta in the 81st minute. Lively. Earned a free-kick in the dangerous position.

Chamakh: 5

Came on the pitch in the 82nd minute for Gibbs. Santos might have been more of a goal threat to QPR than him. Poor substitution. His first contribution was to give away the ball (this was the same as Santos last week, though). He is clueless as to where to play or which space to go into. Although we appreciate that he saved the first half of our season last season when RVP was injured, unfortunately, there is no space for him in this team.

Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 0

We arrived at Las Mimosas earlier than usual in order to catch the latter stages of the Chelsea-Tottenham match, thinking which result would be ideal for us: Chelsea beating Tottenham to ensure we finish above Tottenham, Tottenham beating Chelsea to dent Chelsea's hopes of a top four finish, or draw so that both of our nearest rivals in the table drop two points? All of these were based on the assumption that we would win our game later on. In the end, Chelsea and Tottenham played out a goalless draw, which suited us fine.

Arteta's post-match interview for BBC gave us an impression that the players were aware of the result of the early game and perhaps they thought three points would do just the job. Arsenal's controlled second-half performance, which seemed to be a little bit flat at the same time, probably came from this notion. After difficult periods that they have been through this season, they seem to be more focused on results rather than the style. They have probably learned how results can affect confidence through experience. We used to play beautiful football, but could not get results.

Koscielny's absence from the starting line-up was a big mystery to us as the settled back-five's performance has been impressive recently and up till Saturday morning there was no news of fresh injuries. According to Arsene Wenger's post-match interview, Koscielny had tendinitis in his knee when he woke up in the morning. He tried the warm-up, but he couldn't carry on because of pain. Let's hope it is not too bad.

Djourou filled the void Koscielny had left in the central defence, which was much of our worry. To make it worse, even the stand-in Djourou suffered an early knock. There was no recognised center-back on the bench and using a substitution this early is always a disadvantage. However, our mood quickly changed at Las Mimosas bar as Arsenal got into the rhythm of their free-flowing attacking football.

We are very pleased to see goals come from the players who have been the subjects of criticisms. Gibbs, whose positional sense has been constantly criticised, showed how he can be an attacking threat to the opponents. Walcott, whose decisions in the final third have been questioned, took the goal very well with great control, composure and precision. Then, the third goal came from Arteta's free-kick. He has been doing a great job for Arsenal as a midfielder linking defence and attacking, but his set-pieces have been rather disappointing this season. In his post-match interview, the Spaniard said "I used to be good at it". Yes, we remember some of your great free-kicks for Everton, Mikel. We are glad to see such a sublime free-kick by him again, this time in an Arsenal shirt. This goal just shows you what confidence can do to individual players, when the whole team is playing well. He also had a long-range stinging shot in the first half, which forced a powerful save from Shay Given.

At 2-0, the scoreline wouldn't have been enough for the old Arsenal to settle with because if they had conceded a goal they could have started to panic and let the lead slip away. On this day, we kept concentration and didn't make a mistake. The third goal to kill off the game completely didn't arrive until the last kick of the game, but we kept the calm and had the game under control.

All in all, it was a comfortable win, which took our winning run to seven Premier League matches. Apparently, this was the Club's best run since October 2007. Not bad for "the worst Arsenal team in the recent years"! The convincing team performance and comprehensive victory surely did further good to our players' confidence. Bring on QPR!

Player ratings

Szczezny: 7
With Aston Villa registering only one goal attempt with no shot on target (according to Sky Sports, although BBC thinks Villa had 3 shots, of which 1 on target), he didn't have much to do, but looked solid.

Sagna: 8
Again good link-up with Walcott, overlapping with him often. Solid defensively as well.

Djourou: 7
Did his job. Made a crucial tackle.

Vermaelen: 9
He showed his determination and desire to win at the both ends of the pitch again.

Gibbs: 8
Scored his first goal in the Premier League. His smile on the pitch is rare as his goals, so the goal has an extra value in that sense.

Rosicky: 8
Maintained his red-hot form. Displayed his class and skills.

Arteta: 8

Passing success rate for this day's Arsenal side was 87.8%. As the second best passer in the Premier League with an average of 90%, only second to Yaya Toure, his individual passing success rate must have been phenomenal this day. His stunning goal wrapped up the very enjoyable afternoon for Gooners nicely.

Song: 8
The lofted pass to Walcott was another killer pass by him, which resembled those that set up for RVP's legendary goals against Everton and Liverpool this season.

Walcott: 9
He was a constant threat to Villa's left flank. Took the goal beautifully.

Gervinho: 7
Covered Gibbs well defensively, tracking back and keeping Albrighton at bay.

van Persie: 8
We have scored three goals and none of the goals came from him, but he still led the attack.

Subs

Ramsey: 6
68th-minute substitution for Gervinho. Got involved in the late charge and fired a shot wide.

Santos: 5

Replaced Gibbs in the 68th minute. His first involvement in the game was giving away the ball to Weimann in a dangerous position, but he got away with it thanks to Weimann dragging a shot wide.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 7

Came on in the 78th minute for Walcott. Made a few runs and nearly earned a penalty.

Referee

Phil Dowd: 7

He is definitely not our favourite referee after staging the Premier League's biggest comeback drama against us at Newcastle. He was nearly hated even more by Arsenal fans after he had decided not to give the OX a penalty, but it is widely believed that replays showed Mr Dowd made a correct decision as Ireland was first to the ball. We let him off this time.

Everton 0 Arsenal 1

The major pre-match talking point was the team selection. Now we have a number of players back from injury, there is a healthy competition in the squad. While RVP, Walcott, Arteta, Song, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sangna and Szczesny were believed to keep their starting places, the big questions were who would start at  left back, in the remaining place in midfield, and on the left flank: more specifically, whether Gibbs or Santos, Ramsey or Rosicky, and Oxlade-Chamberlain or Gervinho. Arsene Wenger's answers turned out to be Gibbs, Ramsey and Rosicky. It was an interesting choice to play Ramsey on the left side, considering the fact that Wenger was once very reluctant to play Ramsey on the flanks as he had an inclination to drift into the center. Although he missed a few good chances and lacked clinical finish, it seemed to have worked.

Arsenal started the game with great intensity, which was great to see because it reminded us where they left off 9 days ago. They took a lead within just 8 minutes with Vermaelen's header from RVP's corner, the lead Arsenal thoroughly deserved. However, they should have been more than one goal up. They created chance after chance in the first 30 minutes. Typically, Arsenal would have regretted such wastefulness big time, come the end of the game, but the new tenacious Arsenal protected their narrow lead for the remaining 82 minutes through solid defence.

Some claim that Arsenal have been lucky in their recent winning streak. Luck played no role in their demolition of Tottenham and AC Milan. The victories were the result of their sheer determination to win the game (If any, the luck was on Tottenham's side in the shape of Saha's deflected goal and the penalty awarded for Bale's dive). Against Liverpool, we might have been lucky as Liverpool hit the woodwork twice, but we didn't miss the opportunity to snatch a late win. As for the Newcastle game, many questioned where the 5-minute stoppage time came from, but it reflected Newcastle's time-wasting free-kick/goal-kick taking (especially by Krul) and it was fair of Mr Howard Webb to slap it on the added time. Besides, Arsenal deserved the win as they threw everything forward to grab the all three points. They would have been extremely unlucky if they hadn't won that game.

In this game, we might have been lucky as Drenthe's goal was ruled out for offside, which replays proved a wrong decision. In fact, the assistant referee had a few other dubious decisions, including one against us. We may not have been as unlucky recently as we had been for the last few seasons, but the current good run of form is attributed to more than just luck.

Arsenal's resurgence coincide with the return of a settled back five. Apparently, we have never lost this season when Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen and Gibbs all started. The return of Sagna brought the best out of Walcott as the Englishman has less to worry about cover for defence. Fit again Gibbs meant Vermaelen's return to his familiar central defensive position and forming a stable partnership with Koscielny. On top of the newly found defensive robustness, Rosicky's rediscovery of the form is another factor behind our recent fine run of form. We have finally found a much-needed creative midfielder in him.

The three points from Goodison Park, where all Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham dropped points earlier this season, saw us move above Tottenham by a point to the third in the table after they had only managed a draw against Stoke at White Hart Lane. With other results from last night also going our way, we are now 6 and 13 points clear of  Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively (Shame about Newcastle's result at the weekend). Our recent climb in the table has reflected the other clubs slipups coincided with our favourable results. We often failed to capitalise on these occasions before this season.

Before the match, our captain emphasised the importance of winning ugly. I think this win qualifies as that. Arsenal just had to withstand pressure from Everton for some while and eventually managed to keep the clean sheet to seal a 1-0 win. We are beginning to like winning this way.

Player ratings

Szczezny: 6
Although he made some good saves, he had a hairy moment by kicking the ball straight to Jelavic's head.

Sagna: 7
Strong performance.

Koscielny: 7
Together with Vermaelen, he weathered Everton's aerial threat from crosses very well. For the single goal of the game, he took a couple of Everton players onto himself in order to create space for Vermaelen to come around in front of him. He had a thrusting run forward as well.

Vermaelen: 8
Looked solid alongside with Koscielny in the heart of Arsenal defence. Scored a winner. A Man of the Match performance.

Gibbs: 7
There has been criticism about his positional sense, but he looked OK in this game. Now he appears to be a part of a solid back five. I was convinced that he would start this game as the left-back, but I was considering Santos against Aston Villa this weekend. It is interesting to play Santos in the next game as the Aston Villa game is expected to be more open, but it's difficult to drop Gibbs to the bench, given the current form of the back four as a unit.

Rosicky: 7
Made a few good attempts at goal, good tackles to win the ball back. Solid performance.

Arteta: 7

Worked hard. Did his job well.

Song: 7
Although his passing left a lot to be desired, he worked hard, often dropping deep to help defenders.

Walcott: 6
Had a quiet game.

Ramsey: 6
Unusual role on the left side. His movement was good, but lacked clinical finish. Missed some glorious chances. He has to improve his finishing. Overall, considering the fact that the game turned out to be a defensive competition, playing a midfielder where a striker would have been fielded in the usual formation seemed to have been a good decision.

van Persie: 7
Had a relatively quiet game by his standard. Missed a couple of opportunities and hit the post.

Subs

Gervinho: 6
79th-minute substitution for Walcott. Made a good interception and run only for van Persie to plant a shot high.

Djourou: 4

We didn't understand why Wenger wanted to make a change with 2 minutes remaining in normal time when we were defending so well. Obviously, an additional defender could help shore up the defence, but the substitution could have upset the balance and distracted concentration or Djourou being Djourou, he, himself, could have become a distraction. Perhaps, Wenger wanted to give Djourou a runout, but it was a pointless substitution. 

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 1

It was only a little over two weeks ago when Tottenham supports were taunting us ahead of the north London derby by saying that the gap between the two old rivals could widen up to 13 points after the derby. Two weeks on, we are just one point behind them. The momentum has completely changed in the recent couple of weeks. Arsene Wenger's tone was different before going into the Newcastle clash. He was already talking about the importance of securing a top three spot which does not require qualifying for the Champions League Group stage. We are no longer in the four-way battle for the top-four finish (with Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool), finding ourselves now in the middle of a three-horse race for the third and fourth places with Chelsea and Tottenham.

Wenger praised the team's relentless effort throughout the game, but in my opinion, the team lacked urgency in the first half after their good start. They looked comfortable in possession, but they did not make a good use of it. There were more backward passes than we have recently seen and some players were slow to move the ball. Vermaelen's sloppy pass led to Newcastle's counter-attack. Gibbs didn't close down Ben Arfa, giving him time and space to take a shot, which beat Szczezny on the near side. However, I must say that Arsenal did exceptionally well to equalise in less than a minute, which was vital. In the second half, they totally dominated the game and kept mounting the pressure.

In the previous two league games, the opponents were open sides, which didn't test Arsenal's ability to breakdown stubborn defence. Newcastle probably learned lessons from their 5-0 defeat at White Hart Lane. They had their tactics right for this game and didn't allow us much time or space. Arsenal may still not have a plan B, but this game proved if they keep pressurising the oppositions, a crack may eventually appear in their defence. Alan Pardew rued not having been able to replacing Danny Simpson, who was playing through injury, as Newcastle had already used up all three substitutions. The half-time substitution to replace Santon, who had trouble containing Walcott, proved to cost Newcastle expensively. On the other hand, unlike the Champions League match against AC Milan, we had luxury of having fit midfielders on the bench.

Arsenal set a new Premier League record by registering the 4th consecutive win battling back from losing postions, which is an impressive record, showing their character and determination. And in the three games out of those four, the winner came at the death of the game. We like our players' resilience this season, but we hope that they do not make it a habit to give away the first goal. Although now the team and fans alike have belief in the team's capability to overcome an adverse situation with a goal down, it would be nice if they can avoid such a situation in the first place.

Player ratings


Szczezny: 6
With Newcastle registering only two shots on target and committed to defence, he had little to do. However, he shouldn't be beaten at the near post, should he?

Sagna: 8
Convincing and energetic performance both offensively and defensively. His overlapping and link-up with Walcott were excellent.

Koscielny: 7
Didn't put a foot wrong. The yellow card was too harsh.

Vermaelen: 8
Showed his determination to score the late winner.

Gibbs: 6
Although he was good going forward, he was guilty for Ben Arfa's goal.

Rosicky: 8
Another good performance from the veteran player. We are glad to see his contract extended.

Arteta: 8

He was always where his team-mates wanted him to be, keeping the shape.

Song: 7
Battled hard as usual, but his passing was not best.

Walcott: 8
Caused all sorts of problems for Santon and a substitute left-back, Perch, through his runs. Set up RVP's equaliser through an inch-perfect cross and his cross led to Vermaelen's winner. Many think he was the Man of the Match and he had his best game in his career at Arsenal so far. Stephen Hughes, an ex-Arsenal player and commentator of Arsenal Player on the night said "Funnily enough I didn't think Theo was outstanding when I was at the game but, having watched it again, it could be the best game he's played for the club". I totally agree with him. Maybe I should watch the game again.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6
Lacked penetration on the left flank. It wasn't his best game, but he showed a glimpse of his talent.

van Persie: 7
Although he scored the equaliser, he also missed several good chances. As well as Arsene Wenger, we were also relieved that he didn't get sent off.

Subs

Gervinho: 6
67th-minute substitution for Oxlade-Chamberlain. Lively, but missed a sitter.

Ramsey: 7

Came on for Rosicky in the 76th minute and carried on Rosicky's job OK.

Arsenal 3 AC Milan 0 (Champions League Round of Last 16 Second Leg)

As we said in the previous post, this game was all about restoring the pride and keeping the momentum we have built through the last couple of league games. We didn't expect a miracle to happen or the 4-0 deficit to be overturned. However, as the game started, our players gave us hopes. The way they started was sensational. In the 6th minute, we got an early goal we wanted. Before the match, all our players were talking about this early goal. They believed that if they could get early goals, they could overturn the four-goal deficit. I must say that Arsene Wenger did a great job to make them believe after the heavy defeat at the San Siro and the subsequent mountainous task to undertake. Our players were in the absolutely right frame of mind.

At half time, we were buzzing at Las Mimosas bar. 3-0 up at half time. At this rate, scoring two more goals to see us through the tie did not look impossible at all. For most of us, except for those extremely optimistic ones, this tie was already over 3 weeks ago, but Arsenal's sublime performance in the first half allowed us to dream again about making progress in the Champions League and gave us exciting 90 minutes.

Arsene Wenger blamed fatigue for his side's failure to find an illusive fourth goal. Our midfield was so thin even before the game kicked off. On top of Jack Wilshere's long-term injury, Diaby (hamstring), Benayoun (virus), Arteta (head) and Ramsey (ankle) were out, while Coquelin was still four weeks away from fitness. Rosicky (groin) managed to pass a late fitness test, which was a big relief for Wenger, who earlier admitted he wouldn't know what to do if Rosicky was not available. The Ox took an unfamiliar central midfielder role to fill in the void Arteta left. Arsenal have been unlucky this season with injuries, which tend to concentrate on one particular position and this time it was midfield. When the intensity of the first half started taking its toll, Arsene Wenger had no option for freshening up the midfield. If he had had a couple of fresh pairs of legs to bring on, Arsenal may have completed a miracle comeback. Arshavin would have been hailed by all the fans on this occasion, if he had come off the bench to replace The Ox, who were struggling with a knock.

As well as scoring five goals, keeping a clean sheet was equally important, so the attack-defence balance was vital in this game. With little choice available in the midfield, our defensive players, including Song, put in an impressive performance to keep Ibrahimovic at bay.

Some players described the dressing room afterwards as "dead". Being knocked out of the Champions League after such a brave fightback must be devastating for them. However, all the media praised their heroics the following morning. Nobody was worried about the downfall of English football and the changing landscape of European football any longer (at least not until both Manchester clubs get knocked out of the Europa League) as Arsenal demonstrated that an English club still have qualities to beat the current Serie A leaders comprehensively if they play to their full capacity.

Although the exit from the Champions League may have been heartbreaking, at least the players can take heart from their performance and the 3-0 defeat of Europe's elite club. Hopefully, after 6 days' rest and with players to come back from injury (Arteta, Ramsey and hopefully Benayoun as well), they will be raring to continue their fight for a top-four finish.

A major talking point at the moment is the signing of Podolski. He has been linked to Arsenal for some time, but this time it looks very promising. The experienced Germany international will be a great addition to the squad. He can play up front with RVP just behind him, which will give a whole new dimension to Arsenal's game. Most of all, his signing will send out the right message that Arsenal have a serious ambition to compete for the title next season to the inside and outside of the Club, including RVP.

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2

It was not our best performance, but we had all three points, which matters most. Earlier in this campaign on this Blog, we asked which is better, excellent performance without winning the game or getting the result without playing well. Now we are sure which we prefer: winning regardless. We have to make sure that we finish top four this season in order to attract world-class players so that we can rebuild the team and keep RVP for the next season.

The result was massive, sending us 10 points clear of Liverpool. With Chelsea losing and Newcastle only managing to draw, we have secured solo possession of fourth place, 3 points clear of Chelsea with a better goal difference than them, and with a 4-point cushion over Newcastle. Even before the Liverpool clash, I was surprised to hear some pundits claim that the fourth spot was between Arsenal and Chelsea. How many times have they written off Arsenal for a top-four finish before? Now with the defeats of Tottenham and Liverpool, we are in an even stronger position. Some have even started talking about Arsenal finishing third. After Tottenham's defeat to Manchester United, the gap was reduced to just four points, which makes it look increasingly likely that we will finish above Tottenham.

Talking about the media fickleness, Arsene Wenger was last week shocked to learn that he was selected as the Premier League Manager of the Month. It seems that the award reflected Arsenal's impressive league form in February: 3 wins and 1 draw scoring 14 goals. February was supposed to be the lowest period of Arsene's entire carrier, according to the media.

Arsenal may have been lucky to snatch a win in the injury time, but we think our players deserve credit in many ways. Arsenal goals may have come against the run of play, but they constantly looked dangerous on the break. Their defence may have been all over the place in the first half, but they withstood the pressure and limited the number of goals conceded to only one, which we scored for them. In the second half, they dealt with Liverpool attack very well, keeping Suarez quiet. Mikel Arteta's serious-looking injury did not led to capitulation. In fact, the dynamism of the game changed in favour of Arsenal immediately after the incident. I don't know if it was due to the introduction of Abu Diaby or Liverpool affected negatively by the incident. This game showed some untypical aspects of Arsenal's game and we don't mind them at all.

Liverpool did not take chances in the first half when they could have won the match and it came back to haunt them. We have been often at the receiving end of the same criticism, so it was good to see somebody else getting stick for a change. After the match, Dalglish said Liverpool have to learn how to win ugly. A couple of weeks ago, we heard exactly the same expression coming from Samir Nasri about his old club. This game convinced us that Arsenal can win ugly.

We have no player ratings for this game. Man of the Match is a close call between the defensive hero and attacking hero, Szczezny and RVP. Szczezy's double saves from Kuyt among other numerous stops and saves were as important as RVP's two goals. RVP expressed his appreciation of the goalie's heroics by handing over his Man of the Match champaign to the 21 year-old Pole. It is nice to see our captain appreciate his team-mates' contributions. He kissed Alex Song's right boot during the celebraton of his injury-time winner. He also tweeted his gratitude to Sagna and Song for their superb assists. (Sagna's cross was inch-perfect, while Song's lofted through-ball was just like the one he set up for RVP's exquisite volley against Everton.)

The result of tomorrow's Champions League match is now irrelevant. We are not expecting a miracle to happen and the 4-0 deficit will be overturned. We just hope that our players will deliver decent performance, give AC Millan a good game and not let down the home crowd. The next league game against Newcastle will be far more important. It's a home game against a club who are still in the mix for a top-four finish. Now we have dented Liverpool's hopes for a Champions League spot, we have a chance to do some damange to another contender's aspiration Monday week.