A few seconds later William Gallas powered forward to join the attack, exchanging passes with Arshavin and finding Cesc in the left of the penalty box, Cesc shifted the ball past the defender and scuffed a right footed shot low towards the near post

Arsenal 4 AZ Alkmaar 1 – Champions League

Yet another sumptuous display of football at the Emirates stadium last night, it is almost getting to the point where if we do not witness at least three goals then something is wrong. After scoring three goals on Saturday which could have been six, Wenger made three changes to freshen up the side, Eboue made his customary home Champions League right back switch in place of Bacary Sagna, Samir Nasri played in the right sided attacking position whilst Gibbs replaced the injured Clichy.

Once I managed to get the team line up I was itching to see how the team would play, even if it was against a Ronald Koeman side that are known for stopping us playing our game. He would have to pull out something special to stop Nasri, Arshavin, Cesc and Van Persie. I still yearn to see Rosicky included in that side for at least 45 minutes.

Some of our football was absolutely breath taking, balls being fired into players feet and first time popping the ball off to a team mate in a blink of an eye. The movement and tempo was much better than it was against Spurs. The players are clearly on a high and their football is showing that.

One early move ending with a right foot Van Persie shot was pure magic and would have been a goal of the season contender had his shot found the corner of the net rather than being pushed wide of the far post by the goalkeeper.

Song – Cesc – Arshavin – Diaby – Nasri – Arshavin – Van Persie, all in the blink of an eye, all one touch, all designed to open up any defence in world football.

I have watched that move over ten times and it gets even better.

I take the credit for our first goal, so you can all thank me and the power of the mind. Ok, maybe not but just before our attack I said to a friend of mine ‘We need to score a goal now to make our possession count’

A few seconds later William Gallas powered forward to join the attack, exchanging passes with Arshavin and finding Cesc in the left of the penalty box, Cesc shifted the ball past the defender and scuffed a right footed shot low towards the near post. The keeper who may have been unsighted should have come across quicker and before he knew it, the ball nestled in the back of the net.

Cesc was visibly annoyed about something that had gone on, it was difficult to work out who he was venting his frustrations out on. Nevertheless Cesc had scored in his second consecutive home game.

The second Arsenal goal was beautiful and a wonderful display of rotation from the front players. Arshavin attempted a through pass that was intercepted, a moment later he was back on the ball in the position that Cesc Fabregas usually takes up, Robin Van Persie had pealed off to the right whilst Samir Nasri found himself in the center forward position. Arshavin’s pass found Nasri who had a defender to beat, Nasri’s turn was superb and allowed him the opportunity to run in against the goalkeeper and place it past his left for the second Arsenal goal.

We have missed Nasri’s wonderful ability to drive at opponents and combine with our other attacking players. It certainly shows the quality of our squad when the likes of Rosicky and Nasri can come back into the Arsenal squad after so long and slot in as if they had never been away.

Abou Diaby had a very controlled and disciplined performance last night, kept it very simple and worked very hard off the ball to win it back. Last season I wouldn’t have said this but I actually think he could play in the same role that Alex Song is doing so well if he was totally focused and disciplined. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him there in January.

Without the long legs of Diaby, Arsenal wouldn’t have scored the third when it came. Diaby nipped ahead of an AZ Alkmaar player and intercepted the ball, Arshavin took over and slipped in Cesc for a finish that was reminiscent of the great Thierry Henry.

Cesc was masterful last night, once again controlling the match. He isn’t flashy like Ronaldo, he isn’t going to beat a whole team and round the goal keeper like Messi but he can control a game almost on his own. One subtle bit of magic was when he was facing the touchline with an opposition player closing in on him, he turned and flicked the ball around the player to a team mate. I could have seen Dennis Bergkamp doing it but not many others have the awareness and vision of everything around them.

I had a feeling that Cesc would have a vital role this season when I watched the pre season game against Hannover 96 when he was very involved in the game, getting forward more than he had done for the whole of last season.

Cesc, like Van Persie over the weekend was removed before he could get a chance to grab a hat-trick. Ramsey replaced the Spaniard, whilst Eduardo came on for Van Persie, Wenger clearly thinking of Wolves on Saturday.

The fourth goal was a typical Arsenal counter attack. Great work from Diaby and Ramsey on the edge of our penalty area, Ramsey found Eduardo on the half way line and his back heal was a great piece of improvisation. I didn’t even see the run from Arshavin on my television screen. Arshavin received his hat-trick of assists when his slightly over hit pass found Diaby who had run the length of the pitch to readjust his feet and place it wide of the long haired Argentinian keeper.

4-0 could have been 5-0 if a penalty had been given for a handball. Penalties are not coming our way right now. Our last penalty was the Eduardo penalty against Celtic. Make of that what you will.

The possible 5-0 quickly turned to 4-1 as Alkmaar went down the opposite end of the pitch and scored Manuel Almunia looked like he was trying to anticipate a shot across his goal or a pass to players in the penalty area. Instead he was beaten very easily at his near post. Almunia had a fine game until that point. Claiming everything in the air and also making one fantastic save from point blank range from Pellè.

All in all it was a superb performance, one of our best since the season started. When the likes of Rosicky is coming on for Arshavin then you have to have a chuckle at Robbie Keane’s hilarious comments last week.

We are a point away from qualification and a good chance to give the younger squad members a chance in the Champions League.