Arsenal 3-0 Wigan

Simpson 43, 68, Vela 71 – Divers: De Ridder

I tried coming up with some witty line to open this post using the word Kids, but I guess I’m just not that kind of hack. I’ll leave it to the rest of the Arseblogosphere to treat you to such gems as “The Kids are alright” or “The Young Guns blah blah yadda…“  I just don’t have it in me. Besides, the Gunners I watched in this match played like seasoned veterans… perhaps not the the most technically astute, but certainly all heart, and even more so… all Arsenal. Kids seems almost an insult in retrospect.

Apart from the omission of Emile Heskey (injured), Steve Bruce put out his best side. It wasn’t enough. To be sure, there were more than a few moments when the Latics appeared to be boss of the pitch, but the Arsenal side seemed like that bullied kid we all knew in school who, no matter how bad the nose bleed, always came back with his chin up. That was our side for the first third or so. They seemed to be getting pushed, pressured and all the while Wigan prodded for an opening. But as the match progressed, Arsenal seemed to learn their foe, and the comfort level grew. The pushing around subsided, and then the pushing back began.

Apart from Alex Song and possibly Johann Djourou, no one… and I mean no one from the first team was in the line up. And, I have to tell you… seeing the line up before the match had me grinning ear to ear. You could just feel that this was going to be one to remember. WuTang Fabianski captained the likes of Kieran Gibbs, Gavin Hoyte, Fran Merida, Mark Randall, Aaron Ramsey, Jay Simpson, Carlos Vela and the excellent Jack Wilshere. Amaury Bischoff, Rui Fonte and Henri Lansbury made it off the bench in the waning minutes to contribute. This troupe, with an average age of 19, began the push back… and pushed, and pushed, until Jay Simpson found the net shortly before the break. Things still seemed tentative at that point and Wigan kept on the press in a 4-3-3, but then at 68′ on a perfectly executed counter attack, Carlos Vela found his way nearly into the net before crossing back into the on rush of Jay Simpson to complete his brace. Vela tasted blood, and 3 minutes later, chased down a long ball that he had no right to get to first, and chipped the Wigan keeper from 10 yards wide in what will have to be a strong candidate for Goal of the Year. Arsene Wenger, when asked if he thought Vela’s goal was special, replied by saying he was surprised that Vela hadn’t scored on a similar opportunity in the first half because he makes those all the time. More of Carlos in the first team, please. Thank you.

Were it not for the excellent stopping of Chris Kirkland, we could have made this a 7-0 rout, mostly in the second half. Although appearing to be playing with an injury, Kirkland made some absolutely stunning saves. Although, near the final whistle, Luasz Fabianski made a double save that simply dropped my jaw. His awareness and agility to get back on his feet after a save are simply awesome. When I saw that save live, I yelled “Oh, come on!” and the first thing I thought was that the ball had no business being anywhere but in the net. But it wasn’t… Lukasz had got a hand on it for the second time in 400 milliseconds to keep it out of his goal, with a bit of help from the crossbar. Brilliant keeping – world class.

Arsenal dropped prices to get capacity crowds at The Grove for this one… and it worked. Just shy of 60,000 people got to see the match. I’m all for price drops, but I would have gladly paid full price to see a match like that. If these young fellows are the future of Arsenal, then I can sleep soundly at night knowing we are indeed in excellent hands. Beautiful showing tonight, Gunners. Beautiful.