Arsenal 5-0 Aston Villa

[andy villa]

Arsenal produced a scintillating display to thrash a poor Aston Villa and keep up their charge for a place in next season's Champions League.

Villa carved out two early chances but Arsenal took the lead on 19 minutes through Emmanuel Adebayor's header.

Henry's sublime lob made it two six minutes later before he added a third with a curling effort after half-time.

Robin Van Persie fired in a fourth from an acute angle while Abou Diaby struck late on to round off a fine win.

The only worry for Arsenal was the injury to midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who was forced off after 16 minutes.

The Spaniard, basking in the glow of his display in the Champions League quarter-final against Juventus, came off with what seemed like an ankle injury and must now be a doubt for Wednesday's return leg in Italy.

The setback did not bother the home side however, and the Gunners had no trouble in securing their fourth straight league win.

Out-of-form Villa, who have now only picked up one point out of a possible 12, are still in relegation trouble and manager David O'Leary will be concerned that his side offered very little after Arsenal took the lead.

Villa started well enough and with Arsenal struggling to find their rhythm in the opening stages, the Midlanders carved out two opportunities for Kevin Phillips.

And three minutes after Fabregas departed, Arsenal took the lead.

A well-timed pass released Henry on the left and although his attempted lob was headed off the line by Aaron Hughes, the clearance fell to Adebayor - who just managed to squeeze the ball underneath the bar.

With Arsenal starting to exert their dominance, a second goal always looked likely and skipper Henry obliged on 25 minutes.

He latched onto Reyes' ball over the top of the defence, and after pulling the ball down expertly, he produced a sublime lob over the outcoming Thomas Sorensen for his 20th Premiership goal of the season.

The game lost a bit of intensity as the half drew to a close and Eboue had a superb chance to effectively seal the win but with just Sorensen to beat on the right of the box, he blasted into the side netting.

Villa brought on Juan Pablo Angel for Phillips at half-time but the visitors had little chance to try to get back into the game as Henry put the result beyond doubt in the first minute of the second half.

Another long ball was not dealt with by the Villa defence, Adebayor back heeled it into the path of Henry who produced a wonderful curling shot into the top corner from 20 yards out.

It was all Arsenal in the second half and Sorensen was the busiest man on the field keeping out efforts from Adebayor and Kolo Toure.

Villa did have a superb chance to get back into the game midway through the half but with just the keeper to beat, Luke Moore fired straight at Jens Lehmann.

Arsenal never really looked in any trouble and substitute Van Persie piled on the misery when he kept the ball away from a scrambling Sorensen to fire into the roof of the net.

The scoring was rounded off with just 10 minutes left when Diaby fired home after a trademark counter attack to heap more pressure on the beleaguered O'Leary.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue (Djourou 67), Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Pires, Fabregas (Diaby 15), Silva, Reyes, Adebayor, Henry (Van Persie 65).
Subs Not Used: Almunia, Hleb.

Goals: Adebayor 19, Henry 25, 46, Van Persie 71, Diaby 80.

Aston Villa: Sorensen, De la Cruz (Cahill 52), Hughes, Ridgewell, Bouma, Hendrie, McCann, Davis, Barry (Agbonlahor 52), Phillips (Angel 45), Moore.
Subs Not Used: Taylor, Gardner.

Booked: Bouma.

Att: 38,183

Ref: M Atkinson (W Yorkshire).

[andy villa]

well...

that was fun...

[Sven]

im sorry for your loss but you just giving away the spoiler of the game for me -_-

[andy villa]

in english please?!?

[Sven]

You spoiled the result.

[andy villa]

tough..

this is a villa forum for villa information...

as soon as it is available, i will post it as soon as i can...

if you dont like it, then lock yourself in a room until you are ready to hear it....

[Sven]

yea kool. I click new post so i see it. so ty.

[russe||]

I can't see any positives to come from this result. If you got relegated do you reckon it would finish Ellis off?

[andy villa]

ellis is finished anyway..

he just doesnt know it yet...

[MUFC]

I dont blame villa with the way arsenal are playing it be tough for any team to beat them. We got them next week and it will be tough.

[CantonaStillGod]

Originally Posted by andy villa

ellis is finished anyway..

he just doesnt know it yet...

good one.

Ain't been saying that since 69.

[andy villa]

Originally Posted by MUFC

I dont blame villa with the way arsenal are playing it be tough for any team to beat them. We got them next week and it will be tough.

tbf, we contributed too...

we were amazingly poor...

while arsenal are on form, theres no way, if we were awake, we would have been tonked 5-0...

at least 3 of the goals we could have stopped if we had closed down earlier, not make stupid mistakes etc..

give arsenal that much time and space and they will rip you apart...

we didnt deserve to lose 5-0...

we deserved to lose by a heavier margin...

[andy villa]

Originally Posted by CantonaStillGod

good one.

Ain't been saying that since 69.

hes been a walking corpse for the last 8 months...

[JD]

everybody we've beaten thinks they're rubbish afterwards
but villa actually were
(dunno y o'leary subbe dtheir best 2 players though)

[andy villa]

injuries....

bain of our past 2 seasons...

that and incompetence..