If you were an overseas player coming to Arsenal you should surely be a tad wary of playing in front of new fans, with new team mates in a new stadium. You would probably worry a mite about fitting into the system and your stomach would possibly be churning at the thought of entering the fray in front of 60,000 Arsenal supporters who are not renowned for their tolerance, as has been demonstrated by the recent booing of last season’s top scorer Adebayor.

Not so for the young Frenchman Samir Nasri who has slotted into place some two or three months quicker than it took Henry or Pires. Flattered though he is to be compared with Pires he wants to be known as Samir Nasri rather than the new Robert Pires. Great to hear he’s his own man. He’s also got what it takes to show the arch-evil bar steward Joey ‘Jailbird’ Barton what he thought of his unsavoury challenge by running past him and clipping his ankles in an ‘up yours scum’ sort of way. A silly thing to do but who amongst us didn’t enjoy the moment.

It rather irrationally caused Keegan to throw a somewhat deranged wobbly at close of play. But then Keegan is prone to deranged wobblies. Forget Keegan and the steam coming out of his ears, he was possibly upset by the Arsenal crowd’s ironic taunts of ‘one Kevin Keegan’. Or maybe it was the lesson in total football his team had just received. What I especially liked about the incident was the added bonus of Samir having attitude. He’s already shown this in play where he remains cool, calm and collected when harassed or hacked.

Occasionally caught out of position when our opponents counter but a fine reader of the game going forward, a supplier and seeker of goals which he’s happy to score with either foot. A link man with vision and an honest player who clearly already enjoys playing in the Ebbsfleet United shirt. I enthuse at the prospect of another half-dozen seasons of enjoying the man’s skills and match winning performances. Three games in and he’s an established first team choice looking totally at home and one of us.

Goal attempts on the day were 21 for Arsenal and just 4 for the Toon, which sums up the game quite adequately I’d have thought. So a great performance in an all round team display that even saw Eboue receive a standing ovation as he was subbed. What is the Ashburton crowd coming to? Topping off the pleasure of the slaughter of the Toon was a 27 minute cameo from a young man who looks destined to sell a good few thousand Arsenal shirts in Mexico.

Carlos Vela came on for the limping Robin and immediately started his league debut with a fine series of one-twos with Theo down the right flank. The kid oozes class, he’s another link man with a killer touch. The way he goes past players really close reminds me of Reyes in his opening games for Arsenal. Carlos will win us a number of penalties and free kicks if he doesn’t allow himself to be kicked out of games the way Reyes was.

Carlos Vela was an absolute joy to watch, he plays the game with a smile and he, like Samir, looks to be absolutely loving it at Arsenal. Wenger’s style of play is such that if you’re a class player who enjoys playing with other fine players and always looking to go forward then why wouldn’t you just love to play for the Arsenal?

The future is bright, the future is red and white and our current squad, particularly going forward, looks none too shabby to me. If Wenger can just find the correct player to add defensive balance in midfield we are in for a thrilling season.