Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin celebrates after scoring the opening goalAndrey Arshavin admits Arsenal failed to banish the woes of last week’s North London derby but he was pleased with the Gunners’ resilience yesterday.

Wenger’s men raced into a 2-0 lead at half-time again at Villa Park but were pegged back again right after the restart as Clark’s seemingly offside goal was allowed.

But a rare impressive performance from Arshavin meant succumbing to another comeback from the opponent would have been harsh on Arsenal.

The Russian was lively for most of the 84 minutes he played and feels his side’s commanding first-half display is what really handed them victory over Aston Villa.

“I think that our game in the first half secured our victory. We have competently carried out the first half. We managed to press on; often intercepted their passes and that led to the free zones, that we broke, creating dangerous chances at the Aston Villa’s gate”

“We were moving around. The first 45 minutes were very well played. Our opponent didn’t know what to do and how to play against us. Therefore, the Arsenal’s advantage has naturally turned into goals.”

Arshavin also admitted that being in the same position at halftime as they were against Tottenham forced a few nerves which saw Villa pull a goal back right after the break.

“At half-time there were talks that even 2:0 wasn’t enough for us.
And so it happened, our “disease” continued. We conceded a goal.”

And had Arsenal surrendered another 2-0 lead for defeat…

“What would have happened? We would have been sitting on the bus to London looking at each other like frightened bunnies.”

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