You Maroc My World: Arsenal Victors at Villa Park; Chamakh Scores His Tenth!

Having come off two successive losses, the Gunners had to be on target at Villa Park if they wanted to stake their claim for the Barclay's title.
A devastating home derby loss to rivals Tottenham, after leading 2-0 was followed closely by a 2-0 defeat at SC Braga in Portugal.
But Wenger must have rallied his troops because they came out blazing today with a lot of aggressiveness. Missing Captain Cesc Fabregas to injury, Wenger chose Rosicky, Wilshere, Nasri, and Arshavin to feed Marouane Chamakh up front. It paid off.
Although Wilshere and Rosicky were woeful for most of the match, Arshavin was on song as well as Nasri. The Russian scored the first goal after juking the defense. It got a lucky touch from Villa keeper Brad Freidel, but it was probably going in anyway.
Nasri made it two on a very fortunate shot. Struck hard from the top of the box on a bounce from a lobbing pass, Nasri buried it in the net. At 0-2 the Gunners looked to be cruising, but with recent memories of blowing leads, their fans and manager could not have been resting easy. They had good reason to be frightened. The Villains clawed their way back into it with a Ciaran Clark strike. The sad part was it should have been called offside, as John Carew was standing in the box blocking the goalkeeper. At 1-2 Villa now seemed to be alive and they were on the attack. But their attack left the back open a bit and Marouane Chamakh pounced outstretched on a feed from Arshavin and tucked it under the onrushing Freidel. 1-3 Arsenal.
They seemed to have turned the corner, but Villa was having nothing of it. They once again closed in on the Gunners with another Ciaran Clark goal. 2-3. Gerrard Houllier's men looked very dangerous and with several corners could have equalized. The Gunners on the other hand seemed to be on their back feet, as they often do when in fear of losing. But late in the game Chamakh took a ball from Rosicky, passed it back to him and Rosicky shot. The blocked ball landed at Chamakh's feet and he calmly lobbed it over the box to a waiting Jack Wilshere, who headed home for the fourth goal. That was the ending score, 2-4.

Nobody looked as relieved as Arsene Wenger, who has taken it from all sides in the press this week, and even had a war of words with Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho. The former had said Mourinho's tactics in the 4-0 win over Ajax in their Champions League match made los Blancos look "horrible." UEFA agrees and has charged J-Mo and Ramos, Alonso, Dudek, and Casillas with unsportsmanlike conduct.
When Mourinho heard what Wenger had said, the Portuguese firebrand called Wenger a "loser," and said "his fans should be asking their manager why they haven't won a trophy since 2005."

The Gunners' win today puts them atop the league for a few hours, as Manchester United can take an outright lead with a win against Blackburn. Chelsea do not play until tomorrow but will be away to a pesky Newcastle side. The Blues have lost 3 of their last 4...here's hoping Toon can make it 4 out of 5!

To view all the goals click this link, then scroll down to watch each goal. You will have to watch a short commercial first.

Photos of Marouane: