Wenger notes the changing formation of the game in general. Instead of relying on your strikers for goals where “the midfielders are the guys who bring the strikers alive”, the strikers are the ones who are bringing the midfielders into the action.

“[For example] Robin Van Persie, when he played we always scored three or four goals. He didn’t score too many [himself] but he made a lot. Not only with passing, but with movement and the quality of that movement. Strikers open walls for the deeper players. That is a big part in the modern game.”

Many others, of course, have made the same observation about strikers in football today. I think it was Jonathan Wilson, at the Guardian, who first criticized teams like Barcelona and Man United for becoming less active when they added strong, holding forwards (Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dimitar Berbatov, respectively). When these teams relied on their mids and wings, they were a more mobile, dynamic attack, but with the addition of “targets” up front, their scoring options actually diminished.

The counter-example to this argument is Chelsea with Drogba and Anelka up front. Both are target forwards, and produce more goals and assists themselves than most teams.

The point is that modern forwards, like van Persie, act more like parts of the midfield. Its just a shame that we’re without him for the season. I wonder what it would have been like with him at this point in the campaign? …

Abou Diaby redeemed himself in this game. He’s gotten back into the starting line-up because of injury. He seems to have gotten his confidence back, after the atrocious own-goal against Manchester United.

Samir Nasri excelled at controlling the ball. Slowly but surely, Nasri has shown some grit this season. In last bit of the second half, there was an incident where it was alleged that Nasri purposely stepped on Richard Garcia’s foot, after Arsenal were awarded a free kick. The Hull players shouldn’t have been standing there in the first place and Garcia made a meal out of what looked like an accidental toe step. After a long scuffle, Stephen Hunt and Nasri were both given yellow cards. Hunt’s tactics in this game were scandalous. He tried to push guys off the ball whenever the chance arose. In one person, he’s what Wenger calls “anti-football”. The fact that he was involved in the melee should tell you where the blame lies (just ask Petr Cech).

The first goal was scored by a Denilson freekick right before half time. It was a wonderful display of power and pace. If you’re going to pick any place for a freekick, that was the place to take it.

Steve Bennett, the referee, did a terrible job in this match. I can’t believe he claimed that Silvestre was holding a Hull City player’s shirt. I understand that a referee might want to make amends for something he missed, but to fabricate a penalty when there wasn’t one is just lame. In the 56th minute, Almunia saved the ensuing penalty kick, taken by Marcio Geovanni. Justice was served.

Eduardo did lots of hard work but couldn’t put any of his chances away. Finally, he was gifted a cross right in front of the goal by Diaby in the 59th minute. Song and Diaby worked some magic to get into the box with the ball, then it was up to Eduardo to not mess up the tap-in.

Abou Diaby had to score the final goal. He just had to get on the scoresheet. If there was anyone who deserved to score in the game, it was him. In the 80th minute, he got the end of a through ball into the box, outmaneuvered the defender and slammed it home.

Hull City play a very good style of football. With the exception of Stephen Hunt, Hull are a very entertaining team and I wish them all the best in staying in the Premiership.

This victory moved us back into 3rd place. Next up will be Aston Villa and the game that I think will decide how we finish this season. Its a deciding moment. We play them again at the end of January. More on that later.

Blackburn scored two goals on us. The first, by Steven Nzonzi in the 4th minute, was either a fluke or one of the best placed headers ever seen. You decide. I think it was a fluke. Arsenal were in complete control of the game when a freekick is awarded on an alleged Cesc Fabregas foul. The ball was sent down the whole field, at which Nzonzi barely got his head on it. The ball just happened to catch netminder Vito Mannone coming out and goes in. Arsenal 0, Blackburn 1.

It only took 13 minutes for us to equalize. Who could it be? Vermaelen, of course. A well placed square ball from Cesc, Vermaelen makes a little space for himself, moves the ball onto his left and boom! He’s become such an outside scoring threat for us! Arsenal 1, Blackburn 1.

Blackburn would then go ahead for the last time and it would only be for 3 minutes. David Dunn sent a hard shot that deflected off of Galas and finds Mannone going the wrong way. Three minutes later, a wonderful feed from Cesc to Robin van Persie on the left side of the Blackburn box, and RvP shoots to the far corner past Paul Robinson and we’re level. Arsenal 2, Blackburn 2.

That was all there was for Blackburn. The rest of the show was ours. In the 37th minute, almost a carbon copy of Cesc’s feed to RvP was given to Andrei Arshavin. From the same spot, at the same pace, Arshavin made no mistake and put the ball past Robinson in the same way that had happened 4 minutes prior. Arsenal 3, Blackburn 2.

Even if you haven’t seen the match or the highlights, you can probably guess who ruled this show. Cesc Fabregas was a part of everything that happened on Sunday. In the second half, he would get on the scoreboard as well. It was a wonderful volley to the top left corner in the 57th minute. After trying to feed Arshavin and then Rosicky, the ball finds its way back to Cesc (by way of Rosicky’s overhead kick) who decides to take it himself. Control. Laces. Placement. It was a beautifully placed ball, well outside the reach of Paul Robinson, who didn’t even try to get it. Arsenal 4, Blackburn 2.

Like most Arsenal supporters, every time I read something coming out of Barcelona about Cesc Fabregas, I cringe, just a little. I know its all garbage and just newspapers trying to drum up controversy. And then, his form will dip, and I start to wonder even more. But then, we have games like this one and that speculation gets put to rest. Cesc orchestrated everything offensively. If you could count assists without the goal actually being scored, he would have had something in the range of 30. To top it all off, after he scores his goal, he runs to the corner flag and salutes the Arsenal fans with a kiss to the Arsenal crest on his shirt. Classy.

Theo Walcott would make his welcome return to the field and score in the 75th minute. Again, Cesc was there to give Arshavin’s ball into the box a little more momentum over to the right where an on-rushing Walcott was waiting in the wing. A Nicholas Bendter strike in the 89th minute would bring the count to its final tally. Arsenal 6, Blackburn 2.

One good sign from the second half was the working duo of Bendtner and van Persie. These two worked tirelessly to push the play into Blackburn’s half. While the whole team can be credited with the effort, I think Bendtner and RvP did an especially good job of pressuring Blackburn up top, which resulted in keeping the ball forward.

The work in progress continues to be our defensive effort. Its one thing to be able to control the play and push forward (which is a form of defense, I guess), its another thing to defend well when the opposition brings it into our half. For the likes of Blackburn, we’re going to score goals; its our collective defense that needs work. I don’t want to see anyone replaced because I think Gallas and Vermaelen, along with Clichy and Sagna, are working really well together. Its hard to pinpoint (Is it Song?) but I feel its something to do with our midfield and their ability to contain other players from going forward. How I long for the days of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto.

Blackburn got close twice and got lucky twice. Two times we had to come from behind. On another day, the ref would have called a penalty on David Dunn’s run into box in the early part of the 2nd half. Our midfield could have stopped that from ever starting. A tougher opponent, or someone with the luck of Manchester United, and our goal scoring will be limited. The breaks won’t go our way. Its those times when our defensive effort needs to be better or our recent trip to Manchester will be repeated.

Chin up though. We’ve got a game in hand. Another win and we’re only 3 points out of first place. We’ve got a big break until Birmingham on the 17th. Meanwhile, World Cup qualifiers.

I’ve only known Arsenal with Arsene at the helm. He’s been there for 13 years today. Congratulations Mr. Wenger.

When Abou Diaby is playing well, I have to remind myself that he’s not Patrick Vieira. His wide gate and prowling maneuvers in midfield sure give the impression that Vieira has returned in prime form. In the post match press conference, Arsene Wenger highlighted his Vieira-like ability to move from box to box very quickly. With Denilson playing the defensive mid role, along with Diaby, there will not be many midfields we do not control by the fact that both have such an awareness of space and positioning.

The troubling thought during the match however was that, even with a 3 to 1 lead, the game was still questionable. We are great at going forward and attacking. The problem seems to be with shutting down oppositions and being able to hold the ball when we’re not going forward. Pompey’s attacks were sporadic but, every time they went forward, its worth asking how they were getting through our defense. These are the mistakes we tend to make when the win becomes too easy.

It’s also time to start asking questions of Almunia. I think its time for a better decision maker between the posts. That Pompey goal should never happen and its one of the reasons why the game never seemed out of reach for them.

After two Premiership games, Arsenal 10, opposition 2.

While Arsenal possessed the ball well, this game was settled by set pieces. The first goal was a master strike by Denilson to curl Fabregas’ side pass into the upper left corner. But, it wasn’t the dagger that ended the possibility of an Everton comeback. The 2nd and 3rd goals did that. Both centerbacks, first Vermaelen, then Gallas, headed the ball home on well-orchestrated set pieces by Arsenal, not so well defended by Everton. One team has been practicing these, the other not. After those two goals, any confidence left in Everton was gone. The rest of the goals would come on counter attacks, because Everton was pushing forward. This is what Wenger’s Arsenal does best and its been too long since we’ve seen it happen.

If you go back 3 or 4 seasons, you’ll remember that the way other teams figured out how to stop Arsenal when they were in the mood was to take them out of it by being overly physical. Its part of the English game that a team can push and shove a team with superior ball skills and technique. Its looked upon as opposing “tactics”. Manchester United were the first to employ it. Sir Alex Ferguson knew he couldn’t beat the Arsenal team that had gone on a 49 game unbeaten run by just playing football and so enabled his team to muscle their way to victory. Others (to name a few, Chelsea, Bolton, and any team managed by Sam Alyrdice) have tried the same. Credit should be given to David Moyes and the team he put on the field Saturday for not doing the same. But then, its been awhile since another team needed to employ this tactic.

This should be the season where Arsene Wenger’s plan for this team shows its full potential. After the 2004 Invincibles, he began a work of building a culture and program around his style of all-around football. Now he’s got a complete and youthful team to show it. I hope he’s got a plan for controlling the ball and game when things get rough, when teams decide they have to go back to the imposing game of physical intimidation.

And, even though the flowing free-form game of old seems to be back in this squad, there are still questions to be answered about the defense. Vermaelen and Gallas did a great job as central defenders but (1) they didn’t have someone like Drogba or Rooney to contend with, and (2) neither of them are very tall and imposing themselves. Both play the role of speedy, mobile centerbacks very well, although Gallas, at his age, will probably start to wear over a long season.

In any regard, it was a magical game and was a great start to the new campaign. Champions League football against Celtic on Tuesday (2:45 pm EST, Fox Soccer Channel here in the States).

1 down, 37 to go.