In-form Arsenal crush Blackburn

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal are returning to form at the best possible time after crushing Blackburn 4-0 in an English Premiership.

The north Londoners are still fighting on three fronts as they enter the final two months of the season.

The Gunners are aiming for fourth place in the English Premier League with Aston Villa, can book an FA Cup semi-final date with Chelsea with victory over Hull City on Tuesday and have a Champions League quarter-final date looming next month.

A month ago, Wenger might have approached those fixtures with trepidation. His side were struggling to score goals, were regularly being booed off by their own fans at the Emirates stadium and were buckling under the weight of a chronic injury list.

Now, however, optimism is coursing through Arsenal's veins once again.

Saturday's romp against Rovers - sealed by an own goal from Martin Ooijer, a superb individual effort from Andrey Arshavin and a late brace from the much-maligned Emmanuel Eboue - was one of their best displays of the season, the Gunners' confidence buoyed by their penalty shoot-out win over AS Roma three days previously.

"The boys were waiting for a long time to do that," Wenger said. "I believe that maybe the pressure came off the team after the Roma game. We played with more freedom and we have more creative talent.

"Our football was more fluent and our game is coming back. That's down to psychological reasons. We were always very focused and we are on a very consistent run now and we can go from strength to strength.

"Would we have produced the same performance had we gone out in midweek? It would have been very difficult. But now the team is really up for it and we are in good shape to fight on three fronts."

Arsenal proved as much against Rovers, as Wenger rested a clutch of senior players, including Robin van Persie, William Gallas and Abou Diaby. But there was never any suggestion that the Gunners would miss that illustrious trio, particularly not with Arshavin in such fine form.

The Russian thought he had scored his first goal since his 15 million pounds move from Zenit St Petersburg in the second minute, but it was awarded to Blackburn defender Ooijer, as Arshavin's initial effort was going wide.

There was no doubt about his 65th-minute effort, however, as the midfielder cut in from the left and drilled high over Paul Robinson, before celebrating with the Gunners' club doctor Gary O'Driscoll.

"He did that because Gary had put four stitches in his foot at half-time," Wenger revealed. "He had a nasty cut but he wanted to play. I am very pleased for him. He has intelligence, vision and talent and his goal was an example of that."

Eboue had the final word, netting from close range with three minutes remaining and then again from the penalty spot in stoppage time, after Carlos Vela had been felled by Martin Olsson.

Blackburn are just a point from the relegation zone after a disastrous day for manager Sam Allardyce.

The Rovers boss had already lost New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen in the warm-up and then saw Gael Givet and Stephen Warnock limp off with injuries, leaving his squad looking decidedly threadbare.

"If you come here, you need all your players available, particularly your best ones," Alardyce said. "It affects your performance when you don't have that. Even the top clubs suffer in that way.

"If you only lose to the big boys, that's not so bad: it's important you don't lose to the other teams who are down there with you."





The People's Liberation Army band plays at the end of China's annual parliamentary session in Beijing. AFP/Peter Parks