Monday night at Reading we saw the free-flowing, Arsene Wenger Arsenal at it's very best. Flaky at the back, sure, but incisive and inventive going forward.
Wigan, on the the hand, saw us back to the days of George Graham. Solid and pragmatic, grinding out a 1-0 away victory. The sort of victory, in fact, that success is built on.
Both performances were impressive in their own right and showed that this team has more about it then perhaps they have been given credit for.
Of course it was only Reading and Wigan. Two sides in the bottom three and games we should be expecting to win. But in a league where everyone is capable of beating everyone else, two away wins at opposite ends of the country inside a week is pretty impressive stuff.
Anyone on Saturday who was expecting another Reading was always going to be disappointed. Wigan had been struggling with defensive injuries and were never going to allow us as much space and freedom as Reading had afforded us. We needed to work for this one. Grind it out.
Yes, we had one or two things go our way. Arouna Kone should have given Roberto Martinez' side the lead midway through the first half when he raced past the otherwise immaculate Per Mertersaker but fired wide of the target.
Then there was the penalty. My initial reaction was that it was a foul. Theo tricked Bousejour into the challenge and he was caught. Yes it was soft, but a foul is a foul and Mikel Arteta duly converted from the spot.
Having waited 330 minutes to see an away goal in the Premier League this season, Emerson and I were not about to complain about this one that was for sure! Plus, of course, when the goal is a penalty you get two celebrations for the price of one - the first when the referee points to the spot and the second when the ball actually hits the net.
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| Arteta slots home the winner to give us something to cheer at last |
But instead of going on to dominate as we had at Reading, for some reason we decided to sit back after that and the substitutions showed our intentions.
The Ox, who had been impressive down the right, was replaced by Ramsey, Podolski was replaced by Coquelin and Cazorla, who had had little influence on proceedings, was replaced by Laurent Koscielny. I wouldn't mind betting all these decisions were made by a certain Mr. Stevie Bould either.
They put us under pressure in the closing stages but that old Graham spirit shone through. Thomas Vermealen and Metersaker were outstanding, while Coquelin and Arteta gave them the necessary protection in the closing stages. 1-0 to the Arsenal. Got a ring to it, eh?
The win lifted us up to third place, thanks to Spurs failing to beat Stoke later in the day, so a club that was in crisis a couple of weeks ago is now looking in fine shape.
Of course I will not get too carried away. Improvements are needed, reinforcements are needed, but in the circumstances we should be fairly happy with our lot going into Christmas.
A title challenge in 2013 looks out of the question, although we did pull back a similar gap in 1998, but this is a work in progress. With the 'Young Guns' tied to long term deals, and Theo expected to sign his soon, this group can only grow and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we do indeed get our Arsenal back before too long.
Just don't expect it to be the class of 2004. More like 1994, but that will do for me. 5-2 wins are great of course, but it is the 1-0's that win you silverwear.
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