Wolves 0 - 3 Arsenal: Professional performance for a comfortable victory

After a great win against Manchester City on Sunday, it was time to get back down to the nitty-gritty with an away trip to a Wolves team desperate for points. On paper, the game looked like a sure-win for Arsenal, but as well all know the game is not played on paper and you can just never be sure what will happen.

Arsenal made three changes from the City win: Johan Djourou came in for the suspended Koscielny, Andre Santos came in for the rested Gibbs and Ramsey replaced Rosicky, who probably needed a bit of rest.

We started the much brighter side and it took us just 6 minutes to open the scoring. Walcott got in behind and was taken down by Bassong, who was unfortunately the last man and was sent off. Van Persie cheekily converted the penalty for his first goal in five games and the task for Wolves had been made that much harder.

Walcott then doubled our lead. Van Persie turned provider as he played in Walcott, who finsihed confidently past Hennessey.

At 2-0, Arsenal just kept the ball and let 10-man Wolves chase shadows. Arsenal didn't press for more goals, and were content to simply see out the half. Some may call that complacency, but it's a common tactic to use against 10 men. Wolves were not threatening at all.

In the second half it was much the same way. Wolves managed to create a good opportunity but Doyle was denied by a super save from Szczesny. Arsenal killed the game off once and for all through a good strike from Benayoun and from there on it was just a case of seeing out the rest of the game.

Can't ask for much more
Some people have been asking why Arsenal didn't push for my goals and why they just decided to rest on their laurels. The answer is pretty simple: there was no need to.

Wolves were down the 10 men and looked a beaten side as soon as the second goal went in. Arsenal had played a big game on Sunday and probably weren't completely 100% fitness wise. So it makes total sense to take it easy and reserve some energy.

It could be argued that we should press and be ruthless regardless, but at this point I don't really agree. It's been a long season, the players aren't as fit as they were earlier in the year and the game was pretty much won. There was no need to exert ourselves any further.

Just keep going
Five games to go, five points clear of Spurs. We're almost there, and winning our next three games will pretty much guarantee it. Incidentally, those three games are the hardest of the remaining five: a home game against a Wigan who has just claimed the scalps of Liverpool and Manchester United, a home game against Chelsea which is always a big game and a nice away trip to our favourite team Stoke.

It's looking good at the moment but there is still much work to be done. The squad needs to remain focused and hopefully secure third spot as soon as possible.

Player Ratings

Wojciech Szczesny - 8. Had to save two shots and saved them both excellently. Sign of a good keeper when he can pull out saves like that despite not being tested in the game.

Thomas Vermaelen - 6. Did he have to do anything?

Johan Djourou - 6. Filled in well for Koscielny with a good display.

Bacary Sagna - 6.

Andre Santos - 6. Had a couple of dodgey moments. Seems to be an unavoidable aspect of his style of play, really.

Alex Song - 6.

Mikel Arteta - 6.

Aaron Ramsey - 6. He played well tonight. The criticism will inevitably continue to come down on him but he tried hard tonight, he did some good things in midfield and the only thing he lacked was an end product, perhaps indicative of his confidence at the moment. No where near as bad as people make out.

Theo Walcott - 7. Won a penalty, scored a goal. Good night's work.

Yossi Benayoun - 7. Solid showing capped off with a good goal.

Robin van Persie - 7. Good performance. Why he wasn't subbed off when we were 3-0 up I've no idea.

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Carl Jenkinson - n/a.

Alex Chamberlain - 6. Looked lively.

Special victory in my book

5 points clear of Spurs!

Ramsey should have bagged a couple of goals, had two great chances. I really want him to do well though

Great to get distance between Spuds, Newcastle and Chelski.

10 days till we take on the Blues at the Emirates

WE LOVE YOU ARSENAL WE DOOOOOOOOO!!

Great win and we took advantage of other teams dropping points

get innnnnnn 3 more points

5 off tottenham now

Great win.
Dont no why we didnt press for more goals, or make earlier substitutions for RVP and ramsey. other overall good performance, a but sloppy from santos but hes just getting back into the swing of things . plus its was great to see jenky.

Not an enthusiastic performance.. But a comfortable win to secure our position... We played much on the safer side after the two early goals which is fine..
But i think we could have given in more time for Ox or others.. Rather than the routine 75 min substitution...
Walcott with a typical bipolar performance..
And not to say how much Ramsey frustrated.. Its too much that i am starting to hate him.. Does anyone have some statistics to prove that he is better than what he actually is ?
RVP had a good match.. Should have scored more.. Good performances from Benayoun, Arteta and Sczeny..
Not sure who is the mom.. May be Walcott or RVP.. But no doubts regarding the flop of the match.. Hope next week everything becomes fine when Rosicky returns...

Great win, we should have had more goals but I take this win be very happy.

There are no games this weekend?

Never really paid much attention as i was watching the Dortmund and Bayern game, from i saw shit game, shit performance, 3 goals 3 points. Job done. Need to to go on a strong run till the end of the season.

Brilliant Gift for you huh Sri!

Nice game, we were relaxed and didnt have to shift into top gear.

Scez's save from Doyle just had me smiling.... just a season ago we were going ape crazy over a goalie

It seems every game, Santos does his best to help out the opponents with his shit touches and awful back passes.

Szczesny for MOTM solely for his Seaman-esque save to keep the score 2-0. If that had gone in, who knows what could have happened

Will write up my thoughts after MOTD.

Done with the first post. Nice not to have much to talk about once in a while.

Sam, you're too generous. I'd give Ramsey a 5.5 and Santos a solid 5

REWB wrote:do we have chelsea or wigan next?

Wigan.................i'll be there

Samuelj29060 wrote:Arsenal have now won 9 of their last 10 league games (27/30pts). The Gunners' best Premier League form since March 2004. (27/30pts)

If Arsenal beat Wigan (making it 10 wins in 11 league games), they will be in their best league form since 2002 when afc won the double.



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Will write up my thoughts after MOTD.

Pretty sure Wigan has been rescheduled to May 16th. Our next match is Chelsea on the 21st.

MJGunner wrote:

Samuelj29060 wrote:Arsenal have now won 9 of their last 10 league games (27/30pts). The Gunners' best Premier League form since March 2004. (27/30pts)

If Arsenal beat Wigan (making it 10 wins in 11 league games), they will be in their best league form since 2002 when afc won the double.



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Will write up my thoughts after MOTD.

Pretty sure Wigan has been rescheduled to May 16th. Our next match is Chelsea on the 21st.

official site has Wigan down as our next game on April 16th.

I would give Song an 8. Another assist and the guy is turning into a wrecking ball. The best of our midfield.
MOTM Szczesny

I think you're all being too critical of Santos, he's only recently been gaining match fitness. He suffered a serious injury and it hasn't even been a full month since he's returned and already he's being written off as a Squillaci. Maybe we should assess his ability after some more performances and not after one where our entire back line (save Djourou) looked complacent and tame.

MJGunner wrote:I think you're all being too critical of Santos, he's only recently been gaining match fitness. He suffered a serious injury and it hasn't even been a full month since he's returned and already he's being written off as a Squillaci. Maybe we should assess his ability after some more performances and not after one where our entire back line (save Djourou) looked complacent and tame.

Well said MJ.

We all remember his first few games were like this, and then Santos got better and better. Ramsey pissed me off today, thank god we have Rosicky. I dont think god wants Ramsey to score, I really believe he stops him from scoring.

Walcott was great today but after his goal he changed, he was kicking the ball over the place.
I was happy for Walcott hope he scores more goals we need him become major scorer for us.

it was a shit match in all honesty, but doesn't matter as we got the 3 points without wasting too much energy

Song was excellent, Rvp was good, Benayoun was very good. Special shout to Djourou who i thought was solid.

Szczesny's save

Ramsey was alright, wasnt too impressed tbf but wasnt bad either

GoonerJay29 wrote:

MJGunner wrote:

Samuelj29060 wrote:Arsenal have now won 9 of their last 10 league games (27/30pts). The Gunners' best Premier League form since March 2004. (27/30pts)

If Arsenal beat Wigan (making it 10 wins in 11 league games), they will be in their best league form since 2002 when afc won the double.



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Will write up my thoughts after MOTD.

Pretty sure Wigan has been rescheduled to May 16th. Our next match is Chelsea on the 21st.

official site has Wigan down as our next game on April 16th.

I hope you are right Jay, I want to play Wigan before Chelsea and put more pressure on them.