Arsenal made a couple of changes, with a late injury to Cole keeping him out at left back. Nice to see that Gio van Bronckhorst got to fill in rather than Kolo Toure. Kolo did start the game but in his better midfield role, giving Freddie Ljungberg a rest.

Robert Pires was on the other wing and looked back to his best, both in terms of skill and strength. He took a great first-time pass from Bergkamp in his stride on 17 minutes, looked up to see Henry's run to his left, but decided it was easier to stroke the ball through the legs of the approaching Enkelman.

We would have been 2 up at half time if not for a bizarre decision from the linesman. Henry beat the offside trap to take a chip forward (Vieira I think). He controlled the high ball nicely and slipped it past the keeper only to see it come back out off the post. Toure was following up though and knocked the loose ball in. Offside? We in the Clock End could see, from behind the action and the other end of the pitch, that he was well onside (and regular readers will know I'm not prone to making claims of that sort). Replays later confirmed it, not only was Toure a good few yards onside (relative to the 2nd last defender) when Henry shot, but he was well behind the ball as well.

Oh well. I have to admit I thought Sol was lucky to get away with 2 penalty appeals from Villa in that first half. The second was a simple shoulder charge and fair play to the ref for recognising that when someone of Vassell's size meets someone of Sol's size, the distance the former bounces off the latter is not necessarily a reflection of any violent action.

But the first appeal could easily have been given, with Sol's leg appearing to come up high from behind, nowhere near the ball, and impede the striker's run (Dublin?) into the box. Not clear-cut, but just as worthy of an appeal as the one which was awarded to Arsenal later on!

Villa changed their formation and took the game to Arsenal in the second half. Eventually Wenger even paid them the compement of bringing Keown on without removing Sol or Cygan, to match their 3-5-2.

But we went 2 up thanks to the irrepressible Henry. 5 minutes into the half he won a free-kick on the edge of the box, a little closer but at an similar angle to the one against Roma. Pires stood alongside him as if to try to confuse, but in the end even that was a dummy. He ran over the ball but Henry waited a good while before moving. Lots of running about in the box and all that, but it was all irrelevant as Thierry once again curled his shot over the wall and just inside the top left corner. Unstoppable again. They hadn't left anyone on the post but if they had he'd just have got in Enkelman's way.

Like I said, Villa didn't give up. And after a spell of pressure they pulled one back to make for a very exciting finish. They'd been lobbing crosses in for Dublin which he'd managed to get his head on a few times but without much threat, but the goal was a simple rocket from Hitzlsperger.

Ljungberg won the aforementioend debatable penalty. He went down like a ton of bricks after brushing past Staunton. There may well have been contact so I'm not saying it wasn't a penalty. I just don't think it was any better a claim than theirs from the first half. Shame. eh?;-)

By the way, well done to the ref (Barber) for keeping the play going. Gilberto was lying injured while Arsenal were taking the ball up the other end for Freddie to win the pen, and som erefs would have blown up without looking.

Henry saw Enkelman moving early to his right and just chipped the penalty down the middle. Lovely.

Some Gooners will be pleased to see Liverpool lose to Man Utd the next day and Arsenal's lead stay at 4 points. Personally I think the scousers' bubble may have burst already. Whereas United are on a good run with some extremely influential players yet to return from injury. They're still the real threat. Forlan's started scoring. So next week's trip to Old Trafford is as big a game as ever.

It was good to see Keown make a few significant and powerful tackles within moments of coming off the bench against Villa. But Dion Dublin is no Ruud van Nistelroy.