Arsenal Beat Villa. MON Will Turn Villa Into Good Team.

Hleb was our playmaker. Hleb was our attacking midfielder. Hleb was our striker. Then he was hacked by Carew and had to be replaced. This was the turning point of the game.  Hleb’s pass completion was 98%, that is simply outstanding. When he went off our attacks fell apart, we resorted to long balls and losing possession. Hleb was instrumental to us last night at Villa Park and Villa new this, MON would have said to his team at half time, ‘Listen guys, Alexander has ran rings around us and every time they attack it’s through him. Whenever he attacks stay close to him’. The Villa players took this as ‘play rough on him’ and Carew hacked him down. But it didn’t matter because we still won.

Had we lost or even drew because of that challenge then Wenger would have let the press know about it. But I hold nothing against Villa, they are turning into a good solid team; they have skillful players on the wings, good players in the middle and a good target man i.e. the makings of a good team. So we faced problems last night, major ones. We had a team that like to cross, use pacey wingers and a target man in the middle, all 3 of which are attributes that Arsenal don’t like. We coped well but only just got 3 points, this is what champions are made of. On a number of occasions Young outmaneouvred Sagna and Bacari had to foul him, luckily we didn’t have Senderos on the pitch because Senderos+set pieces= disaster.

So another game passes and another unbeaten game in the league, it’s starting to look good, isn’t it? December makes or breaks seasons and this year it’s no different. Adebayor scored and his confidence seems to have found itself in good stead ahead of a tough Newcastle trip in midweek. Newcastle are poor but Sam will turn them into a good side, I’m certain of it. They need patience and commitment from players. St James’ Park will be bustling with 50,000 lunatics eager to see their team start winning, so the game will be tough. Fabregas is 50% to play, Hleb is 50% to play and Newcastle will be 100% ready to play us and save their season.

If Fabregas doesn’t play it should not matter much, why? Because Flamini done Fabregas’ job well last night. Wenger put out Flamini and Diarra in the middle but knew two defensive midfielders together would not complement each other well so said to Flamini, ‘Matt, Cesc is injured so you’re job is to be our main passer in midfield. I rely on you to link up attack to defense and support our striker like Fabregas does’. Flamini then looked at Arsene and said ‘Monsieur Wenger, your wish is my command’. Flamini done well last night. He assisted our attack and left Diarra to do the main defensive work. It worked well but would have worked better with Gilberto. Diarra was sloppy and casual in the second half, we pride ourselves on fast, quick touching football but Diarra was still in Chelsea mindset and controlled the ball for too long. Gilberto would have been slicker and quicker on the ball but in the end it didn’t matter.

We face Burnley in the F.A cup, it’s a good run out for our kids. They are a good team who should have been promoted years ago but let their chance slip and now find it hard to get to the play off finals. So will our fate be solved in December? Will a good December give the title to us? Yes. I think so. I’ve said from the start of the season we will win it this year, and every week proves me right.

Ramin