EPL Review: Arsenal, Aston Villa and Birmingham City
Arsenal:
Arsene Wenger hailed a "fantastic" performance after his team proved the weekend's big winners in the Barclays Premier League title race. Arsenal claimed a challenging 2-1 win against the Toffees at Goodison Park to move up to second while
the other top four teams around them all dropped points last weekend. The Gunners are now only two points behind current Premier League table leaders and their manager praised Arsenal’s performance against Everton in a crucial away fixture.
The legendary manager of Arsenal said: "It was a good overall performance - we were disciplined, determined, focused. We looked a really together team and that is an ingredient you need to win at Everton. It was a great performance
against a very strong side. You have to give credit to Everton - they are a very good team. They will come up in the table and I expect them to challenge in the top six. To win away against a top-six side is always fantastic."
Arsenal has been in their great away form of recent history. The Gunners have played 6 away matches so far in which they managed 4 wins and a draw against Sunderland along with a defeat against League leaders, Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Aston Villa:
Aston Villa’s young gun, Barry Bannan has been backed up by Manchester United’s midfielder and Scotland captain Darren Fletcher to make the step up from club to international football.
Fletcher had a first-hand view of Bannan's qualities when in action for Manchester United in Saturday's 2-2 draw at Villa Park. But he knew already of the potential of the Aston Villa academy product that has impressed a lot in recent
weeks. Fletcher said: "Is Bannan ready for Scotland? Of course he is. He is playing for Aston Villa in the Premier League and he is a very talented lad. He was impressive against United on Saturday and he is an intelligent footballer.
If he gets a run of games for Villa, I am sure he will do well for himself. Having watched him for the Under-21s and Villa, I think he is going to have a bright future. I watch a lot of reserve team matches and I was aware of Barry before now. I saw him score
a hat-trick against the United reserves this season so I knew what to expect."
Birmingham City:
Birmingham City’s manager looked relaxed following the goalless draw at Eastlands even though his side is struggling at the wrong end of the table. It was a job well done for the visitors with McLeish admitting he would have taken a point
before kick-off.
McLeish said that he was never comfortable during the game against Manchester City last weekend. He added that the second half against Roberto Mancini’s men was difficult but as the game wore on he started to believe that his side would
be able to get something out of that match and they did.
It was also confirmed by Birmingham’s boss that their talismanic midfielder Craig Gardner suffered an ankle injury during the match last weekend. While commenting about Gardner injury, the Blues’ manager said that Gardner was struggling
before the weekend’s match but he was hopeful that his talismanic skipper would return to full fitness in near future.
Position-wise, Birmingham City is currently battling relegation battle, which is an alarming situation for a team who finished seventh last season.
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