I'm sorry I ever doubted you.
Thank you Jesus, the international break is over and now we can get back to real football. No matter what suffering England fans have been going through in the past week I as an Irish fan have had that shit going on for the past 5 years. Not good.
Wigan came to Ashburton Grove yesterday with a new manager sitting in the stands and facing a home side still missing Robin Van Persie but additionally without the suspended Cesc Fabregas as well as the injured Mathieu Flamini and Alex Hleb and Le Boss dealt with the absences by bringing Diarra and Denilson to play in midfield and giving Walcott a start in the side up front alongside Adebayor.
Missing so many players is always a recipe for a struggling side to grab a heroic and shock win (hello Bolton, well done yesterday) and in fairness to them Wigan played well, worked hard and though they never looked like winning the game they could have left with a point and their performance yesterday showed positive signs for their chances of survival this season.
Of the changes to our starting 11 the key selection seems to have been that of Theo. He looked lively throughout and was a constant problem for the Wigan defence. More importantly it gave Ade someone to link up with, the Togolese striker hasn't been in great form of late and part of it I think is down to the 4-5-1 system that Arsenal have employed during that period. It's a role that doesn't seem to suit him and he was far more effective yesterday when he had a partner. He didn't score but his overall performance was his best in some time. His timing of runs, his touch and his bringing people into the game were vastly improved and the strike force combined well early on to create an opportunity for Walcott. We dominated the first half but didn't score and Wigan did have one fine chance to to into the break with the lead when Boyce put in a cross for Marcus Bent to head over.
The second half began in much the same fashion as the first had gone with plenty of possession for Arsenal with the best of the chances possibly falling to Tomas Rosicky when Diarra played a ball to him at the edge of the box to fire over. Eventually the goal did come in the 83rd minute and it was very much down to the efforts of William Gallas who has probably been our best player in the past month and has demonstrated leadership qualities which have vindicated Wenger's decision to give him the armband for the season. Stepping up into midfield he played the ball into substitute David Bendtner's feet and began to storm into the box, Bendtner slid it wide to Bakary Sagna whose cross met the head of Gallas at the near post as the Frenchman powered the ball into the goal to break the deadlock.
A second came a few minutes later and was a vintage passing Arsenal move from the back. Taking the throw in the left back area the ball came to Bentdner deep inside his own half. The Dane turn and took the ball into the Wigan half unchallenged before playing a ball to Tomas Rosicky who was making a run down the right. One touch to take the ball to the inside of the area and the Rosicky fired a low, hard drive in off the left post to seal the deal.
Hooray, the league is back, and hooray, we're still winning games we weren't last season. United losing yesterday means that we're now three points clear with a game in hand, a position I think I can safely say is a nice one to be in.
Next up in Sevilla on Tuesday. Despite the fact that we're through and Wenger played a very weak side in the last match in Prague I think there'll be a pretty strong side put out in Spain. We're still undefeated in all competitions this year and it's probably not a record anyone want's to lose just for the sake of resting players. Preview of that on Tuesday and a recap on Wednesday at some point.
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