Aston Villa-Arsenal: Credit Where Credit Is Due

After watching yet another Arsenal defeat at the Emirates stadium, Arsenal fans must be wondering whether this was the same team that beat Manchester United a week ago.

Harold Wilson once said, “A week is a long time in politics.” Believe me, if you're an Arsenal fan, you'll know that a week seems like a light year in football.

You would actually feel that you're on a different planet right now!

In all honesty though, every single Aston Villa player was a hero today. Sometimes you just have to put your hand up and say that you were beaten by the better team and Aston Villa certainly looked up for the game today.

It might have been the nature of their defeat last week, or it might have simply been the fact that they were playing against a team in "the big four." Either way, Aston Villa posed a number of questions to Arsenal today—none of which were answered.

It was also quite odd watching in the heart of midfield, two players who could have very well been at Arsenal today. Maybe not both of them, but certainly one—Steve Sidwell and Gareth Barry were simply outstanding in the middle of the park.

Even though the referee, "Mickey Mouse", a.k.a. Mike Riley, allowed them to get a certain number of tackles in without doing much to penalize them—they performed admirably against the same midfield that outclassed Manchester United not so long ago.

Villa also had to overcome the fact that Ashley Young missed a penalty, due to a superb save from Manuel Almunia—but they never let their heads drop. It was a performance which any team in the Premier League, if not in Europe, would have been proud of.

In all honesty, had Villa played with the same determination and verve that they did today, they might have beaten any Premier League team anywhere.

That is by no means an exaggeration—yes, Arsenal were poor, but more often than not they were made to look so. Many might have noticed the number of stray passes from Cesc Fabregas today—but I'm not sure how many people noticed Sidwell or Barry right in front of him, creating pressure and forcing him to make the decision hastily rather than allow him to take his time and weigh a pass.

Many Arsenal fans said that the real test would come today against Aston Villa after last weekend's game, and that the team's title credentials would be firmly tested. They couldn't have been more correct.

Arsenal fans, though, might just have to accept the fact that they'll see displays like the one last week and the one that they all saw today. Of course, the Carling Cup didn't necessarily help things—because it literally transported most of them to a different world.

There's very little doubt that Arsenal weren't good enough today—and everyone is probably going to listen to the manager criticising "Mickey Mouse," but I just hope that he praises his opponent's performance today.

That's because they were simply outstanding.