Vito Mannone of the Match

Don Vito Mannone, Arsenal's 19-year old reserve goalkeeper was brilliant Saturday evening and Arsenal got a 1-nil result. Mannone put in a number of world class saves keeping his clean sheet and earned his place in the side, when many were calling for him to get whacked in favor of some young Polish keeper who's name is too difficult to type.

Mannone, who had been noticeably shaky, and that's an understatement, in his previous appearances in the Arsenal goal was fantastic, and will without a doubt be thrilled with his performance.

The team's performance, however, was not quite as stellar. Arshavin came back from his injury, but missed the best chance of the first half and never really got going (although he clearly adds much needed width and discipline to an Arsenal attack that had been carrying a tall gangly passenger in Abou Diaby on the left wing in his absence. Cesc was disappointing. Diaby lost the ball far too much in the middle of the pitch. Clichy still doesn't know how to defend. Song got his pants pulled down and Danny Murphy had his way with him. And Van Persie actually left the pitch for about fifteen minutes to take a piss, and we won 1-nil.

The goal was special however. Cesc made his best pass of the night chipping the ball over Hangeland and into Van Persie's run, who took the ball down perfectly with his left and finished equally well with his right. A great goal for Van Persie, who never really has any impact on the game as the lone striker but really is dangerous in quick flashes. Two great goals with his right foot already this season, which also is encouraging.

I also think Denilson would have been useful yesterday, more useful than Diaby anyway. Where the Brazilian's tendency to take the easy pass has been well documented (and lamented) he would have been a tidy player and would not have lost the ball as much as Diaby, who also defended really poorly and would have been at fault had Mannone not pulled out an amazing save on a late Bobby Zamora header. He really is clueless, Diaby.

Bottom line: we got the three points. We played poorly, Fulham will argue they deserved at least a draw, which they did, but a great game by Mannone got us the three points on the road. More than Chelsea can say this weekend. With Olympiakos coming to London on Tuesday, look for Wenger to maybe rotate a bit and bring in the likes of Gibbs (please God), Eboue, Eduardo, Denilson, Ramsey or Walcott (he's baaaack).