Aston Villa v. Arsenal 0-0 27/Jan/09

Campbell makes his Premier League "re-debut" as Vermaelen limps.
[Photo: Daily Mail]


After last weekend's early exit of the FA Cup, the Gunners sights into the two titles in which they can rely to, at least, compete. The exit of both Cameroon and Ivory Coast of the ACN meant that the African duo composed of Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboué could join and watch only from the stands as they will wait for a chance in Saturday's derby. Eventually this match, alongside with the following three, will determine Arsenal's title credentials when the fixture congestion of late March and April arrives.
If the chance of a positive outcome is produced by the young guns in these weeks, then a real possibility of lifting any of the two competitions left -most probably the Premier League- will be in the horizon, just ahead the date in South Africa. In the favour of the Londoners the list of injuries has reduced to a single figure, only containing long term absentees. In the other end, transfers have gone quite calm with some players extending contracts and loans.



Arsenal midfielders battling through.
[Photo: ACTION IMAGES via Telegraph]


It was not the most heartening welcome for the London side (at least in football matters) mainly because O'Neill's team managed to put the visitors against the wall in a number of occasions, starting with Gabriel Agbonlahor's shot in the 4th minute. The Gunners retaliated with a Eduardo shot at 9th. From then on, there were one or two options for them as the home team took advantage of a weak Arsenal team. Vermaelen got booked and gave away a freekick, that luckily for the Londoners was wide off the post.
Reaching the 23th minute, the Villains seemed to get a decent control of the match creating some outstanding football. Arsenal's poor passing along with the fact that the forwards were not connecting with their midfielders was one of the many concerns for Arsene's halftime talk. Apparently Vermaelen injured himself and was substituted ten minutes before the end. Again Ashley Young terrorised Arsenal's fullbacks; Clichy was exposed as the English winger left behind him with demonic speed.
Aside from a poor freekick by Cesc, the visitors showed some proper work on the ball as they approached Friedel's goal. In the final minute the Spaniard shot after dribbling past two, but the ball hit the woodwork and in the following rebound, Ramsey got in Rosicky's way and wasted a terrific chance to grab the lead.



Aaron Ramsey concedes possession to Milner.
[Photo: Matthew Childs/Action Images via Guardian]


The Gunners' halftime talk was not reinvigorating in neither sense; they still suffered from the attacks of Young. The home side grasped every opportunity in the set-pieces, particularly on corners. Some scrappy defending led the Londoners to some moments of frantic nervousness. In the 61th minute after a great run by Arshavin, Cesc couldn't quite control the ball and somehow Rosicky found it as he shot a howler at point blank. The ball punched the crossbar and another chance was wasted.
With Arshavin spending more time in the box, it looked that the lead could be soon coming nevertheless, Villa's intelligent defending was the cornerstone of the game. The match suddenly turned open as both teams struggled for the late goal. The final minutes were a mixture of imposure by O'Neill's men: the fact that both teams played fairly good led to the conclusion that the points dropped were actually more painful that what appeared.