Cazorla double seals win over Fulham

Santi Cazorla scored twice on Saturday afternoon as Arsenal ran out comfortable victors against a relegation threatened Fulham side. It was another crucial 3 points as the Gunners retained their position at the top of the Premier League table. It was also our sixth straight win in all competitions as we're beginning to build some real momentum going into our tough period in the next few months. The line-up was unchanged from the win over Villa on Monday night, one of the few times that Wenger had decided to stick with the same team. Monreal managed to overcome an injury problem to start whilst Serge Gnabry once more got a chance to shine out on the right hand side.

Santi Cazorla scored a double to help Arsenal remain top

Our last few games have seen us nowhere near our best but we've still managed to come out with the win even when we haven't played as well. Our first halves display was very poor and we lacked a huge amount of end product. We got in the right positions but the final pass or shot was a poor one. Our defence were coming under pressure in situations where we shouldn't have done whilst we were sloppy in possession. Mesut Ozil had a distinctly average game again but did show some signs of influential play and could've had one or two goals. The second half was much better though.

It was our other main play-maker, Santi Cazorla, that came up trumps. Our goals came either side of the hour mark when it looked as though something special was needed to break down a resolute Fulham back line. Cazorla, Giroud and Wilshere interlinked brilliantly before the Spaniard fired home from 12 yards. His second meanwhile came from outside the box when he managed to squeeze the ball into the bottom corner on his left foot. Cazorla has started 2014 off in brilliant fashion and has 3 in 4. He had a slow start to the season but we're finally beginning to see what he was capable of last season. Along with the goals, his quick feet and dribbling was particularly noted.

Jack Wilshere built on his fantastic performance on Monday with another assist on Saturday. He supplied Santi's first and was one of our better players. He really has flourished now that he's back playing in centre midfield. He was heavily criticised when playing out on the wing but with Ramsey out injured we've needed someone to fill that void and Jack has certainly done that. A player that hasn't been critised in the wider areas though is that of young Serge Gnabry. This was his third consecutive start and he showed some glimpses of his great potential. He had 3 shots from outside the box that flew wide, but showed the confidence he has. Meanwhile he fainted his way past one man in the second half to fire a shot in, nut-megged another and had a shot blocked from twelve yards out as well. He was very unlucky not to find the net.

Wojciech Szczesny was making his 100th appearance for the club and he marked it with his 10th clean-sheet in the league this season. Szczesny, like many other players, has stepped up brilliantly this season and had to be alert to sniff out the danger twice in the first half, whilst also making a great save from a pile driver from Steve Sidwell. His form has been helped massively by the displays of Koscielny and Mertesacker this season who maintained their record of winning in every match they've completed 90 minutes together, the run now stretches to 29 games.

Lukas Podolski came on and made an instant impact. He's scored 3 in his last 3 against Fulham and could've had two more. His first touch saw a shot brilliantly blocked by former Cologne team-mate Reither. He then hit the post minutes later with a rasping effort that left the wood work shaking.

The win was more about the points gained than the performance, after all, if we play like that for the rest of the season but continue to pick up points, I'll be happy. That's as long as we do go on to win the title. It'll be a tough fight and we'll have to win as many games as possible because Man City look to have addressed their away form and they look almost unbeatable at home at the moment. We're top of the league by a point and with our tough run in February and March to come it's important that we step up our performances. Against the top sides, we may not come out on top when playing averagely.

The teams line-ups:

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Wilshere, Gnabry(71), Ozil(85), Cazorla, Giroud.
Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Rosicky, Oxlade-Chamberlain(85), Podolski(71), Park.

Fulham: Stekelenburg, Reither, Burn, Hangeland, Richardson, Sidwell, Parker, Dejagah(68), Dempsey, Kacaniklic(86), Berbatov. 
Subs: Stockdale, Hughes, Riise, Karagounis, Duff, Kasami(86), Bent(68).

My man of the match: Santi Cazorla.

Referee: Lee Probert.
Attendance: 60,000.