Last Howl of Wolves. Confident Arsenal are on the rise

Another week of exciting English Premier League football has gone by and Arsenal with 9 wins in 10 is sitting comfortably in 3d place with a 5 point lead over Spurs and Newcastle. Arsene Wenger has hailed Arsenal's remarkable turnaround. Wenger said: 'Considering where we were before Christmas, we have improved a lot. Maybe it is the most remarkable turnaround I have seen here. ‘But the spirit was always good and we have been very consistent for the past couple of months when we have shown a lot of quality as well.'

I’m delighted with our new found confidence, although I think we should have scored more against Wolfs. We dominated position and Wolfs were out classed by our passing brilliance from start. The 9^th minute penalty came when Van Persie who had actually gone four matches without scoring lifted a wonderful through-ball over a very flat back four of the Wolfs defence .The cross was perfectly read by Walcott, who darted between Sebastien Bassong and the ball only to be clumsily bundled to the floor. There was an argument that Richard Stearman was still in position to make a covering challenge but referee Neil Swarbrick was decisive in pointing to the penalty spot and then also brandishing a straight red card.

Van Persie stepped up to take the penalty and gently chipped the ball down the middle of the goal in in rather audacious fashion, not at all put off by the noisy Jack Harris stand right in front of him. Van Persie has now scored 45 times in his past 50 Premier League matches.

With Wolfs stunned and on the back heel Walcott and Van Persie came up with an excellent move to yet again demonstrate their growing understanding. The Arsenal captain produced another perfectly weighted pass to dissect the Wolves defence. On this occasion, Walcott did get the chance to show the improvement in his finishing and calmly side-footed the ball beyond Hennessey.

We had to wait a long time for the Gunners to score again, which was frustrating as we dominated every inch of the field. Finally the final nail in the coffin came when Mikel Arteta, who was generally content to sit deep and recycle possession burst forward to create a good chance for Van Persie. Alex Song then further exploited the growing tiredness among the Wolves players by teeing up Benayoun to seal a comfortable victory with an accurate finish beyond Hennessey.

Wolfs did put in a brave fight, and I have a lot of respect for them. Playing for almost 90 minutes with one man short is a feat in its own. I have no doubt that Arsenal would have won red card or not. Sadly Wolfs will certainly be relegated and this will be their punishment for sacking Mick Mccarthy, they should have done the same as Blackburn and not sack a manager when things go wrong, at least not in the middle of the season.

Wigan next, and no underestimating them, beating Man U was remarkable. Here are some stats for that game. Arsenal have scored 19 goals in their last six league meetings with Wigan (3.16 per game).The Gunners have won 10 of their 13 PL meetings with the Latics (D2 L1).Arsenal have won all nine matches at home to Wigan in all competitions, keeping a clean sheet in each of the last six.The Latics are the only Premier League side to have played at least five times at Arsenal but never taken a point there (W0 D0 L6).The Gunners have won their last five league games at home, and have lost only one of their last 15 (W12 D2).Arsenal have not won six in a row at home in the league since the start of October 2009.Wigan have only lost one of their last four league matches on the road (W2 D1): 1-2 ( at Chelsea )

Laters,
The Ghost