Birmingham 0 - 2 Arsenal

When was the last time you felt that tense upon watching Arsenal playing away against relegation battler? When was the last time you jumped and shouted like mad when you realized that we have just won that game and kept a clean sheet? It really was such a moment to savour. Winning is not a default anymore. It's something to fight for this season, no matter who we are up against.

Birmingham made their intention clear from the start by deploying two physical forward, Heskey and Sutton. Their approach was direct but their midfield wasn't overly physical. Their marking wasn't particularly tight, thus giving us some space to play our passing game at times.

My thought on each player..

Lehmann - Arsenal's best player of the night for me. His commanding presence and alertness, including a superb save from Jarosik, ensured the clean sheet.

Senderos - Played reasonably well though looked unsure at times. Still, I believe he needs another 2 seasons before he grows into a mature defender with enough quality as Arsenal's first choice centreback.

Djourou - Lively and good positioning. Did well in covering for Flamini and was never afraid to tackle. Once skinned by D.J. Campbell but all in all, a good performance by the youngster.

Seb. Larsson - Arsene converted two of his undersized centre midfielder into fullbacks. But Larsson did quite well in marking the dangerous Pennant and distributed the ball with his good passing skill.

Flamini - Julian Gray was not as dangerous as Pennant fortunately. Flamini was really trying his best to play in that unfamiliar position but he was quite out of place. At times he simply threw his body into tackle and when challenging for aerial ball he would often got blown away by the opponents. Poor Flamini.

Diaby - Doesn't tackle as hardly as Viera did but contributed more to the attacking moves, involved heavily in the first goal. Held up ball and brought the ball forward with total composure. Played with great enthusiasm. Promising indeed.

No. 19 - Had a slightly better performance but still didn't look convincing to me.

Cesc - Ensured that Flamini was covered well and made a great assist for Henry's goal. Not a great performance by the Spaniard but was good enough considering that he played out of position.

Reyes - He seems to get bulkier. A great midfield engine as usual, producing some great passes including the one Adebayor wasted away. With his great vision, he was many times the starting point to launch the trademark Arsenal lightning counterattack, Reyes will be vital to Arsenal's revival.

Adebayor - Bad haircut, great physical and aerial presence. His first goal shows that he is an opportunist, which is great. Doesn't possess van Persie's technique and finishing but is better at decision making.

Henry - Quiet most of the times but took his chance well. I didn't really enjoy his gesture after scoring his goal but if he can keep on scoring I think I can't really complain, can I?

Hleb - Disappointing, lack of confidence. Didn't do much when he came on.

Overall, I think we still need Kolo and Lauren to return to the side. I can't be bothered to think about Campbell. That big guy doesn't seem to be ready for this final lap as he is still struggling with his personal issue.

A good three points away and a good team effort by these bunch of youngsters. Wenger deserves to be proud of them.