Birmingham City
This game took place at St Andrews, on Sunday 12th January at 4:30pm. Attendance was 29,505.
Final result was 4-0. Arsenal's goalscorer were Thierry Henry (2) 5' & 70', Pires 28' and Lauren 68'
Here's the official report from Arsenal.com: "Arsenal restored their five-point cushion at the top of the Premiership on Sunday with a richly-deserved 4-0 victory against Birmingham City. Thierry Henry took centre stage with a brace to complete a century of goals for the Gunners and put the seal on a swaggering performance which warmed the hearts of the travelling Arsenal fans on a freezing day in the Midlands. An exemplary finish from Robert Pires and a header from Lauren completed the scoring as Birmingham were outclassed by Arsenal for the second time this season. Like so many of his goals, Henry's efforts were both beauties. The French striker raced onto an astute through ball from Dennis Bergkamp to jink past goalkeeper Nico Vaesen and open the scoring after just five minutes, and he waltzed through the Blues defence to bring up his ton 20 minutes from time. In between, Pires beat Vaesen with a rasping 20-yard drive after 29 minutes and Lauren's 68th-minute header flicked off Michael Johnson and looped over the Blues 'keeper. Before the game, Arsène Wenger made five changes from the team which beat Oxford 2-0 in the third round of the FA Cup. Lauren, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Sylvain Wiltord and Henry, all rested last weekend, came in for Oleg Luzhny, Matthew Upson, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Kolo Toure and Francis Jeffers. With Patrick Vieira and Freddie Ljungberg injured, and Ray Parlour short of match practice, Arsenal paraded a Brazilian central midfield pairing of Edu and Gilberto. It had been more than 16 years since Arsenal last visited St Andrews for a League match, and we were made to wait a little longer when an electrical fault caused floodlight failure just before kick-off. After a 25-minute delay, the game got underway. And for those of an Arsenal persuasion, it was certainly worth the wait. Henry made his presence felt as early as the second minute with a marauding run through the Birmingham defence, and Wiltord flashed a volley wide after Bergkamp had broken clear and found the Frenchman shortly afterwards. The signs were ominous for Birmingham, and it was no surprise when Henry capped Arsenal's exhilarating start with the opening goal after six minutes. With Bergkamp in spellbinding form and enjoying plenty of space, the Gunners continued to control the match and so nearly scored a second after 12 minutes. Henry curled in a corner from the left, Wiltord flicked the ball on and Edu's far-post volley was brilliantly kept out at point-blank range by Vaesen. As the usually vociferous home crowd grew increasingly muted, Arsenal kept up the pressure and Henry came within inches of his 100th goal when he found the side-netting after a fine move involving Bergkamp and Pires. Birmingham eventually hauled themselves into the game and Jamie Clapham, one of three debutants in the Blues line-up, tested David Seaman with a 25-yard effort. The former Birmingham 'keeper saved well and was under pressure again shortly afterwards as a scramble caused panic in the Arsenal box. If the hosts had scored then, the game could have been very different. Instead, Pires doubled the Gunners' advantage and effectively ended the match as a contest. After the break, Birmingham pressed forward in search of a route back into the match, but they were always susceptible to the counter-attack, and few teams execute that tactic more effectively than the champions. Henry was at the hub of most of Arsenal's slick breakaways, and he set up Bergkamp eight minutes into the second half after another thrust through the centre of the Blues defence. Bergkamp fired straight at Vaesen, but the flag had already been raised for an offside decision. At the other end, Christophe Dugarry ruffled a few Arsenal feathers on his first appearance for Birmingham, but just as the hosts suggested they could make a game of it the visitors plundered a third. Bergkamp collected the ball on the left in acres of space and crossed for Lauren, whose capped hie well-timed run into the box with a towering header which deflected off Michael Johnson and looped over the helpless Vaesen. Three minutes later, it was four for Arsenal and a milestone for Henry. Pires and Wiltord linked up well and played in their compatriot, who beat Vickers and found the corner of the net. Henry almost produced another classic shortly afterwards. He evaded two challenges on the edge of the box and curled the ball beyond Vaesen, but his effort flew just wide. It didn't really matter. For Henry and Arsenal, it was already a perfect day."
