I’d have settled for a point from the match before kick off. In the context of the quartet of games against the teams around Arsenal in the higher echelons of the table, if you guaranteed me eight points from the 12 available I’d bite your hand off. It was a scrappy encounter, but one in which the team hit the woodwork twice. So there was enough penetration to win the game.

At the back, there were certainly too many crosses allowed to come in, but for the most part, those in the centre – both in goal and central defence – had decent matches. Sol Campbell didn’t let anyone down and looks up to the job. I’ve not read the news about Thomas Vermaelen’s injury yet, but – in the short term – the one fresh face that January has brought us looks a capable replacement.

The Villa Park pitch didn’t do a lot for Arsenal’s passing game, but it has a bit of a history of that. It’s amazing in this day and age that pitches which are used as often as Arsenal’s aren’t of generally higher quality, but sometimes that suits the home side. The Gunners sporadically found some kind of rhythm, but the match was hard work last night. A similarly scrappy game a two or three of seasons back saw Wenger’s team take all three points thanks to a deflected Diaby effort. That was a fairly awful game too.

Villa were rarely easy on the eye, but made life difficult. At times in the first half they seemed to be winning more 50/50 balls than they should. However, they had a left back playing in the right back position, and there was an argument for Wenger to mix it up with his substitutions, change the formation to 4-4-2 and let Theo Walcott have a go at Luke Young. Okay Walcott’s form has been pretty questionable since his return from injury, but there was a horses for courses argument for the last 20 minutes.

The idea of getting eight points from these four big matches means winning two of them. I think there is a general belief that Liverpool are in such a state of disarray that a home win against them is likely. So a win is required against either Manchester United or Chelsea. Sunday’s game was always going to be highly significant, and nothing’s changed that. Arsenal have to use their home advantage and play their socks off. Song’s return to first team action is imperative, and in front of him, the manager has some choices to make. Nicklas Bendtner played very well as a lone hold up man when United visited last season. His return is timely to say the least given Eduardo looks set to be out for at least a couple of games, maybe longer. I’d put Arshavin and Rosicky wide of him and pick Nasri with Fabregas in midfield. The full backs will need to start getting some challenges in or the team are simply going to allow too many chances to the opposition. United are unlikely to miss the amount presented to lesser teams by the Gunners’ defending.

Anyway, a little unlucky not to get the win at Villa, but the point might look very valuable if a couple of wins are in the bag by the time the ref blows the full time whistle on February 10th. It was far from a great performance, but let’s hope we see one of those on Sunday. Every point is precious at the moment.