Santi saves Gunners

Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 1

The biggest positive Arsenal could take from Saturday’s victory, secured by two goals from Santi Cazorla, is that the match was won, despite obvious signs of nerves and clear problems in their defence against a Villa side that currently sits, perhaps temporarily given the way they played at the Emirates, in the bottom three. But next up is a trip to White Hart Lane on Sunday that will make or break Arsenal’s season.

Victory over Villa means Arsenal are only one point behind their derby rivals in the race for Champions League qualification, although Spurs can extend that margin tonight at West Ham. But there is no doubt Sunday’s game will have a huge impact on how Wenger is able to manage a crisis that has seen his team stripped of many of its star names over the last year and knocked out of the FA Cup and probably the Champions League in the space of one disastrous week this month.

Those home defeats, against Blackburn and Bayern Munich, meant beating Villa — even though it took an 85th minute strike from Cazorla to save the manager from further negative headlines — was absolutely crucial.

“What pleased me was that we had absolutely to win — and we did,” said Wenger. “When it was 1-1 and there was not a long time to go you couldn’t see anybody with their head down and giving up. The whole team kept going until the last minute.

“We were nervous, of course, because we had absolutely to win. We hit twice the wall in one week. When you drive a car and you have an accident at 100mph, you say ‘ok, we go again’. If you hit it again three days later you will then drive more cautiously. It’s exactly like that. So what is important now is we can focus again on football.”

What Wenger means is that all the headlines about his own future, about the painful split between fans who remain loyal and those who want him out, can dissipate and allow him to concentrate on his players. But that break won’t last if things go wrong at White Hart Lane.

“We play them next Sunday and I’m not ready to talk for eight days about Tottenham,” insisted Wenger, aware of the dangers ahead. “We have to focus on our own performances because it’s down to our own consistency. And it will not only be a fight with Tottenham. I’m not sure the other places are not reachable; because Chelsea are not far and even Man City is not out of reach. It could be a tight fight until the end.”

There is an implication there that Arsenal, having lost the chance of winning a trophy, are now targeting second place and not just fourth as they bid to put a difficult year behind them. But that may prove a big ask.

Saturday’s performance included some positive notes; not least the form of Cazorla and Jack Wilshere whose energy, desire and technical excellence are the bedrock of this Arsenal team, while Theo Walcott continues to improve in a more central role. But there is an awful lot of repair work to do on the mental strength of a side who seem to have doubts at every turn.

Even though they went ahead early, in the sixth minute, through Cazorla’s right-foot effort from 15m, the goal did not send the kind of surge of confidence through Arsenal’s veins that Wenger would have hoped for.

Instead they looked painfully open on the break against a Villa side who had Charles N’Zogbia, Gabriel Agbonlahor and the impressive Andreas Weimann willing to run at opponents — especially as they were given so much space.

N’Zogbia and Agbonlahor had excellent chances to equalise before Weimann did just that after Arsenal failed to deal with a routine long clearance — and then pedalled back as Weimann struck a 25m shot straight through embarrassed goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

If the game had ended like that, then it would be impossible to overstate the sense of crisis that would have engulfed the Emirates; but thankfully for Wenger his side produced a rousing finish as Nacho Monreal overlapped on the left and cut back for Cazorla to sweep home the winner with his left foot this time.

It was a crucial goal but perhaps it would be better to judge the extent of Arsenal’s revival next Sunday night when they have also negotiated a hugely problematic derby match across north London.

“Confidence is our best friend and lack of confidence is our worst enemy,” admitted Wenger. “But we are ready for a fight, to fight for the football we love to play.”