Diaby strike sinks
Villa
Aston Villa's woeful recent record against Arsenal continued after
going down to a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park thanks to Abou Diaby's
fortunate goal.
Julio Baptista's harmless shot was troubling no-one until it struck
Diaby and nestled its way into the net, giving The Gunners a lead
they would not lose.
The win moves Arsenal ahead of Liverpool into third in the
Premiership while Villa's dismal run against the North Londoners
now stretches to 17 games without a win.
There was little to separate the sides in the early exchanges
before Arsenal opened the scoring from their first meaningful
attack of the game.
Baptista's speculative shot appeared non-threatening for Villa,
although it struck Diaby who inadvertently diverted the ball around
Thomas Sorensen after just 10 minutes.
Villa tried to hit back but Gareth Barry's free-kick was
comfortable for Jens Lehmann while Arsenal came within a whisker of
doubling their advantage.
Freddie Ljungberg's pin-point through-ball sent Jeremie Aliadiere
away and only a fine last-gasp save from Sorensen denied the French
striker getting his name on the scoresheet.
Aliadiere's pace was causing the home side all sorts of problems
and only pressure from Olof Mellberg following Denilson's neat pass
denied the striker a clean shot on goal.
Villa thought they had won a penalty when Johan Djourou brought
down John Carew, but referee Martin Atkinson deemed the contact
outside the box.
Carew tried his luck from the set-piece but could only find the
wall, although, from the rebound Mellberg saw his rasping shot
deflected out for a corner.
Villa should have been level on 39 minutes through Ashley Young
from Barry's square-ball, but his side-footed effort was under-hit
and saved by Lehmann.
Arsenal nearly made the home side pay with Aliadiere amazingly
seeing his downward header bounce over bar from point-blank range
following Ljungberg's cross just before the interval.
Villa made a bright start to the second half with Carew forcing
Lehmann off his line smartly again before Gabriel Agbonlahor's
header from Young's dangerous cross was well saved.
The lively Aliadiere had a chance at the other end, but seemed to
snatch at his chance and ended up dragging his left-footed shot
wide of Sorenson's near post.
Diaby proved luck was on his side on the night when a cross struck
his thigh and only superb positioning from Ljungberg on the line
prevented the midfielder scoring at both ends.
Arsene Wenger opted to freshen things up after the chances dried
up, bringing on Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky for goal-scorer
Diaby and Baptista.
The introduction of Patrik Berger gave Villa impetus although it
was Sorensen who had to be on guard to block Rosicky's left-footed
shot from outside the area.
Despite having the better of the second half, Martin O'Neill's
charges failed to make the all-important breakthrough and slipped
to their 10th league defeat of the season.
