6 from 6 turns into 7 from 7 - the adventure continues apace in North London as the gap widens between third and fourth. Whilst champions league rivals Spurs and Chelsea played out a dreary goalless draw in West London, Arsenal comfortably saw off a poor Aston Villa team to run out 3-0 winners in a game remarkable largely for the absence of one Robin Van Persie on the score sheet

Villa came to North London off the back of one win in their last six matches, but they still had the best record of any visiting team at the emirates, as well as having scored 2 goals in an FA cup fixture between the two teams in January (albeit in a match they lost 3-2), so nothing was certain. Wenger's team selection was nothing if not unsurprising: Van Persie would be accompanied up top by Walcott and Gervinho, whilst Arteta and Rosicky would play behind them. Song would shield a back four of Gibbs, Sagna, Vermaelen and Djourou, Koscielny unfortunately ruled out during the warm up. Alex Mcleish meanwhile chose Agbonlahor and Albrighton to flank Emile Heskey, the premier league's least competent striker, in a front three which someone in public relations might call 'quick, powerful and dynamic' but the rest of us would probably just call 'crap'.

Prior to Sunday the Villa defence had in fact conceded 4 goals fewer than Arsenal, but they'll face few sterner tests than they did on Saturday: the home team started brightly and it quickly became apparent that their movement and one touch passing were too much for the visitors to cope with. Arsenal's efforts were rewarded after just sixteen minutes; the rampaging Kieran Gibbs received a pass from Gervinho inside the box, and with the Villa defenders inexplicably failing to follow his run he had a clean sight of goal. His shot was turned into the net by the hapless Shay Given who one sensed knew his afternoon was only going to get worse. The lead was doubled nine minutes later after Walcott controlled an excellent through ball from the increasingly influential Alex Song and the winger slotted into the corner. Earlier in the season Arsenal seemed to make it their business to piss away leads in the most outrageous ways possible, but we seem to look more and more comfortable defending them these days, and at 2-0 the game seemed sewn up, even with 65 minutes still to play. A third was finally added in the dying moments of the third half when a Mikel Arteta free kick flew in from something like 30 yards out and few would argue that it was any more than Arsenal deserved.

Villa threatened just twice during the entire game; first at 0-0 when Marc Albrighton was allowed to run almost the length of the pitch following a clearance from a corner, but his shot fizzed just over, and again in the 69th minute when the returning André Santos gifted the ball to Andreas Weimann but his ball across the 6 yard box went untouched. The Arsenal defence deserve some credit for picking up a clean sheet in a campaign that has seen alarmingly few of them, but truth be told the game seemed more like an exercise in damage limitation for Mcleish's men than an opportunity to pick up points.

For once we needn't dwell on the negatives because there were none. Instead we can bask in the success of a team whose momentum continues to build when they need it most. The only cloud on the horizon are the absence of Laurent Koscielny although, according the most news sources the defender should be fit for next weekend, when we travel to Loftus Road to battle one of Wenger's nemeses in Mark Hughes and his scrappy band of relegation battlers, QPR. For the first time in a long time there are no players misfiring, no mystery injuries to worry about and with the return of André Santos we once again have cover at full back; moreover in Rosicky mk. 2 we practically have a whole new player in the midfield. The law of averages would suggest that we're due a stroke of bad luck, but maybe for once things will keep going right for us. If results go our way, in a fortnight's time we could be just 6 points off Man City. But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves...isn't it?

P.S. Following Arshavin's relocation to Zenit, I'll be starting anew over at http://arsenesnose.blogspot.co.uk/

There's not an awful lot I can say about last night's game, watching as I was on an unreliable internet stream from Portugal, but I'll say what I can. Arsenal are now in third and that itself is worthy of a blog, so here goes.

On the 25th February, the gap between Arsenal and Spurs stood at 2 places, 10 points and 11 goals. On the 22nd March, it stands at 1 place, 1 point and 1 goal. The other way around. In the last 6 league games Arsenal have taken 18 points from a possible 18, while Spurs have taken 5. Chelsea have gained 7. Change is afoot.

Last year third place would have felt like failure; if Vermaelen and Van Persie had stayed fit for most of the season we might have sustained our title challenge until the last day, but instead we crumbled and the towel was thrown in a whole lot earlier than was appropriate. So early, in fact, that Man City nicked third place and we had to fight with Udinese to avoid competing at the kids' table of European football. This season third feels like silverware; success is relative.

Such were our losses over the Summer that a champion's league spot next season was as much as we could realistically hope for. Keeping the squad healthy as well as challenging for silverware (and that includes league and FA cups) was simply not feasible, especially when the back four kept imploding in a shower of dodgy ankles and torn ligaments. Liverpool present an excellent case study in terms of what happens when you value domestic competitions too highly. Cardiff's penalty takers gift-wrapped the carling cup in the shootout, and Liverpool will again travel to Wembley for an FA cup final shortly, but in the league they are 12 points adrift of the champions league spots, and only three clear of newly promoted Swansea. All of this after a huge outlay of funds during the last three transfer windows. 'King' Kenny may be beloved by the Kop, but even if he wins the FA cup too it will still be seen as a paltry return given the war chest he has been allowed to command. Also he has a face like a slapped arse. No one figured Arsene would have his team 13 points clear of Dalglish's boys at this point in the season, but here we are.

Success is relative.

6 wins from 6 is a phrase worth savouring, but what lies ahead? Difficult ties remain including fixtures against City, Chelsea and Stoke, but the first two will be in the comfort of North London. If we can win 5 of the next 9, avoiding defeat against Chelsea, then we should have champions league football wrapped up. The smart money's on us crossing the finish line ahead of Spurs and Chelsea, but the last two months are a pretty definitive example of how quickly seasons can be turned on their heads.

I feel like a broken record discussing mental strength as it seems to alternate between our greatest asset and our biggest weakness; we've either got it by the bucket-load, or it's completely drained away. Milan away, classic example of a complete mental collapse; Milan at home, team spirit and resilience out the ying yang. 6 wins on the spin, however, suggests that Wenger's instilled some belief in these players, especially given that 4 of them were come-from-behinds. Everton away was a pretty good example of how things have improved in the last month.

Traditionally this season Arsenal have come limping out of the blocks but last night they were flying. The ball was moved quickly and incisively, opposition players were closed down, and the home team barely had time to compose themselves before they were 1 down, courtesy of a Thomas Vermaelen header. Everton are a good team at home, and have beaten Spurs, Chelsea and City at Goodison in the past couple of months, so inevitably they settled down and started passing the ball. They should have had a goal too, but the linesman incorrectly flagged Royston Drenthe offside when he was clearly on.

If I had a nickel for every time I saw an Arsenal team take the lead in a game like this only to crumble defensively and concede either one or two late goals I'd be a rich man - not last night though. After the break, Everton largely failed to trouble a resilient back four which has only conceded four goals in 8 games when they've all been fit enough to start together. With just 9 games to go the importance of three points last night cannot be stressed enough. All around us teams are feeling the strain of a long and difficult season, but the Gunners seem to have found another gear, and it's looking like the difference between the Champions League and island of misfit teams (sorry, Europa League). This weekend we welcome our brothers from Birmingham, the mighty Aston Villa, to the emirates. Let them feel the righteous lash of Arsene Wenger's hickory switch.

There's two kinds of performances that make the job of the blogger easy. The truly great (think Barcelona at the Emirates last season) and the truly awful, (think Milan, tonight). When your team throw in the towel after a quarter of an hour in a Champions League last sixteen tie, the words come a little easier.

Milan are obviously a talented team - Italian football is no longer in the doldrums (see seventh placed Napoli's qualification from their Champions League group ahead of Manchester City) and Massimiliano Allegri's team lead the league. With the criminally underrated Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line, and Brazil's first choice centre back Tiago Silva marshaling the defence, they're a fundamentally solid outfit, if not a flashy one. Their draw at the Nou Camp was no fluke, a result of good counter attacking and well executed fundamentals, and should have served as an excellent warning to the Gunners. Arsenal have played badly this season, making bad teams look good and good teams look great, but the performance against Milan was breathtakingly dire. After a really pleasing fightback against a resurgent Sunderland on the weekend, and against significantly better opposition, it was therefore surprising to see the Gunners treat the first half at the San Siro like a training match.

Wenger seemingly predicted that the game being contested in the midfield as opposed to the wings, dropping Oxlade-Chamberlain in favour of Rosicky: the Czech is happy to drift deeper and involve himself in the link up play and his versatility should have come in handy. Ramsey reclaimed his place in midfield, while Kieran Gibbs started at left back for the first time since October. As it happened it didn't really matter who started out on the left wing because Arsenal's front three saw so little of the ball in the first half. Milan pressured the Gunners midfield and marked the forwards tightly, and so we were privy to another masterful display of side to side passing - it's like Denilson, master of the sideways pass, never left. While Arsenal offered absolutely nothing in the final third, the same could not be said for Milan who looked incisive right from the first whistle.

With Van Bommel keeping the midfield ticking over and Ibrahimovic the focal point for the attack, the home team moved the ball quickly and intelligently. Arsenal often look short of ideas against well organised teams, and in those games the defence must be relied upon to keep the game competitive until the attack finds its groove. Not so tonight; players were consistently allowed time and space to pick passes, knock in crosses or even take shots. No one was closing down, no one was doubling up on wingers, the full backs were consistently outnumbered by Milan players, headers were going uncontested; I really cannot overstate how poor Arsenal were defensively in this game.

Mindblowingly bad.

Both of Milan's first half goals were well taken: FA Cup final penalty misser Kevin Prince Boateng smashed a brilliant shot beyond Szczesny after fifteen minutes, but why he was allowed the space to do so? Robinho's header after half an hour was well directed, but why did Sagna simply stop following Ibrahimovic's run down the wing when the linesman failed to flag for offside? It wasn't like we were undone by individual pieces of skill and 25 yard piledrivers into the top corner; the Arsenal players beat themselves by failing to execute fundamentally simple tasks. Words cannot express how disappointing it was to watch a premier league team play like a bunch of Sunday league amateurs.

The sides went in at half time at 2-0, the only question worth asking was not whether Arsenal would get back into the game, but how badly they would be beaten. Vermaelen's slip allowed Robinho to make it three from the edge of the area and Djourou, (replacing the injured Koscielny) continued to make a case for him to be banned from wearing an Arsenal shirt ever again when he was once again caught too square to a striker and dragged down Ibrahimovic in the box. The Swedish striker converted the penalty, and frankly it was no less than the Italian team deserved.

Arsenal offered a little more in the second half, as first Henry and then Oxlade-Chamberlain were thrown into the fray, but this was more a consequence of Milan easing off than anything else. Nothing short of a miracle will see the Gunners progress now, and Wenger would be well-advised to focus his efforts on the fight for fourth place. He must address the problems highlighted in Milan tonight however. Van Persie, I feel, owes his club a debt of loyalty for consistently renewing his contract despite his many injuries, but he can't be expected to stay at a team that not only cannot match his expectations, but fails to even come close. The Dutchman, along with Szczesny and the two second half substitutes, were the only players to play at a level even close to what you'd call acceptable, and Wenger must identify why his players looked so out of their depth.

Arsenal were always going to struggle against a fundamentally better team, but it seems a real shame that Theirry Henry should bid farewell to the club surrounded by such abject mediocrity. He deserved better, and so did the fans. Sunderland are the opposition once again on the weekend, and victory would see us through to the quarter finals of the FA cup. Gervinho will be back from the African cup of nations where, as is to be expected of an Arsenal player, he missed the decisive penalty in the final. Wenger can now put the consistently useless Walcott on the bench and give his starting spot to the Ox. If the Frenchman is to be at the club next season, and I sincerely hope he will, his players will have to stop phoning it in. We're edging closer to the precipice week by week; for god's sake, someone throw us a lifeline.

(Buck your ideas up son)

Let's face it - things are not looking good for Arsenal. The Gunner's slide into mediocrity continued last night with a piss-poor performance against a Bolton side now just two points clear of the relegation zone. The gap between us and fourth remained at 5 points thanks to Chelsea's draw at Swansea, but two teams, namely Newcastle and Liverpool, now occupy the space between us and them. To put that into perspective, that's a Liverpool team with lumbering man-child Andy Carroll up front and a Newcastle team managed by Alan 'he's absolutely raped him' Pardew. Can things get any worse?

Well yes, as apparently Jack Wilshere looks to set to miss the rest of the season. The young midfielder aggravated his injury in training and will almost certainly not feature in the league. Wenger must now rely entirely on the midfield trio of Song, Ramsey and Arteta, an alarming prospect given Ramsey's tendency to play as if he's just returned from his year long absence (ie tentatively and sloppily) and Song's apparent disinclination to provide any meaningful contribution at either end of the pitch. Arteta continues to provide the only spark in the middle, although his physical limitations prevent him from taking the game to the opposition in the way that someone younger and quicker might, say a Fabregas or a Nasri.

Meanwhile Van Persie continues to look like a man who feels the burden of expectation upon his shoulders - with Gervinho in Africa his support up front at Bolton came in the shape of the inexperienced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the woefully inefficient Theo Walcott. The latter, who can can only really be allowed one more season to show why he should be allowed to play for Arsenal, looks less and less like the player who beat three Chelsea defenders to score at Stamford Bridge in October. The paucity of quality in the team was reflected by the rather abject performance on the pitch. Opportunities were created in a first half which Arsenal largely dominated - Ramsey failed to make sufficient contact on a Van Persie through-ball, and Walcott unsurprisingly squandered a one on one after he was played in by Oxlade-Chamberlain. David Ngog missed a similar chance at the other end but Arsenal should have been ahead at the break.

After half time the roles were reversed. The Gunners best chance came in the shape of a cross from the returning (and ever-reliable) Sagna, which Van Persie could only crash against the post. The Dutchman hit the woodwork again with a Bergkamp style lob from close range, and Oxlade-Chamberlain fired just over from 25 yards, but for much of the second half the ball was in and around the Arsenal penalty area. Despite creating only half chances, the home side were almost rewarded for their hard work right at the death when Szczesny brought down Mark Davies in the box but Chris Foy gave the goalkeeper the benefit of the doubt.

The momentum gathered during a dominant second half performance against Villa on the weekend failed to spill over into the next game, and instead Arsenal demonstrated the lack of incisiveness and ability to convert chances that has plagued their game since late December. Van Persie's task must seem increasingly thankless and futile if the other strikers consistently fail to alleviate his workload, and rumours linking him with a Summer move to Spain seem to be gathering momentum. Moreover the midfield must start creating the chances that their possession merits. Walcott and Ramsey, playing as they are, would probably look out of their depth in promotion chasing Championship sides.

What's to be done about a run of form that makes Champions League football next season look more and more unlikely? Well with the transfer window shut (and our only purchase a young German from Dortmund without a single senior appearance to his name) the only thing we can do is to hope that the player we have can turn things around. The talent is obviously there, as evidenced by the fact that the team went from 17th to 5th in about a month earlier in the season. When Gibbs and Santos return we will at least have two bona fide full backs, which will allow Vermaelen to move back into the middle to partner Kosielny, who has, except for Van Persie, been Arsenal's standout player this season. Oxlade-Chamberlain, who looks to have displaced Arshavin in the pecking order (much to the pleasure of most Arsenal fans with the exception of those select few who have honoured him by naming their blogs after him) looks like the player that Walcott always wanted to be: fast, strong, tricky and with a fierce shot. As his general game improves (and with the return of our actual fullbacks) we should have a genuine wide threat for the first time this season. Above all else though, players like Ramsey, Song and Walcott have to start making a positive contribution. Van Persie cannot carry this team for an entire season, and shouldn't be expected to. Ultimately the difference between playing in Europe on a Tuesday night or a Thursday will ultimately rest in their hands.