Three Goal District

Arsenal toyed with Wigan on Saturday. Similar to the manner in which a cat brings home a budgie or small rodent only to parade the poor bastard in front of its owner. As the gunners purred, stalking lithely around the Emirates before an expectant Arsene Wenger, the result was on the cards from the off.

Wenger's strongest team took the field and delivered (in my humble opinion) our most convincing performance of the campaign. With Cesc taking on the role of chief conductor (of music rather than buses), the gunners were simply mesmerising. Both Nasri R.V.P and Fabregas were denied by the heroics of Ali Al Habsi (Wigan's stand in keeper, Catchy isn't it).The first goal was imminent as the Emirates crowd smelt blood, Sagna made a constant nuisance of himself bombing up the right at will and the usual suspects of Cesc, Nasri and co were popping up inside the Wigan box with menace. Nasri combined with Song, the latter providing a sumptuous ball for R.V.P who obliged with a calculated and powerful finish.

Despite the unwelcome and illegal attention of the likes of Messrs Caldwell and Thomas, Fabregas continued to ensure that the offensive contingent stayed in tune with his inspirational beat. Theo had an attack of the jitters infront of goal, an ailment that I thought had been cured through his latest rich vein of form. At the end of the first half Ali Al Habsi, was the difference between 1-0 and 4-0. Of an impressive 10 attempts at goal (8 of those on target), a solitary goal was a rather poor return. Wenger's post match interview spoke of the potential of an end result of 7-0, le proffessor wasn't exaggerating.

The half time interval cooled the raging inferno that went before it and we took a while to get out the blocks. After huffing and puffing for an entire first period, we needed to blow Wigan's house down. The goal that would come was worth the wait, a sumptuous long range pass from Cesc met with a volley from R.V.P, even the commentator broke character, throwing a bit of praise at the gunners, "a goal made in footballing heaven". As the clock ticked on Caldwell got his deserved reward ,a red card for felling Cesc in the penalty area, a woeful challenge on the last man in a goal scoring oppurtunity, it was an easy decision for the Ref (Kevin Friend). As the Scot spat and stomped over to the sideline, R.V.P missed the spotkick. Im going to repeat that for those sat at the rear, Robin Van Persie missed a penalty. I'm sure that the miss shocked you as much as it did me as R.V.P never bats an eye at the penalty spot, scoring with aplomb and robotic consistency. A rare miss together with an attempt that rattled the post couldn't deny the Dutch ace entrance into the revered three goal district. Theo held of the advances of the Wigan defence while R.V.P finished with his less preferred right, claiming his first hat-trick in professional football. Arsenal 3 Wigan 0. Nine Goals scored in our latest three games and perhaps more impressively (given our well documented lack of depth at the back) we have only conceded one.

Arshavin came on to face a weakened defence, undoubtedly in line with Wenger's ploy to provide the Russian with a much needed confidence boost. Sadly it didn't come Arshavin's performance was a lacklustre one. You get the sense that he is all to aware of his dip in form, his head was bowed as the magic evaded him yet again. I for one have not given up on the little Russian, he is to much of a mercurial talent to be thrown to the curb. He does however need to find himself as the race for the title gathers pace, support not dissent will aid him.

Tonight Arsenal host Ipswich at the Emirates, in a crucial Carling Cup semi-final. The "tractor boys" will undoubtedly park their blue and white bus in front of their goal, its our job to move it.