Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal – 27/01/10 – (Premier League) 28 January, 2010

Not really the result we hoped for but from what I saw it wasn’t really the performance we hoped for either. There was a lot of build up going into last night but the players didn’t seem able to produce a great deal.

Villa were out to prove a point and played well from the start. They knew how important win was to us and weren’t going to give us the points.

The main talking point of the first half as far as we were concerned was the injury to Thomas Vermaelen. He picked up a knock after half an hour and was quite clearly struggling and hobbling round the pitch. He had to be replaced and it was a big chance for Sol Campbell. And he rose to the occasion and put in a solid performance. He played Heskey completely out of the game and hardly put a foot wrong.

Vermaelen left the ground on crutches after the game with a suspected broken fibula. It could’ve meant the rest of the season out for him and I have spent most of today worrying about the scan results. It was fantastic news though – there was no break but could still miss Man United. I can take him being out for Sunday, I’m just so relieved he wont miss the rest of the season!

If Campbell’s fit he can cover Vermaelen at the weekend, if not I think the best option is the returning Alex Song. We’ll talk about this later in the week though.

In the first half Villa had two decent chances. An Ashley Young free kick went a foot the wrong side of the post and Stewart Downing couldn’t control the cross after Young skinned Clichy to get in a great position.

However the closest the game came to a goal in the first half was right at the end, and it was us. Fabregas went on a brilliant run, breaking through the home defence. He shot across goal from the right but it came off the post denying the captain a great solo goal. It came straight out to Rosicky and Ramsey but they both got in each other’s way. If just one of them was there at the time it would’ve been an easy tap it – Cesc reminded them to communicate next time. Very frustrating.

So 0-0 it was at the break. Could hardly argue that it was an unfair reflection but we so should’ve taken the lead right at the end.

Downing had another great chance early into the half, a deep cross came to him unmarked at the back post. There was plenty of room to nod it in the top corner but aimed it hopelessly wide. Phew.

We hit the woodwork again on the hour. Arshavin made a great run from the left wing to find himself one-on-one with Friedel. His shot was saved but rebounded straight to Fabregas who unselfishly laid it off to Rosicky six yards out. He just had a few men on the line to beat but smashed it off the cross bar. So, so agonizingly close again.

We had another chance right at the very end when Sol Campbell reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box but couldn’t put it away and it ended up 0-0. A draw was probably a fair reflection, it was a well-fought and evenly contested game and a point each is about right. However those two chances where we hit the woodwork were centimetres from going in and you just feel if luck was a little more on our side we would’ve won yesterday.

So it’s just 1 point so far out of a possible 12 to gain over this run of four games and many would’ve hoped to start with all 3. It’s a shame but I haven’t been too annoyed about this result. The ‘six-pointers’ against Man United and Chelsea are the really big ones, win those and last nights result wont even matter anymore.

It’s a big one on Sunday. Injury news and all the usual build ups to come this week. Thanks for reading.