Birmingham City 0 - 3 Arsenal: Bright Start to 2011

Samir Nasri laughs maniacally. Pic via Daily Telegraph.

Birmingham City 0
Arsenal 3: van Persie 13, Nasri 58, Johnson 65 (og)

I know the game was almost 48 hours ago, but I hope you'll excuse the lateness of this recap. I'm pretty sure I was still a touch hungover from New Year's Eve as late as yesterday, and if you saw me at the pub Saturday, you won't be shocked by that. Thankfully, there was no hungover performance from our beloved Gunners and 2011 started out about as well as you could have asked, at least in the one match they could control (I would've asked for United and City to drop points, but I'll take what I can get week in and week out. Also, thanks Villa.) Arsenal took to the road on New Year's Day to play at St. Andrew's, a stadium where their title hopes have gone to die the last two times they've played there. This time, however, there was no stopping, or even containing, the boys in red and white.

Remember when Arsenal made eight changes against Wigan from the side that beat Chelsea? Well, all eight changes were reversed on Saturday, as Arsenal started the same XI against the Blues at St. Andrew's as they had against the other Blues at the Emirates. You could tell this eleven was fresh and sharp, while Birmingham, who was unchanged from their draw against United on Tuesday, looked unable to keep up.

Much of the first half hour or so revolved around Robin van Persie. The Dutchman scored his first league goal of the season in the 13th minute, off a controversial free kick. Van Persie might have gone down a bit easily, sure, but there was still contact and his path was impeded. Soft call, but not absurd. The kick itself was hurtling straight at Birmingham's wall and would not have penetrated had the Blues not, for some reason, allowed Cesc Fabregas near one of the ends. He twisted away from the shot, which then caromed off a Blues defender (I think it was Lee Bowyer, or, as I will now call him, Stampy... you know, the elephant that Bart wins on The Simpsons?) and past a diving Ben Foster.

Van Persie was not out of the spotlight of controversy so quickly, however, as there were shouts for a handball in the penalty area a few minutes later. Total judgment call about intent in this situation, I think. Yes, it hit is arm, for sure. But to give the penalty, you have to be certain it was an intentional handball, and in this situation, van Persie had just missed heading the ball as it whizzed past him and deflected off his arm while jumping. So, intentional, I'm not so sure. I would not have been shocked or have felt wronged if it were given, though. Everything tends to even out in the game of football, and Birmingham scored their equalizer against United on Tuesday after a Zigic handball in the build-up, so the Blues evened out there. That does, however, ignore that those two calls were essentially +2 for Arsenal. But, shhh! Don't tell anyone.

The calls that did go against Arsenal, however, were the lenient decisions of referee Peter Walton. Birmingham, clearly outclassed by the Gunners all game, had to resort to physicality in order to have any chance at taking points on Saturday. Lee Bowyer escaped, at least momentarily, two straight red cards for stamps on Bacary Sagna. Roger Johnson saw only yellow for going in a bit rough on Fabregas (he did win the ball, I think yellow was right, I'm just using this example to illustrate Birmingham's physical play.) Cameron Jerome got away with a stamp on Laurent Koscielny just before half time in a situation where it looked like he knew exactly where he was pressing down with his foot.

Johnson's own goal finished Arsenal's scoring.

But, while Arsenal teams of recent years but have buckled under such intense physical pressure, this Arsenal team does not do such a thing. The only frustrating part of this match was, honestly, how long it took Arsenal to put Birmingham away, thanks to a bevy of missed opportunities. Van Persie should have made this match about 3-0 by the half, but is still a bit rusty coming back from injury and has missed a few golden chances in his last two matches. Arsenal finally got their cushion just before the hour mark, after some brilliant passing between Fabregas and Samir Nasri. As Fabregas proceeded to make his run into the box, Nasri pounded a low shot into the corner. Two-nil to the good, with a third coming seven minutes later after Fabregas pounded a shot from the by-line that was parried by Foster into the path of Roger Johnson, who allowed the fairly comical own goal.

At this point, Birmingham was finished and Arsenal continued to put on their football clinic. Birmingham had a shot hit the crossbar in injury time, but it did not go in, and Arsenal kept their first clean sheet since the 2-0 win at Molineux almost two months ago. That's huge for this team going forward, winning so comfortably at a notoriously difficult venue while keeping a clean sheet in the process.

It's seven points out of nine in the festive season, with a huge tilt against Manchester City coming up at the Emirates on Wednesday. I cannot possibly overestimate the importance of that game. Arsenal have set themselves up well, and if they continue to play like they did on Saturday, or last Monday against Chelsea, this team could go all the way. But that's a big if. Any slip in confidence could be disastrous. 10 points from 12 including six from six against title contenders is a fantastic four match spell, especially coming in the span of 10 days. So, let's get three more on Wednesday.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Samir Nasri