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By Richard Clarke
Arsenal maintained their 100 per cent start to the new Premiership season with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Highbury on Wednesday night.
This was not as comprehensive as the 4-0 victory at Middlesbrough on Sunday. Neither did the team play as fluently as they had when beating Everton 2-1 on the opening day. This was a victory ground out against a well-organised, determined Villa side - but it was three points just the same.
It was tight before the break. Arsène Wenger side's started brightly and twice Thierry Henry's trickery nearly put them ahead in the opening stages. Freddie Ljungberg also hit the bar.
However, Villa went close on a couple of occasions, most notably when Juan Pablo Angel's prod beat Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann and rolled just wide of the far post.
The deadlock was broken 12 minutes after the break when Sol Campbell powered home a header from close range after Villa had failed to clear Robert Pires' corner.
Despite Villa's late rally you always felt Arsenal had enough to hold on. Henry secured the points with virtually the last kick of the match.
Wenger named exactly the same 16 that had played so impressively at Middlesbrough on Sunday. Villa had a late problem when Gavin McCann, in fine form since his summer move from Sunderland, fell victim to a stomach bug. Ulises de la Cruz came into a five-man midfield to replace him. Angel was the lone frontman for the visitors.
The start was frantic. In the third minute, Robert Pires slid a pass into the path of Henry on the left. He turned on the turbo to outpace Mark Delaney and cut into the area. Only a combination of Villa keeper Thomas Sorensen and left back Jlloyd Samuel blocked the shot. Just for good measure, Pires then fired the rebound across the face of goal.
Villa showed they had come to make life difficult and knocked the ball around nicely throughout the half. However the closest they came was when Mark Kinsella tested Lehmann from distance.
But, on the whole, it was Arsenal who carved out the chances. In the 13th minute, Toure's long pass from the centre circle found Henry galloping through the centre. He lifted his shot over the onrushing Sorensen but it drifted wide of the upright.
Two minutes later, Sorensen was stretching again. Ljungberg clipped the ball over the keeper from Wiltord's pass but the ball bounced back off the bar. A goal seemed destined to arrive soon.
But then Villa began to threaten. In the 25th minute, Angel waltzed his way through on the left side of the area and poked a dangerous shot across the face of goal. De la Cruz forced the best from Lehmann a few minutes later but the assistant referee had already flagged for offside.
Arsenal did not regain their fluency before half time but, after it, they found some of their spark from earlier.
They took the lead in the 57th minute. Pires sent over a corner from the right, Samuel inexplicably sidefooted the ball toward his own goal, Lee Hendrie, who was standing on the goalline, nodded the ball up onto the bar and it looped out invitingly for Campbell to power home a header from close range.
Now Villa had to chase the game. Angel arrowed a free-kick narrowly wide and then Villa boss David O'Leary threw on an extra attacker in Darius Vassell.
They put Arsenal under pressure but, as Wenger had requested in his pre-match press conference, his side rolled up their sleeves and battled. To illustrate, Villa had ample possession just outside the Arsenal area but failed to extend Lehmann.
Seven minutes from time, Pires guided a header just the wrong side of the post from Henry's clever clip. The midfielder extended Sorensen in injury time. As time ticked away, it seemed that if anyone was going to score it was going to be the side in red and white. Henry did so in the final seconds, skipping past Sorensen and rolling home a shot into the empty net from an acute angle.
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| Henry and Bergkamp show their support for ChildLine before kick-off | Pires skips past Ulises De la Cruz | |
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| Sol Campbell heads home our opener | Sol and Thierry celebrate | |
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| Vieira commands the midfield | Henry takes the ball past Sorensen in the final minute... | |
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| ..shoots from an acute angle.. | ..and scores! | |
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