At half-time I was getting irked. The old annoyances with regards to our inability to finish teams off were there for all to see. It had been a wonderful performance with all the outfield players contributing to the good stuff being played. Sadly there was only one goal to show for utter dominance. Theo Walcott's decision to pass when one-on-one with the goalkeeper was baffling, while the rest of the attacking players took it in turns to find the opposition goalkeeper in fine form. Arsenal had played their pressing game very well again in the first-half and kept regaining the ball immediately on the rare occasions that possession was lost. Jack Wilshere had his most impressive ninety minutes for some time as he an Alex Song again dominated the middle of the pitch. With Fabregas and Van Persie seemingly at the top of their game Wigan had no answer, but at half-time I remained a worried man. Arsenal then started the second-half in exactly the way we didn't want with the pressing game non-existent all of a sudden. Fortunately this only lasted for around ten minutes and then the machine started to purr once more.
I've just watched Match of the Day and was completely unsurprised by their failure to highlight the second Arsenal goal. The pass by Fabregas was really quite incredible and from my angle you could see the necessity of the accuracy he found. RVP's finish was also sensational and the crowd audibly gasped in admiration at the quality of the goal. In it's own way it was Arsenal's goal of the season, quite fantastic. If Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie can continue to combine in the way are right now then there may yet be a happy conclusion to our season (though having watched Barcelona for ten minutes this evening it won't be a Champions League ending to the season for Arsenal).
Van Persie's failure from the spot was symptomatic of the way we were in front of goal again today, but it didn't really matter in terms of the result - whether the missed chances cost us when goal difference comes in to play is something we will only know in May. I was particularly pleased that he got his hat-trick eventually (after another stunning Fabregas pass and strong play from Walcott) as I had 14 to 1 from Ladbrokes on his scoring first in a 3-0 win. That little bonus pays for my £10 seat on Tuesday night so everyone's a winner.
With Man City and Spurs dropping points we have hit this kind of form at a very timely juncture. Momentum is key as we head towards to Spring so it is vital to get on a consistent run. We still have our obvious areas of weakness and when Djourou looked injured in the second-half (thankfully he recovered to finish the game) even Arsene Wenger must have seen the urgent need to bolster at the back. I'd like to see Bolton do a job on Chelsea tomorrow and then for their main centre-half to join Arsenal on Monday. Until then I'll keep dreaming!
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