Iron Man

Arsene Wenger was able to name a very strong bench and it was the manager's bold use of a triple substitution that gave Arsenal that extra impetus when the game was deadlocked. Ramsey, Cazorla and Wilshere were all withdrawn at the same time and replaced by Flamini, Rosicky and Walcott. The fact that the latter two combined for that opening goal just shows how effective the changes were. It's something of a testament to Wenger

Arsenal’s second goal came in the second half and displayed all the hallmarks of team taking their position at the top of the league rather seriously. The excellent Nacho Monreal stretched to prevent the ball going out of play on the left hand side before feeding Ozil. The German, with the assistance of Aaron Ramsey, then weaved a tapestry through the Hull defence with an excellent 1-2 that culminated in him calmly slotting the ball past a helpless Alan McGregor. The interchange between the two midfielders was as impressive as anything you are likely to see in Europe and the delicious reverse return pass from Ramsey is just another example to add to the growing list of wonderful things he has done this season

Aaron Ramsey tormented his former club in a hugely impressive 3-0 Arsenal win. On paper, this match looked like a potential banana skin - especially considering the troubles the two Manchester clubs experienced on their trips to the Welsh capital this season. The red-shirted Bluebirds did have their moments in what was a nervy second half, the Gunners' class eventually shone through The win was bookended by two goals from the Cardiff old boy. Ramsey opened the scoring against his former club with a flying header in the first half and

Speaking of Özil, that missed penalty and his abovementioned assist for Wilshere provided two stark moments of contrast in what was an interesting game for the German. Despite showing some nice touches, Özil didn’t really get into the game as much as one would have liked/expected in the first half. Wrightly or wrongly, it has been suggested recently that Arsenal’s record signing has seen his levels ‘drop off’ in the last few weeks and consequently not quite influencing games as much as he should. For the price paid, people seem to expect Özil to take on something of a starring role. However, anybody that watched him regularly before his arrival at the Emirates would know that he is actually more of a ‘conductor’, tailoring his play to allow others around him to flourish.

In 1999, Arsene Wenger found himself having to replace want-away striker Nicolas Anelka with a somewhat wet-behind-the-ears forward. Having spent a disastrous eight months floundering on the wing for Juventus, Thierry Henry’s £10m price tag seemed like a gamble. A gamble that looked like it was set to fail as, like Bergkamp, the Frenchman didn’t exactly hit the ground running and failed to score in his first seven matches for Arsenal, all the while looking nowhere near an adequate enough replacement for Anelka.
But then, Arsenal had a fixture at The Dell – otherwise known as the land of opportunity for Gunners forwards. With the game deadlocked at 0-0 with just 10 minutes to go, Tony Adams brought the ball forward from defence and laid on a pass to the struggling

Robin van Persie has now scored three in three since leaving us for them. With each passing game, the decision to allow him to leave for Old Trafford looks like an increasingly daft move on part of the Arsenal board/management. This may be well trodden ground but the point becomes pertinent once again in light of yesterday's result. When a guy scores 30 plus goals for you in a season, the absolute last thing you do is let him go to a potential rival – even if he expresses a desire to leave. It's easy to throw around terms like 'traitor' and 'judas' but when all was said and done, the ones who had the final say on the transfer was Arsenal Football Club who thought £24m was more valuable than keeping the best player in the team. As we have seen with the likes of Suarez and Rooney,

For the last few years, Arsene Wenger has been in the process of building a midfield to fit his own specifications and this season we are truly seeing the fruits of his labours as he seems to have emerged from his tool-shed with a pretty formidable unit. Baring one or two rare moments, the five players who started in the middle of the park completely overwhelmed Liverpool, barely allowing the scousers opportunities to create anything tangible and putting them on the back foot for much of the match. Goalscorers Ramsey and Cazorla, along with Özil and Rosicky weaved wonderful passing patterns that left the likes of Gerrard and Lucas chasing shadows. It was one of those occasions when all the planets seemed to align and the players were all on the same wavelength. As a result,

Arsenal fanbase almost exploded in apoplectic rage at the fact that during analysis of the Palace match on Match of the Day, Alan Hansen chose to highlight the circumstances leading up to Arteta’s sending off by comparing it to a goal conceded against Everton in 2010 – drawing the conclusion that Arsenal all too often leave themselves exposed to counter-attacks which prove to be our undoing. While his attempt to make the point was ham-fisted at best, I feel it was a point that was entirely valid – and so it proved with the first Chelsea goal as Cesar Azpilicueta somehow managed to bomb on and score from a passage of play that actually begun with Arsenal taking a corner kick! At the risk of coming across lazy and repetitive

statistics, but if none of this dominance with the ball translates into goals or at least clear cut chances, then you are neglecting what it is actually important and only doing half the job. This was highlighted by the fact that it was Palace who were actually far more proactive in trying to open the scoring on the few occasions they saw the ball. Our tepidness going forward seemed to galvanise them and as the half drew to a close, it was they who were in the

If there is to be any down side to Rambo's incredible improved form this season, it's the ever so slight risk of OVER-confidence. Only a player playing as well as he is currently even attempts something so audacious. I suspect he will learn from this & we won't see him taking such risks again anytime soon.