Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 0 - analysis

It was cricket weather at the Emirates Stadium – and it could quite easily have been a cricket score.

Villa had been fortunate in their two prior meetings with Arsenal this season to have caught the Gunners when they had been on a sticky wicket.

But in the glorious conditions, and with Arsenal having dispatched their last six League opponents, it was just a question of how many Arsene Wenger's side could rattle up before the close of play.

And Villa obliged as they did little other than don their white away strip and stand aside to allow the Gunners to showcase their brand of technically-superior football.

It was Alex McLeish's second north London surrender of the season and bore stark resemblance to the 2-0 loss at Tottenham when Villa looked like a beaten team before they had even stepped on the pitch.

That night McLeish was castigated for his conservative team selection and, although the Villa boss shuffled his batting line-up around at the Emirates, the outcome was similar. The only surprise was that Arsenal were unable to put more on the scoreboard.

McLeish left Charles N'Zogbia out of the Villa starting line-up with the official reason being a knee injury in the same week in which he claimed he was misquoted in a French newspaper where he was critical of the Villa boss.

Emile Heskey came in for N'Zogbia while right-back Alan Hutton was passed fit as McLeish elected for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The home side oozed confidence and they carved open the Villa defence in the 10th minute with some clever build-up play which saw Shay Given palm away a shot from Theo Walcott. A collapse looked ominous.

It did not take long for the Gunners to find the net and the only surprise was that the source of their 16th-minute opener was Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs rather than the prolific Robin van Persie.

Gervinho threaded a ball into the penalty area for Gibbs who was allowed far too much time and space as three Villa players left the ball in the same manner you would expect a nervous tailender and the defender's low finish squirmed under Given at the keeper's near post.

A terrible delivery from Carlos Cuellar was intercepted by Gervinho nine minutes later and he laid it into Alex Song who dinked a clever ball over the Villa defence into the box for Walcott – no relation to West Indies batting great Sir Clyde after all – who calmly dispatched a low finish past the helpless Given.

The Gunners had further opportunities to increase their advantage before half-time as Given tipped over a fine effort from Mikel Arteta while Stephen Warnock acrobatically headed over Van Persie's deflected shot.

Villa improved moderately after the break as Marc Albrighton delivered a few teasing crosses into the penalty area but they were comfortably dealt with by the Arsenal defence.

The claret and blues were largely restricted to half-chances and Gary Gardner, who replaced Aussie middle-order grafter Chris Herd shortly after the interval, saw a deflected shot drift past the post with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Fellow substitute Andreas Weimann should have done better when he dragged a shot wide shortly afterwards when he latched onto a lazy pass from Andre Santos.

However, that was as good as it got for Villa and the statistic of not being able to register a meaningful attempt on target was telling.

Arsenal's appeals for a penalty were waved away by Phil Dowd late on when Ireland caught Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with a tackle from behind.

But the Gunners put the icing on the cake in injury time and got the third goal that their pressure warranted when Eric Lichaj, who had replaced the injured Hutton, chopped down Song in a dangerous position on the edge of the penalty area.

Arteta, who had gone close with a number of attempts from distance, lashed a swerving free-kick from fully 30 yards into the back of the net which gave Given absolutely no chance.

Ultimately it was a meek performance from Villa's players which has too often become the norm under McLeish who must be desperate for it all to be over to begin the facelift on his squad in the summer.

Indeed, the clocks went forward an hour yesterday but Villa's supporters would probably prefer to turn to the hands of time to 4.45pm on May 13 and bring this largely forgettable campaign to an end.

The cricket season can't come soon enough.

By Timothy Abraham