1-0 to the Arsenal - away wins like they used to be

'WE want our Arsenal back' has been a popular chant from the travelling Gooners this season, and over the previous five days that is exactly what we have got.

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.



Arteta slots home the winner to give us something to cheer at last

The banter with the Wigan fans to our left was great. They started it with a rendition of 'Robin van Persie, he left 'cause you're s**t.' But we responded with possibly THE chant of the season - 'Titus Bramble, he left 'cause you're s**t!' Hilarious.

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.

Michu at the double as Arsenal suffer shocking home defeat

ARSENAL 0 SWANSEA CITY 2
By Ricky Butler at the Emirates

Two goals in the final two minutes from leading scorer Miguel Michu gave Swansea a shock win at The Emirates on Saturday.

The Spaniard twice capitalised on Arsenal defensive errors in the closing stages to pile more pressure on beleaguered Gunners boss Arsene Wenger.


The Frenchman had spoken in the build up to the game about the need to win their home matches but his side rarely looked like scoring against a resolute Swans defence.

In contrast, Michael Laudrup's men should have been in front long before the end. Carl Jenkinson did well to block an early effort from Ashley Williams while Angel Rangel was twice kept at bay by Wojciech Szczesny before the break.

Nathan Dyer then broke from half way and would surely have opened the scoring had it not been for a great last-ditch challenge from Thomas Vermaelen.

Arsenal created very little in a first half display lacking any fluency. Jack Wilshere showed his frustration by berating Gervinho and Lukas Podolski for a lack of movement in front of him and the nearest they came to a breakthrough was a Santi Cazorla header which landed safely in the arms of Swans goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel.


Wenger's side came out at the start of the second half with more tempo to their play, but they still struggled to create anything tangible.

Twice Cazorla fired straight at Tremmell while the Spaniard then claimed a penalty after he appeared to be brought down by fellow countryman Chico Flores, but referee Mark Clatenberg was unimpressed.

Wenger threw on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Oliver Giroud and Tomas Rosicky - his first appearance of an injury hit season - for Gervinho, Podolski and Wilshere but it was the Swans who continued to create the better chances.

Szczesny saved well again from Rangel and substitute Dwight Tiendalli before Michu struck two minutes from time.

Vermaelen and Per Mertersacker were both attracted to Luke Moore leaving Michu with a clean run on goal which he never looked like missing.

With the Emirates still in shock, the Spaniard then capitalised on a mistake by the otherwise impressive Jenkinson in stoppage time to seal a famous Swansea victory - his 10th Premier League goal of the season.

"It was not a good performance," said Wenger at the final whistle. "I felt Swansea deserved to win. We were very jaded physically after two tough away games and today we were not at the races at all.

"We were guilty at 0-0 with two minutes to go. When you can't win it is important not to lose. We were not cautious enough defensively to keep a 0-0," he continued.

"We tried very hard in the second half to get into the game but we were not sharp enough to create many openings.

"We need to get the balance right in our offensive game. We had many attacking players on the pitch but we didn't create enough chances and we will work on that.

"The fans are right to boo. You cannot be happy when you don't win the games. We need to win our home matches but what we produced today was not convincing enough to keep our fans happy."

Swans manager Laudrup was delighted with his side's performance. He said: "It is a fantastic result and a great performance. It was easy to be motivated against one of the big teams.

"We have had a very good week with seven points from three games. It has been absolutely outstanding.

"We could play with no pressure. All the pressure was on Arsenal because they needed to win today.

"I felt we played very well. We created five or six big chances but when we did not take them I felt Arsenal would maybe get the winning goal. Fortunately it did not go like that and we scored two good goals.

"Michu is a great finisher and a great worker but in this team right now everyone is playing at a very high level which is great to see."

ARSENAL - Szczesny 8, Jenkinson 7, Mertersaker 6, Vermaelen 5, Gibbs 5, Arteta 6, Wilshere 5 (Rosicky), Cazorla 7, Walcott 6, Gervinho 4 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 6), Podolski 5 (Giroud 5).

SWANSEA CITY - Tremmell 6, Rangel 7, Yeoung 7, Chico 6, Davies 7, De Guzman 8(Tiendalli 6), Britton 7, Shechter 6 (Moore 6), Williams 7, Dyer 8, Michu 9.

REFEREE; M. Clatenburg

STAR MAN; Michu (Swansea) - Two superb late finishes capped a fine all-round display.

ATTENDANCE; 60,098