It was great to see the Gunners get back to winning ways last weekend – and to score some goals! After the frustrations of Sunderland and Fulham someone was due for a hammering and it was Sam Allardyce's side who felt the full force of a team finally coming back into form. Arshavin in particular looks to be settling in and could be crucial in the run-in. I knew it was going to be our day when Eboue scored – twice!
A few weeks ago I had real fears that we wouldn’t make fourth place. We were struggling to score let alone win while Villa just kept picking up points, especially away from home when they won a club record seven in a row. Yet slowly but surely our injuries began to clear up and results in turn improved.
Our steady return to form has coincided with Villa's poor run of results. For the first time this season Martin O'Neill's side have looked leggy in recent weeks and their defeat to Spurs last weekend saw us overtake them for the first time in ages.
Villa face Liverpool, Man United and Everton in their next three league games. I can't see them picking up more than three points out of those games.
Meanwhile we are playing Newcastle, Man City and Wigan in our next three. We should get enough points out of those fixtures to build up a decent lead over the Villains going into the final stages of the season.
Everton are also lurking just behind us (Van Persie's last minute equaliser at Goodison in January is looking more and more significant) and have a more favourable run-in than Villa. But I would like to think the four-point advantage we already have over them should be enough.
So with fourth place looking back on, an
FA Cup semi-final at Wembley and a place in the
next round of the Champions League, things are suddenly looking a lot brighter again.
; 
! 
