Seven from nine a satisfying return

A SEVEN-POINT return from games at home to Chelsea and on the road at Wigan and Birmingham is not to be sneezed at.

Nine would’ve been a blinder and Arsene received bundles of stick (from me included) for rotating his team for our trip to the northwest lastWednesday night.

But perhaps Wenger was vindicated by the emphatic way in which wevanquished a more obdurate opponent in the midlands on Saturday.

The Gunners were bang up for it against Birmingham and while our hosts stuck to the habitually combative formula that’s served them so well in the past couple of fractious encounters at their place, by contrast to the sort of stiff test of resolve that we’ve faced (and failed, by gifting late goals!) at St Andrew’s in recent times, McLeish’s mob were never really at the races.

We certainly finished this New Year’s Day ding-dong looking the fresher of the two teams, but then chasingshadows for much of the 90 must have been an exhausting business forBirmingham.

The 4,000 travelling Gooners teased the Bluenoses for long periods of this game “we’ve got Cesc Fabregas, you’ve got Lee Bowyer” and basically this summed up the huge gulf in classbetween the opposition and us.

In fact it was hard to believe this was the same Birmingham side that had managed to hold Man Utd at bay, but then perhaps they put so much effort into their midweek draw that they couldn’t muster sufficient energy to suffocate the Gunners’ passing game.

Mind you, I’m sure I was far from alone in taking great delight fromVilla’s last-gasp goal and Ancelotti’s gut-wrenching anguish on Sunday.

Houllier’s resilient troops were unrecognisable from the Villa side that’s been falling like a stone in recent weeks.

Moreover, watching the limited quality on offer in the subsequentcontest between Wigan and the Toon, I wondered how on earth we’d blown five points in our games against these two decidedly bland outfits (although admittedly in the absence of thetalismanic likes of N’Zogbia and Carroll). Which all serves to highlight the fact that we can take very little for granted in such an unusual campaign, where the fragile Premier League status-quo can be drastically affected in either direction, by a couple of unsuspecting results.

Though both games were worth the same three points, considering the way in which recent results at St Andrews have been viewed as a significant indication of the lack of mettle in the Wengerboys, perhaps le Prof felt that beating Birmingham was more important than winning up at Wigan.

As gleeful as I was to get our St Andrews hoodoo out the way and the New Year off to such a great start, unless the XI that started on Saturday are to play for the remainder of the season — unhindered by suspension or injury — on the basis that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I suspect we can read more into the fact that the side he put out in midweek just wasn’t good enough.

Perhaps we should count our blessings, because if Diaby hadn’t retired injured early on, to be replaced by Wilshere, thereby restoring the composure necessary to retain possession, it could’ve ended up as a far more embarrassing outing.

Nevertheless, Denilson’s powder-puff midfield promptings and the lack of desire shown to remedy his mistakes, knocked all the Xmas stuffing out of the surprisingly large (5,000 strong) horde of Gooners, who travelled to Wigan, still high on the ecstasy of our emphatic win against Chelsea.

Still at least there were free mince pies on offer at the DW Stadium, the sort of generous festive gesture that you wouldn’t get from the Scrooge-like suits in charge of the catering at the Arsenal.

But then it would be a massive operation to cater for a full-house crowd at our place, compared to breaking open a couple of boxes from the local corner shop, to satiate the dismal turnout at the DW (lest we forget Wigan remains largely a rugby town).

What’s more, fog at Luton airport meant we had the consolation of being kicked out of First Class on the journey back to London, so that the team could accompany us as far as Watford Junction on the return train trip, providing us with an all too rare opportunity of some brief badinage with our idols.