First Half Good. Second Half Bad. Needed to gut this one out as Villa poured it on reminding me a little of Sevilla less than a week ago. This time however we didn’t make any defensive mistakes in the second half and despite a banged up midfield missing Hleb and Fabregas, Diarra and Flamini managed to hold off Villa for just long enough. The pouring rain didn’t help matters and made for sloppy passes that were very un-Arsenal-like, Villa was dangerous crossing the ball into the middle but credit goes to Kolo and Co. for heading away tempting cross after tempting cross throughout the second half. Gritty Arsenal performance led in the midfield by Flamini who deserves a new contract right now.

The first half had that 4-1 feel to it and even after Gardner snuck one in on us it wasn’t panic time. Flamini responded after an Eboue run and cross and sprayed the ball right at his feet. Adebayor soon headed home the second after some nice Sagna/Eboue/Hleb passing. At the time the goal was scored I thought Arsenal were destined to score at least three more but the rain and Aston Villa changed that.

It’s time to bring back Jens Lehmann, Almunia’s been good for us but let’s face it, Lehmann is the better goalie. I’m not saying Lehmann would’ve stopped the first goal, I’m saying if we’re going to win any trophies we’re going to need a better goalie than Almunia. His positioning has been questionable and he’s slower to react than Lehmann – nobody can deny that. Yes, Jens is crazy but I think he’s learned his lesson. We’re going to lose some players to the ACN and one can’t expect Almunia to hold the fort down, I say bring back Lehmann or get a new goalie (Green still available?). I don’t want to go to the knockout stages of the Champions League with Almunia as Arsenal’s #1 goalie, that does not bode well.

Check out the match report and if you haven’t already, get the feed. Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill’s post-match interview is part of the BBC’s match report.

Here are the individual goals followed by the MOTD highlights:

14′ Gardner: Download

[vimeo 411499]

23′ Flamini: Download

[vimeo 411527]

36′ Adebayor: Download

[vimeo 411513]

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