Once upon a time … no this isn’t a fairytale, this story actually happened AND it has a happy ending! On a glorious Sunday lunchtime at the Emirates Stadium the Gunners tore apart Aston Villa’s defence; slowly at first, before building up to an ever-increasing crescendo! Arsenal played out their own version of Fifty Shades of Grey in front of our very eyes (not that I’ve ever read any of those particular books I hasten to add – I’m far too busy watching football). Arsenal scored five goals. They collected their third clean sheet in a row in the Premier League. In addition to the already exhilarating mix, take note that it’s the best result Arsenal has had for two and a half years as well as the first time in a decade they’ve beaten Aston Villa three times on the trot. All in all a good day for Gooners everywhere. May there be many more fairytale endings for Arsenal before the season’s out. So what did we learn from the match?
1. David Ospina – Number 13 is not unlucky for some
In the last three Premier League matches Ospina has been our Number One 13 in goal; partly due to Wojciech Szczesny’s poor form in recent times. It would appear that for the moment our Number One has been usurped and is now our Number Two – no pun intended. Whether Ospina remains a permanent fixture in goal remains to be seen but so far, since returning from his thigh injury to the pitch on 11 January, the Colombian has successfully filled the boots of Szczesny in our Premier League matches. In the fixture against Aston Villa Ospina was pretty much redundant until the closing minutes of the first half when Andreas Weimann came the closest to scoring with a header just outside the six yard box. The ball bounced in front of Ospina and he quickly dived to stop its progress, but was unable to keep hold of the ball. Luckily Hector Bellerin was there to kick the ball out of play. In the second half there were a couple of half-hearted attempts at goal by Christian Benteke but in the closing minutes of the game a rocket fired by Ashley Westwood sent the ball hurtling towards the goal and we saw Ospina’s cat-like reflexes spring into action to palm the ball away from goal and behind the line for a corner kick. Westwood then takes the corner, curls the ball in towards the goal but Ospina is there to catch it with ease as the final whistle signals the end of a triumphant victory. May Number 13 continue to be as auspicious and lucky for Ospina in the future. Press the page numbers below to see the rest of the article.