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.