West Brom 1-3 Arsenal – 03/03/09 – (Premier League) 4 March, 2009

Thank god for that. The incredibly frustrating and depressing run of 0-0′s is over and things are looking slightly more positive. That win took us 3 points off Villa and as I type City are 1-0 up against them, which would be a great result. From Villa almost having 4th in the bag in the weekend we’re now looking in a really strong position.

We started with a bit of an irregular team, van Persie was rested and it was Bendtner and Arshavin up top. It was something we haven’t seen before and it really worked, both players were well up for it and both were a big threat in front of goal.

We ended our run after just four minutes when a Bendtner shot went through the crowd and into the back of the net. A great start.

However just 2 minutes later we had conceded a sloppy goal. We allowed West Brom to win a free kick in a decent position and a low shot went straight through the ball and into the bottom corner.

Bit of a disappointment and the way things have been going lately I was worried we might crumble. The home side had a decent spell following the equalizer. We soon picked up our heads and were in control of the game.

We re-took to lead after 38 minutes. Arshavin took a free kick from the left and Toure met it at the near post with his head. A perfect ball from Arshavin and a good run from Toure to set up an easy header.

Just before the break we opened a two goal lead thanks to Nicklas Bendtner. Toure put him through down the right side of the area, The Dane took a great touch with his thigh to bring it down and then an even better finish inside the opposite post to make it 3-1.

3 goals in the first half was a great response to all the goalless draws. The early goal always helps our game, I think maybe that gave us that extra bit of confidence.

At half time Toure was replaced by Diaby and Song dropped back into defense. Wenger confirmed after the game that Toure has picked up a calf problem and that they would find out the extent of it today, heard no news yet but I’m sure we will know by tomorrow.

We weren’t happy with just the 3 goals and we started the second half with a bit of urgency and went for the big win.

Bendtner came so close to completing his first Arsenal hat trick, a couple of decent saves and a shot hitting the post after a run through the defense stopping him. Andrey Arshavin also came really close to his first goal, he looked lively again last night and put in a great 90 minute performance – he’s looking better and better every game.

This carried on pretty much for the rest of the game. Diaby and Eboue both had decent chances too.

It was a shame that we couldn’t add to the lead but I was just happy we had managed to score again.

It finished up 3-1 and a good result for the Arsenal. Made even better by the news that Man City have just beaten Villa 2-0. From being pretty down about our chances this weekend I’m now feeling really optimistic about things.

We’re now three points off 4th place and Aston Villa’s next four games are Spurs, Liverpool, United then Everton. Ours are Blackburn, Newcastle, City and Wigan. With a bit of luck we could find ourselves above Villa especially with Walcott, Adebayor, Eduardo, Fabregas and Rosicky to come back during that period.

Before then we’ve got Burnley on Sunday and Roma next week.

It’s starting to look a little bit brighter isn’t it?