A game of contrasting styles at St Andrews saw Arsenal’s flair triumph over Birmingham’s brawn in a 3-0 victory.
Robin van Persie set the Gunners on their way after 13 minutes and they sealed the victory with another two goals in the second half courtesy of Samir Nasri and an own-goal by Roger Johnson.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger again made eight changes, recalling the eight who were dropped midweek against Wigan. Alex McLeish named an unchanged Birmingham side.Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster was the first to be tested, saving well from Van Persie’s drilled effort from a free kick in the 11th minute.But the Arsenal man had another chance from a free kick just two minutes later, this time the wall deflected the ball past Foster and into the net for the opener.Birmingham’s Sebastian Larsson, formerly of Arsenal, had a similar free kick five minutes after that, but goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski reacted superbly to push the ball away.Then Roger Johnson missed a golden chance to level, blazing over from close range after latching onto Cameron Jerome’s flick. Birmingham were again under pressure from the start of the second half, with Jack Wilshire lifting a volley over the cross bar, while Nasri was thwarted by a Foster save.But Nasri did grab the second in the 58th minute after a clever passing move between him and Cesc Fabregas presented the Frenchman with a chance from 18 yards which he took with aplomb.Another fluid Arsenal move brought the third as Nasri and Fabregas again linked up well.
Fabregas’ close range effort was saved by Foster, but the goalkeeper parried into the path of Johnson who deflected the ball into his own net.
The Gunners had several chances to make it four – Fabregas shot over after a fine three man move and both Walcott and Andrey Arshavin tested Foster with low drives – but they will be more than happy with the three points which keep them in touch with league-leaders Manchester United.
Sat 1 January, 2011
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