Arsenal pull off comfortable victory against Villa

Arsenal pulled off a comfortable victory against Aston Villa at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Gibbs, Walcott and Arteta were enough as the Gunners remained in third place and also extended their lead over Spurs and Chelsea in the battle for Champions League places. The two sides had played against each other in the day's earlier match and could only manage a goalless draw. The match was Arsenal’s seventh victory on the trot in the League meaning it was the club's best run since October 2007. For the match, Aaron Ramsey was rested as Gervinho came in for him whilst Koscielny who picked up an injury in the pre-match warm up was replaced by Djourou. Meanwhile Andre Santos came off the bench to play for the first time since returning from injury. The first chance of the match came to Aston Villa as Albrighton got down the right hand side and raced into the penalty area before firing his shot over the bar.

It was a game in which Arsenal paid their respects to former Gunner Fabrice Muamba who suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch in Bolton's FA Cup tie against Spurs. They did this by passing a banner around the ground in the minutes leading up to kick off.

Kieran Gibbs scored his first League goal in a game which Arsenal were rarely tested

The Gunners first chance fell to an in form Theo Walcott. Sagna managed to find Van Persie who then layed the ball back to Walcott who hit his shot straight at Given, who could only parry it into the path of Sagna who smashed the ball wide with his weaker foot.

However it took Arsenal just 16 minutes to find a way past Shay Given and break the deadlock. It was an opening goal that came from an unlikely source as Kieran Gibbs got into the penalty area before firing a shot into the back of the net via Given for his first Premier League goal.

Just 10 minutes later, Arsenal made it 2-0. Alex Song found time in midfield to chip a lovely ball over the Villa defence and into the path of Walcott who comfortably side footed the ball past Given to find the bottom corner of the net.

Villa were under massive pressure from Arsenal as Shay Given then had to be at his best to deny Mikel Arteta as the Spaniard struck a shot from range which Given did well to tip over the bar.

Van Persie then had his first real chance of the match as he managed to nick the ball off of Hutton before seeing his shot somehow brilliantly cleared off the line by Warnock.

The score at half time was 2-0 to Arsenal.

The start of the first half seemed some what quiet as Arsenal were searching for their third goal. Aaron Ramsey almost managed to do that just after the hour mark as he cut inside before striking a shot just wide of the post.

Bacary Sagna then almost provided a goal for Van Persie as the Arsenal right back whipped in a cross which Van Persie got to but could only head the ball off of Hutton and over the bar for a corner.

Deep into injury time, Arsenal did get their third goal and it came from a brilliant free-kick from Arteta as he decided to smash the free-kick from distance which flew past Shay Given and into the back of the net.

The final score finished Arsenal 3- 0 Aston Villa.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Vermaelen, Gibbs(68), Song, Arteta, Rosicky, Walcott(78), Gervinho(68), Van Persie.
Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Santos(68), Ramsey(68), Benayoun, Oxlade-Chamberlain(78), Chamakh.

Aston Villa: Given, Hutton(78), Collins, Cuellar, Warnock, Petrov, Herd(53), Albrighton, Ireland, Agbonlahor, Heskey(66).
Subs: Guzan, Lichaj(78), Baker, Carruthers, Gardner(53), Bannan, Weimann(66).

My man of the match: Theo Walcott

Referee: Phil Dowd
Attendance: 60,108