Fabregas puts the icing on cake

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 0:FOR AN hour it looked as if this would be all cake and no icing, a compelling concerto with no finale. One man changed all that, however. Cesc Fabregas emerged from the substitutes' bench and made Aston Villa burn with his brand of footballing dynamite. Two resounding goals in 26 minutes later he departed, clutching the hamstring that had been troubling him lately. As cameos go, it took some beating.

So there would be no 2009 grand slam for Villa, conquerors of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool this term. This was a rude awakening for the most consistent and confident of the top-four aspirants but they have the qualities to bounce back. As for Arsenal, this handsome and hard-fought victory propels them into a tantalising position. Should they win their game in hand, here against Bolton on January 6th, the three points would take them to within a point of the top of the table, assuming they and Chelsea win this week.

Even Arsene Wenger had not envisaged such a rapid turnaround of fortunes since his team were unceremoniously disrobed by Chelsea a month ago. Arsenal trailed the leaders by 11 points then. The rebuilding process since has not been entirely convincing – even the win at Anfield that Wenger identifies as the turning point was gained with a slice of fortune – but Arsenal found their most cohesive performance since Robin van Persie’s injury put such a spanner in the works.

There is still plenty of fine-tuning necessary. Eduardo da Silva’s lack of conviction remains a worry and it was telling that Arsenal lacked cutting edge until Fabregas took over. On the other hand, some of the junior midfield performers have stepped up recently and Abou Diaby, who curled in a solo effort in stoppage time to add gloss to the result, impressed again.

Further back Wenger was particularly satisfied with the clean sheet. It was almost as if he half expected Villa’s style of football to disturb his backline.

“Aston Villa is a game that makes you nervy because you can be dominant and lose the game with them,” he noted afterwards.

There was a telling moment in the second half with the game goalless. Thomas Vermaelen grappled with Gabriel Agbonlahor with the air of a man making a point: you might think you unnerved us in the first half, and you’d be half right, but it is no-nonsense time.

Briefly in an opening period of sparring without too many painful jabs, Agbonlahor appeared to cast a Didier Drogba-esque spell on the Arsenal back four. Every time he was in position there was a noticeable sense of panic.

Emile Heskey took advantage but dragged his shot wide. Then Ashley Young was the recipient and Arsenal were grateful for a deflection off their chief disrupter, Alex Song.

But it was Arsenal who had the clearest of the opening chances. Eduardo twirled away from Carlos Cuellar and into a whites-of-the-eyes duel with Brad Friedel after inventive approach work from Diaby. The Croatian has struggled to shake off his post-injury rustiness and here was another opportunity choked. He poked a marshmallow-soft effort straight at the keeper. Wenger looked pained. The value of an early advantage against a team that can be so efficient on the counter-attack was not lost on him.

The temperature rose after half-time as both teams seemed a little more willing to strive for the breakthrough. Just before the hour Arsenal cranked it up – just as Fabregas came on, incidentally. The Spaniard’s first meaningful act was to pump an audacious free-kick from 35 yards. It sailed narrowly over.

That inspired four attempts in a breathless spell that left Wenger’s men cursing Villa’s resilience. Twice Cuellar tidied up on the line and twice Friedel pulled off outstanding saves, to deny William Gallas from point blank and then claw out Andrey Arshavin’s effort.

It was Fabregas, inevitably, who unpicked the lock with typical dexterity. The Arsenal linchpin was tripped by Richard Dunne, dusted himself down and arced a sublime free-kick into the top left corner. For once Friedel could not get close.

Fabregas’s adrenaline clearly went through the roof.

Villa could not live with him and the points were sealed when the Spaniard provided another classy finish to a devastating break in the 81st minute. It was instigated by Armand Traore, whose crossfield pass invited Theo Walcott to thunder down the right channel. Fabregas gobbled up his pass and swept the ball past Friedel.

But for all the damage done to Villa, the curse for Arsenal was the damage simultaneously done to Fabregas, who pulled up immediately.

Agbonlahor could have given Arsenal a nervy finish but Manuel Almunia saved bravely with five minutes to go.

As it turned out, Diaby’s last word made the scoreline more comprehensive than Wenger would have dared wish for over his Christmas pudding.

He went off to mull over his injury list, with Denilson’s back problem adding to the frustration over Fabregas’s inflamed hamstring and Nicklas Bendtner no closer to lightening the load up front.

After a 3-0 victory he was able to make coy jokes about possible forays into the January transfer market. If the strength of a title challenge depends on it, however, the Frenchman surely has to be serious.

- Guardian Service