BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 ARSENAL 3
By Ricky Butler at St. Andrews.
ARSENAL showed their title credentials with this impressive New Years Day demolition of Birmingham at St. Andrews yesterday evening.
Having thrown away two precious points at Wigan three days earlier, Arsene Wenger's men could not another afford slip up after both Manchester clubs had won earlier in the day. With that in mind the Frenchmen again made eight changes reverting back to the side that had beaten Chelsea in such style last week.
The Blues may have started the day in the drop zone following West Ham's win over Wolves, but they had lost only once in 28 attempts at home and had already beaten Chelsea and drawn with Manchester United here this season, the latter just three days earlier.
Meanwhile the Gunners had seen their own title aspirations falter here twice in recent years, conceding late equalisers on their two previous visits, and it was nearly five years since they had last tasted victory on this ground.
But to win the title you need to not only play good football but also dig in and battle and Arsenal showed both sides to their game in an impressive first half display. They suffered an early scare when skipper Cesc Fabregas was caught by a wild lunge from Roger Johnson, bringing back memories of the horrific injury suffered by Eduardo on virtually the same area of the pitch three years ago, but thankfully the Spaniard was not badly hurt and was able to continue.
Fired up by that the Gunners dominated the early exchanges and grabbed a 13th minute lead. Robin van Persie was sent tumbling after clashing with Scott Dann on the edge of the penalty area and the Dutchman's free kick took a wicked deflection off Lee Bowyer to leave Ben Foster no chance. It was van Persie's first Premier League goal of an injury-hit season and it gave Wenger's men just the start they needed.
The hosts briefly rallied and only a fine save from Lukasz Fabianski kept out a curling free kick from ex-Gunner Sebastian Larsson while Alex McLeish's side felt they should have a penalty soon after when van Persie appeared to handle a cross from Steven Carr.
But Arsenal should have had the points wrapped up before the break. Van Persie, who was now being cast as the villain by the home fans, twice missed good opportunities; a poor first touch saw the ball run through to Foster before he then chipped tamely into the arms of the Blues keeper after a great ball from Samir Nasri.
The hosts very nearly made him pay with half time approaching. Cameron Jerome flicked on a Larsson free kick and Johnson got the wrong side of Alex Song but the defender could only fire over from six yards with the goal at his mercy.
If the Gunners had to battle for everything in the first half, their slick passing game was brought to the fore after the break. With Nasri and Fabregas now running the show in midfield it was only a matter of time before they doubled their advantage.
Jack Wilshere should have celebrated his 19th birthday with a goal, after Song had laid the ball into his path four minutes after the restart, but his left-footed volley flew over the top, while Nasri was then denied by Foster after showing great pace to accelerate past Johnson.
But it was 2-0 just before the hour. The in-form Frenchman combined well with his captain and with Johnson standing off, he was able to guide the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net from 18 yards - his 13th goal of a hugely impressive season.
It was then all over eight minutes later when the two combined again. Fabregas was denied by Foster from a tight angle after a wonderful reverse pass from Nasri, but the ball deflected off Dann and rolled into the net off the unfortunate Johnson.
McLeish threw on Nikola Zigic in an attempt to salvage some pride from what was fast becoming a very unhappy New Year, but it was the Gunners who could have added to their total in the closing stages. Substitute Andrey Arshavin and van Persie were both denied by Foster, although Zigic did send a header crashing against the underside of the crossbar in stoppage time.
Wenger was happy with the performance and the clean sheet. "We needed that." he said. "It was a good performance and we dealt with everything they could throw at us. We showed outstanding spirit and togetherness but we have another big game on Wednesday."
That home date with Manchester City will be another big test of the Gunners title credentials but with Nasri and Fabregas in this form and van Persie coming back to his best you would not bet against them winning again.
BIRMINGHAM; Foster 8, Carr 6, Johnson 5, Dann 6, Ridgewell 6, Bowyer 5 (Zigic 69mins 6), Gardner 6, Ferguson 5, Larsson 6, Beausejour 4 (Hleb 59mins 6), Jerome 5 (Phillips 79mins 5).
ARSENAL; Fabianski 7, Sagna 7, Koscienly 7, Djourou 7, Clichy 7, Song 8, Fabregas 8, Nasri 8, Walcott 7 (Arshavin 79mins 7), Wilshere 7 (Denilson 79mins 6), van Persie 8.
REFEREE; Peter Walton 5.
ATTENDANCE; 24,341
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