Arsenal:
                   Lehmann
            Lauren Toure Cygan Cole
Ljungberg Flamini (Cesc 36) Gilberto Pires (Clichy 77)
          Henry Reyes (van Persie 70)

The line-up was as expected. Flamini got the nod ahead of Cesc, as Gilberto's partner, but was forced off with a thigh injury just after the half hour. Gilberto played the whole match, his first since September.

Arsenal took control from the start, Henry and then Reyes forcing Green into making decent saves. Then Henry got his first on 19 minutes. A nice touch from Pires just outside the box set Thierry up just inside it, and Henry hit an awesome low shot through the crowded box.

3 minutes later he found himself outside the box on the left. He cut inside, past 2 defenders who were trying to block the route to goal, dummied to make an extra yard, and smashed it low inside the far post. Again there were plenty of bodies around but Henry threaded it through them.

They got one back in similar fashion on the half hour. It started with Lehmann flapping at a cross from City's left. It came out to Graham Stuart a bit to the right of centre, who miscued his volley so badly that it flew over to the goal line on the other side of the goal. Huckerby managed to pick it up a few yards outside the box and brought the ball infield, beating Pires a bit easily, before hitting a high shot inside the far post from a similar position to Henry's second.

It seems like Arsenal may have sorted out the defensive problems, anyway. This was the first goal we had conceded for ages: 6 mor eminutes and it would have been 9 hours.

Arsenal restored the 2 goal advantage shortly after the break when Lauren did well to beat a defender to a loose ball by the goal line on the right and clipped a high looping cross towards the far post. The keeper had come towards the near one, leaving room for Freddie to jump up and nod the ball in from a yard out. Just a few second earlier, Freddie had seen his chip over the keeper cleared off the line.

On 66 minutes Reyes played a one-two with Pires to bring the former into the box with the ball. He was brought down just inside the penalty area and the ref may have been ready to give the penalty but he waited to see what happened to the loose ball. Henry had been making a diagonal run into the box from Reyes's left, using his strength to keep himself ball-side of the defender. As the ball bobbled towards the keeper Thierry managed to stretch out a leg to knock it past him to complete our favourite 4-1 scoreline.

Manchester United somehow managed to fail to score against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford. Not that Rovers didn't defend well, but given the chances United had it's amazing they couldn't win the game. Mind you, we almost got the same 0-0 result in our previous match. Be warned, Rovers may not be so easy to beat in Cardiff. But for now, the upshot is that Arsenal re-take second place, on goal difference.

Like I said, 4 goals for Henry (5 to set a new record) is definitely achievable this season. Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton, and Blackburn are unlikely to be as high scoring, but with Henry you never know. He's more than capable of hitting the 4 in a single game.

Finally, we only needed a point from this match to make it St Totteringham's Day. Congratulations to our Tottenham supporting mates, who will now have to pay up on bets, for keeping St Totteringham's Day at bay so long. April 2nd is the latest it's been since 2001. Clearly, Spurs have turned a corner and are poised for greatness next season (like, making it to the second week of April perhaps?).

You can celebrate the event with this DVD of classic victories over Spurs, or whatever.