Open Letter to Manchester City: why we don't hate you as much as we should...

Dear Citizens—

I'm supposed to hate you, what with the Clichy and Nasri affairs, the relegation of Sagna to your bench, the financial doping, and the Prem titles, and so on, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Aside from Nasri (who was more than a bit cuntish even during his time with us, what with the scarves and the mittens and so on), I can't quite name a player in your squad who brings the bile to back of my throat as, well, biliously, as those Chelsea's squad, to name just one. This ain't quite the same as feeling respect, mind you, just the absence of disrespect.

Concede Fàbregas, nab Čech=Mourinho's sacked; it's all Arsène's plan...

Unless you've been living under a rock, you must know by now that Jose Mourinho was sack—er, left Chelsea by 'mutual consent', sad news indeed for those among us who wished to prolong his misery and see if his overweening ways would actually drive Chelsea into the relegation zone, if not outright relegation itself. I won't go so far as to suggest that Arsène is finally seeing the fruits of a master-plan, but it carries many of the familiar signs of just such a plan.

We are top of the league, said wearetopoftheleague!

Okay, so it wasn't quite the swash-buckling rampage we've come to expect against Aston Villa, scoring only two goals after scoring 12 in our previous three outings. Pity poor Villa, on whom Kevin Friend might have lavished some pity by ruling Walcott offside just before halftime. Walcott lashed home a vicious shot anyway. Regardless of the particulars, we took care of business, seeing off a Villa side that is already all but relegated. Whatever. It's the other end of the table that matters—the one atop which Arsenal now sit...for now. If you haven't been chanting "we. are. top. oftheleague, saidwearetopoftheleague!" while reading, you're doing it wrong. Go back to the top of the page and reread whilst chanting and bobbing your head to the rhythm. We'll wait.

Aston Villa 0-2 Arsenal: Vote for Player Ratings/MotM!

Olivier Giroud scored his 50th Arsenal goal (third-fastest in club history behind Henry and Wrighty), and Aaron Ramsey
made an 80-yard run after making a tackle to finish Özil's selfless pass to make it 0-2. In the second half, Villa showed a bit more spark but not nearly enough to pierce our defense. Petr Čech got his 169th clean sheet, equalling David James's record. Arsenal rise to the top of the Prem. however briefly. All in all, not a bad day to be a Gooner. Let's get down to the poll to rate our lads!