Arsenal back in form after Villa win, declares Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal are back in form after their determined 4-2 victory over Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday.

The North London side’s resilience has been called into question in the wake of recent mishaps against Tottenham and Sporting Braga. Arsenal’s title credentials were examined after they threw away a commanding 2-0 lead at the Emirates in the North London derby last weekend.

However, the 61-year-old Arsenal boss believes his side have put recent poor performances behind them with their inspiring win in Birmingham.

“With 2-0 at half-time it happened again, it was quickly back to 2-1, but this time we managed to find the resources to keep scoring goals,” said Wenger.

“I think it was a very strong performance against a Villa side that is very dangerous and a good team.”

Andrey Arshavin’s superb solo effort gave Arsenal the lead after 39 minutes. A corner from the Russian was then volleyed home by Samir Nasri on the stroke of half-time to double the visitors’ advantage.

Marouane Chamakh then responded to Ciaran Clarke’s volleyed goal shortly after the break to restore a two-goal lead for the gunners. However, Clarke struck again as he pounced on a loose ball in the box and headed past Lukasz Fabianski to give the home crowd hope once more.

But a characteristic Arsenal counter-attack was completed by Jack Wilshere as the 18-year-old headed in Arsenal’s fourth to move them temporarily to the summit of the league table.

Wenger paid testament to the home side’s endeavours. He said: “Villa had a great response in the second half, they closed us down more and were really under pressure.”

“I feel we are back. We lost two games against Tottenham and away to Braga, so it was important to win.”