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Arsenal are not the only Champions League regular to fall on the Villa sword of late. Chelsea and Liverpool have taken sucker punches to the chops in recent seasons. You'd have to think that is largely down to the type of personnel the Midlands side have in their ranks. Gabriel Agbonlahor, Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann are all good players on the counter attack and I can think of more than a couple successful Villa counters on us over the years. So with that in mind, we are going to have to be good whenever we lose the ball. The likes of Coquelin and Ramsey who I both expect to start will have to be switched on, especially the latter who does like a stroll towards the opposition penalty area. I mean who can blame him, it's not as if he hasn't had plenty of success doing so

Andrew (@Arseblog) joins Paul (@PoznanInMyPants) and James (@GoonerFanatic49) in a slightly later than usual post match podcast. The victory against Brighton is on the agenda along with new boys Gabriel and Bielik.

ith the signing of Gabriel and the resurgence of Coquelin the squad has a more complete feel about it now. So much so that keeping players happy and committed to the club could prove to be an issue. That seems to be the case with Chuba Akpom. The youngster is coming to the end of his deal and it seems as if he has many options which is why he

Had we scored the third goal then it could have been a lot more comfortable but we couldn't get it. Once Brighton scored, they lifted their heads and made it a match once again. Not the best defending from Flamini and the team and we allowed them back into the game but it always felt like we had another gear to go up if we really needed it. That is exactly what we did when Rosicky, Sanchezed upon a defensive error and recovered the ball back, bursting towards the box he slipped the ball wide with the trademark Ronaldinho no look pass (how many players can I merge into Rosicky here) when Giroud chipped the ball out to the edge of the area Rosicky to erm Pires it on the volley past the keeper

There is really only one answer to the question...Rosicky. His work rate at 34 is outstanding alone but his vision to spot the pass to Özil for our second goal was amazing! The run he made for the third goal, the no look pass to Giroud and the technique on the volleyed finish were outstanding. He is truly a little Mozart

Nice to see Arsene Wenger choose a strong line up this afternoon, I assume the seven day breaks between games has influenced his decision. In come Flamini, Rosicky and Monreal which allows Coquelin, Cazorla and Mertesacker can drop down to the bench and get some much needed rest ahead of our league fixture against Aston Villa.

I cannot count the amount of times I've heard people posit that injuries are no excuse for poor results. If that was the case I'd like to hear a good reason as to why yesterday's top teams who decided to rotate their squads all suffered with defeat in their own stadiums. Two of the very richest teams in the country who have 2/3 top players per position losing should provide sufficient evidence that not having a consistent team can effect results. So on that very subject, today will more than likely provide a chance to rotate some fringe players like Theo Walcott and Mesut Özil into the first team. As we are not in the league cup anymore we need to give them chances when we can. All unfunny jokes aside, today is an opportunity to give certain players a deserved rest as well as giving returning players a chance to get some much needed sharpness under their belts

Why do people subconsciously accept this, over aggressive tackles, shirt pulling and so on but get offended when a player who has been on the receiving end of three successive fouls decides to tell the referee to do his job and referee the game by the rule book? What is the betting that if Frank Lampard for example approached the referee and said something along the lines of 'For Fakk sake ref, you gonna book him or what? that's the third fakking time in a row I've been kicked like', what is the betting that 90% of anti imaginary card wavers would be totally fine with it. It is essentially the same thing, one using fakk, the other using physical actions. Maybe the latter is not confident enough to explain to the referee his grievances, so this simple and to the point gesture tells the