Theo again took advantage of some slack play by Malouda, nicking the ball off him and playing it in to Fabregas before taking off on a well held run for fabregas to play a delightfully chipped through ball (just high enough to creep over Terry’s attempted slide tackle) and Theo was through

Just what the doctor ordered.

It seemed the margins between a team “maturing into genuine title contenders” or “being in crisis” were threadbare prior to last night’s kick off, from an Arsenal perspective. Wenger’s team selection threw out one surprise in a starting berth for Theo Walcott, pitting him against a defender he has had minimal success against in previous encounters. Robin van Persie got his first premier league start since returning from injury as Chamakh was rested and on the bench.

Chelsea started the brighter of the two sides, maintaining more possession in the opening 15 minutes, as we tried to find our feet in the match. A half chance for Drogba was their only opportunity of note but he pulled his shot too far left and past Fabianski’s post. This is when we started to click into gear, up the tempo, and began to test Chelsea’s mettle.

Looking controlled in possession playing in and around the Chelsea box, and with attempted penetrating runs from midfield by Theo, we were looking threatening without ever really testing Cech in the Chelsea goal. We had to wait until around the 40 minute mark for Samir Nasri, with limited options, to take a shot from the edge of the area – with no backlift he floated the ball perfectly and forced Cech into a fingertip save to ensure it didn’t creep in over his head. 5 minutes later we had the ball in the back of the net. Alex Song taking the attacking impetus into his own hands, as he has so many times this season, fed Wilshere and made a good run for the return pass which was helped on its way (by Fabregas) and Song struck it low and across the keeper to make it 1-0 just before the half-time whistle. A great time to score, and no less than we deserved.

The pundits at half-time spoke of how the opening of the second half would tell a lot about the character of both teams and their ambitions for the remainder of the championship. I hope they’re right because we couldn’t have dreamed of a better opening. Without shifting down a gear we came out pressing high and putting Chelsea under pressure when in possession. The extra effort soon came to our benefit as Michael Essien rushed his aimless clearance and an alert Theo made ball watching Ashley Cole look schoolboy-ish as he ghosted in behind, drew Cech towards him before cutting the ball across to the onrushing Fabregas, who had an empty net to tuck the ball into, 2-0.

As if it couldn’t get any better, it was soon 3-0. Theo again took advantage of some slack play by Malouda, nicking the ball off him and playing it in to Fabregas before taking off on a well held run for fabregas to play a delightfully chipped through ball (just high enough to creep over Terry’s attempted slide tackle) and Theo was through. He looks a man playing with high confidence as he took an early shot low and hard across the keeper. 3-0 and the party was well and truly in full swing. The Emirates atmosphere sounded better than I ever remember and truly played its part in keeping the confidence high after Chelsea pulled a goal back through a set-piece headed in from point blank range by Ivanovic.

The game ended 3-1 after a good number of chances could have made the score-line even better; Nasri getting on the end of a poor back-pass is one that comes to mind. There are a number of players that stood out yesterday, in defense Djourou kept our “tormentor” Drogba completely quiet with his physical presence, aerial challenges and altogether clever reading of the game. Sagna was, as per usual, solid, and Clichy had his moments of madness but brought the ball forward better than either of the opposition full-backs.

Alex Song had his most disciplined game in weeks, defending deep when we needed him, making some critical interceptions and clearances when needed. Jackie boy played with ability and commitment above and beyond what any 19 year old should legally be allowed to do! He made his aging England compatriot, Lampard, look average. Theo stepped up from the beginning of the game, which can’t often be said of the young man who most would agree normally makes his impact from the subs bench against tired legs. His finish was sublime and his link up play with Fabregas equally invaluable. But the player who I am actually most happy to discuss is Robin van Persie. I think its easy to forget just how good he can be when he is fit because, lets face it, he rarely is. He may not have the aerial presence of Chamakh that has served us so well already this season in that lone-striking role but his touch and all round ability on the ball gave us something that I think we have been lacking since the Henry and Bergkamp days. He linked up play, kept the ball well and, whilst not creating too many goalscoring opportunities for himself, was happy to commit himself to the greater cause; holding off Terry and Ivanovic in the run in to Cesc’s goal to give an example.

What a difference three points makes. An otherwise normal day had me suitably cheery, and I hope it was the same for all of you! Not to put a dampener on things, but this will all be for nothing if the focus doesn’t now shift to Wigan on Wednesday. We need to keep this momentum and it’ll put us in a good position going into our next big test which is Citeh next week (after two potential banana skins).

As it is, we reclaim second spot in the table, have answered Arsene’s call to perform at home in the fixtures against our closest title rivals and most importantly I feel, grabbed the proverbial “monkey off our backs” and hoofed it out of the floodlit Emirates stadium, in style.