One of Bendtner’s more telling contributions last night was a perfectly-weighted through ball to Theo, but the little fella’s Thierry impersonation went slightly awry

So a nice healthy win to see us secure third place last night. For those of you who want an in-depth review of the action, check out Mean Lean’s match report. Last night after the game I was thinking that it would’ve been nice to have had this fixture instead of the Brum or Wigan away draws, a result like this would’ve done wonder for our confidence/momentum back then.

A 6-2 win away from home sounds good on paper, even if it was against Derby. As the old saying goes: “you can only beat what’s put in front of you.” And we emphatically did that, although it wasn’t all plain sailing as Derby bossed the first half-hour. Then a comical error saw Nicklas Bendtner link up with RvP to put us ahead. They haven’t played much together this season, but they’ve looked a classy combination when paired up-front (I’m thinking Steaua Bucharest at home in the CL group stages). In a way they are similar – both can hold the ball up and both can drop deep – so when they switch roles it can be too good effect.

Unfortunately the partnership wasn’t to last as RvP, surprise surprise, picked up a knock when scoring our second just before the break. By the way, what a ball from Toure for the goal! If he can do that on a regular basis then he might be a decent shout for stepping up to central midfield. I’m not too sure what Robin’s injury is, but my guess is that he strained a thigh muscle with his sliding celebration. Didn’t Wenger ban the players from doing that? I remember Paddy doing the same a decade ago after scoring a screamer against the Mancs. Speaking of Paddy, the travelling Gooners were in great voice and were belting out the old favourites during the second-half, with homages to Paddy, Dennis, Thierry, Freddie, Pires and even the world’s no.1 football pundit, Wrighty. Good stuff from the faithful.

Like I said, Robin was withdrawn at half-time and on came Ade. Those of you anxious about how him and his best mate Bendtner would link up needn’t have worried. Never mind Nicklas Bendtner, last night he was more like Nicklas Bergkamp the way he dropped deep to receive the ball and thread passes through. I remember in the Carling Cup against Sheffield United he showed similar promise when dropping deep and creating chances for Eddie and Theo. After the game I read Steve McManaman’s blog on the Setanta website saying that he was disappointed with the Dane’s performance, what the hell? I thought it was his best all-round performance in red and white. All too often this season we have stereotyped him as a big lump of a centre-forward who is only good for an aerial battle, but maybe we are wrong?

One of Bendtner’s more telling contributions last night was a perfectly-weighted through ball to Theo, but the little fella’s Thierry impersonation went slightly awry. Never mind, because he made amends a while later with a lovely goal and overall had a decent game, setting up Ade’s first and causing havoc down the flanks. The last ten minutes were the Ade show as he grabbed another two goals to seal his hat-trick and reach the magical 30-goal tally. Pretty good for a donkey of a striker who has a shit first touch and an even worse finish eh? (before you start bashing me, that is a sarcastic comment. The man is only 23 and has scored 30-goals after playing the majority of the season up-front on his own…imagine what he’ll be like in a few years?! A frightening prospect for other teams, exciting for us.)

Of course it would be an oversight if I didn’t mention the two goals we conceded. The first can partly be put down to a goalkeeping error. Fabianski came for it, then retreated, and was eventually stuck in no-man’s land. He is obviously a good shot-stopper, but what sets out great goalkeepers from merely good ones these days is the ability to command the box. There were a number of times in the first-half where he elected to punch the ball instead of catching it, causing palpitations for those of Arsenal persuasion. Can he grow in stature and became a dominant aerial presence at crosses? Only time will tell.