Villa away, another trip ruined by the match

ASTON VILLA 0 ARSENAL 0

I AM starting to think Emerson and I are becoming a curse on away games this season. This trip to Villa Park was our third of the season following on from excursions to Stoke in August (0-0) and Norwich last month (0-1), and once again we failed to see the team score.

I don’t know why we thought this would be any different. With Villa struggling at the wrong end of the table, this had Norwich written all over it. But the joy of travelling to away games is the hope you will witness something special, like a Reading, so we tackled the M6 full of optimism.

Villa Park, one of the best grounds in the country

Wenger blamed our lacklustre performance on tiredness following the midweek Champions League win over Montpellier, but how many more years do we have to suffer sub-standard performances in the Premier League due to our labours in a competition we are never going to win?

I am beginning to wonder if we would actually be better off not qualifying for it at all and just concentrating on the things that really matter. I mean it hasn’t done Liverpool any harm has it?

Tiredness or not, we seemed to think we just had to turn up, play our football and we would win. But unfortunately that is rarely the case for us these days.

I couldn’t help feel, however, that if Theo had been fit we would have won without too many problems. He is fast becoming our most important player, giving us that extra bit of pace and quality in the final third. Fingers crossed he signs that new contract then.

Theo Walcott, may have made the difference

But this was not to be our day. We occasionally looked good, stringing together some neat passing moves, but we rarely looked like scoring. Although the substitutions brought cries of ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ aimed at Wenger from the away end, it was two of his replacements who nearly combined to give us the points at the death.

Arshavin’s lovely cross from the left would have left Gervinho with a tap in even he couldn’t miss had it not been for the last-ditch intervention of Clark.

I would love nothing more than to see the little Russian to get a run in the side. Technically he is still probably our most gifted player and a run of games may bring back his missing confidence.

Next up came the chant of ‘We want our Arsenal back’ from the increasingly frustrated away section. But just what is ‘our Arsenal?’ Is it the Arsenal I first fell in love with in early 1980’s? You know the one with players like John Hawley, Lee Chapman and Brian Sparrow in the team? And if so do we really want that back? I know I don’t.

Anyway as Emerson and I set off back down the M6, we reflected on another goalless away trip. His opinion was that Mertersaker, Ramsey and Szczesny had all played well and that Villa Park is a very nice ground. I found it hard to disagree.

Emerson enjoying another 0-0 draw!

Oddly the only three away games where we have failed to score this season are the only three we have travelled to. Our next scheduled trip is for the Capital One cup tie at Bradford in a couple of weeks, then Wigan just before Christmas. If we don’t score in either of those two, we will get the message.