Before the game, some doubts about our abilities were afloat. Even yours truly had his misgivings. A resilient Cardiff side, which is capable of demonstrating quality football, especially at home. A team, that has robbed both Manchester clubs from points (and deservedly so). Fresh from the fight against United.
In another corner, Arsenal. Much better playing this season, a side that had successfully passed several tests, yet a more exhausted group of players. Players who dug deep to get a crucial result against Marseille in midweek. This fixture looked a tough one for both sides.
But it wasn't. During the whole game, Arsenal were never really in trouble. A half-chance in the first half and a brilliant save from Szczesny in the second were the only times Cardiff came close to scoring.
Wenger made several changes to the team, that delivered a convincing performance on Tuesday. Gibbs substituted Monreal, Cazorla came for Rosicky. Flamini dropped to the bench, presumably because of all the riff-raff about the sleeves.
Wilshere could have scored right away, but his shot hit the bar, with the keeper stranded.
Arsenal dominated possession and territory and, though we didn't create much, it was obvious the players were following instructions. Which told them to be on top of the game no matter what.
There was a moment of scare when Mertesacket limped off, emphasised by the fact that Cardiff went close to opening the scoring. First Campbell headed wide, then Mutch failed to get a proper foot to the ball, following a well-delivered free-kick.
Upon Mertesacker's return, Arsenal drove forward once again. Giroud nearly broke the deadlock, but was (rightly) flagged offside. The linesman noticed what the referee didn't, and namely Ozil's touch from a Wilshere pass. We were cranking up the pressure, and it told in a couple of minutes.
There was some close-quarters exchange far away from Cardiff's goal, but Ozil put a stop to that. His lofted through ball found Ramsey, who nodded the ball home in a beautiful move. It looked oh so easy, when in fact it was anything but. The quality of Ramsey's finish can only be matched by the quality of Ozil's pass. Top-notch, in other words. Ramsey didn't celebrate the goal out of respect for his former club.
In the second half Arsenal changed their approach, clearly because they were told to do so during the break. We allowed Cardiff to snatch possession of the ball and sat back to observe and try to hit them on the break.
The Welsh side took the ball gladly, but were only able to come up with one good chance and a couple of distance shots. We, meanwhile, bid our time.
Not long before the final whistle Flamini came on and made his mark almost immediately.
Arsenal caught Cardiff on the counter-attack, Ozil put Flamini in the clear and the Frenchman smashed the ball under the bar to make it 2-0 in the 86th minute.
Six minutes later we scored again. Another lightning-quick attack saw Walcott (another sub) set up Ramsey, the Welshman disposed of the defender and grabbed his second goal of the game. Again, he didn't celebrate. Which was duly acknowledged by Cardiff fans, who applauded Ramsey's brace.
We nearly made it 4-0 in the dying seconds, but Walcott didn't act quickly enough, when presented with a chance.
After the game, Arsene commented on the result and the performance:
" I'm very pleased because we had a good performance. Of course we scored three goals but, not only offensively, I think defensively we were quite sound as well. Our defenders had a very good game. Overall the concentration level in the team was very, very good. That was needed because we knew Cardiff can punish you in set-pieces with their strengths in the challenges and their drive with the crowd behind them. We had a mature performance and a focused one".
Personally, I liked the two very different, yet very effective Arsenal set-ups, which we saw either side of half-time. It was clear the players had their instructions, but how we put these into practice is a completely different story.
And on the title race:
" Let's go a few more games. It's still a bit early for me but what is good for us is that we can show consistency and that's always a very good sign for a team. Every win makes you a bit stronger. If we can take care of the concentration level and the desire to improve then we will have a good".
Which is completely understandable. We have four important games inside two weeks. Hull will test our ability to get results twice a week on a consistent basis, especially ahead of a busy schedule in late December, while Napoli, Everton, City and Chelsea will push us all the way. Should we get positive results in those games, no one will convince me, we are not genuine title and Champions League contenders.
In fact, no one is able to do so even now.
Until later