This is a public service announcement. One of things I have been to known to do is to pass on my wit and wisdom gained through cough, splutter, years on this earth. Gems such as “Never light a match in the middle of a gas leak”. Todays wisdom is directed at those of you who are not yet parents. This is a major lifechanging decision and needs some careful forethought. Most crucially, ensure that you and your partner get “busy” in October / November time for if she serves the full term, your progeny will arrive around June or July when only international tournaments are scheduled. If you do not, there will come a time when the child is old enough to notice your absence on their birthday and will, in all fairness, quite rightly be upset for they will be of that awkward age where sitting still for ninety minutes is well beyond them. My two cannot sit still for ninety seconds. You will end up at some point in the laps of Fixture, the footballing God of arranging matches, and the missed weddings / christenings, etc., will come back to haunt you and you will miss one of the “big” games of the season. I speak from the bitter voice of experience. Happy Birthday for yesterday Percy.

And even then, should you be able to produce a diplomatic effort that would put most of the United Nations to shame and be allowed to attend said match, the Gods will conspire to ensure you cannot go through a household disaster such as, Oh I don’t know, um, a kitchen sink collapsing taking out the unit and a lot of the pipework with it. So you, Dear Reader, will appreciate that as I settled in front of hirsuite Richard Keys (possibly the first man ever to go bald from the hands rather than the head) and Co, I was not in the best frame of mind.

With their Title rivals winning twenty four hours beforehand, Arsenal had to emulate them to keep in touch. With a poor performance the week before, Arsenal needed to play well to restore confidence. I believe the phrase “Job Done” would apply to both. If Liverpool believed that their first visit to The Emirates was at a opportune time with their hosts seemingly at odds with the world then they were given a lesson in finishing and passing that will have put paid to that idea. It is not that this was the one-sided thrashing that is coming someone’s way, indeed it was a fairly even first half, more that Arsenal’s general shooting and finishing was spot on. At one point during the second half, Sky’s omnipresent statistics showed Arsenal trailing Liverpool with Shots On Goal of 5 – 8. The next stat was far more telling, Shots On Target (i.e. forcing a save or hitting the woodwork) Arsenal led 5 – 1. That was impressive even by our standards, a 100% hit ratio on efforts on goal, the denizons of the upper tiers safe for one match. Perhaps the team have realised that it is quality of effort rather than quantity that will get them three points in the bag.

Both teams were set from the start to be attack-minded and magnanimity in victory allows one to congratulate Liverpool for bucking the trend of sitting back and defending with ten men. That they were forced to when Arsenal were in possession is not their fault. A glimpse at the teamsheet beforehand though did not lead you to believe that this would be necessarily the case. Rosicky replaced by Flamini? Jens dropping out through a sniffle? A point at that moment in time would have been welcome but such pessimism imbued by the days events, was misplaced. Flamini worked hard and provided some fight in midfield whilst Almunia barely put a foot / hand or whatever it is Goalkeepers do, wrong.

For all of the criticism that Referees and officials get in offside decisions and failing to keep up with the play, I have to say Mark Clattenburg and his team only got one wrong yesterday – Carragher’s scything challenge on Fabregas in the second half was a stonewalled yellow card, what would have been the second of the match. van Persie’s handball missed by most viewers first time round, Crouch and Bellamy’s disallowed “Goals” for offside, all caught by the officials. Perhaps he can work on his fitness though for his fall with presumably cramp in his calf muscles was nearly as pathetic as Paul Alcocks’ when Paulo Di Canio pushed him at Sheffield Wednesday all those years ago.

The Arsenal defence played well throughout the match yesterday, the one lax piece of marking at a corner enabled Bolo Zenden to head wide when unmarked. With all due respect to the Dutchman, if you are going to leave someone unmarked for a free header then it would be a toss up between him and the ineffective Gonzalez who you would have opted for.

The opening goal was what has become a trademark of Arsenal’s this season. A neat interchange of passes with Hleb on the edge of the area sent Fabregas free on the right hand side of the box, his excellent cross met by the sliding Flamini ahead of Carragher and Reina, 1 – 0 just before half time, thank you very much. If number one was trademark, number two was from a familiar site but unexpected source. van Persie’s attempted flick was cocked up but the Dutchman got a second chance to release the ball, took it and sent a marauding Kolo Toure through on goal, his shot through the legs of the advancing Reina. Familiar? Yep, Toure’s become more adventurous this season, this his first league goal for a couple of years, his first goal since the winner against Villarreal. The third, courtesy of a trademark piece of Arsenal defending except this time from Liverpool; Gallas unmarked having casually strolled ahead of Gerrard and Riise. I mentioned that the England international would be keen to avoid gifts to Henry, it appears that he likes the French so much he swapped his allegiance to Gallas, failing to pick up the defenders Paseo in the area. It may seem an opportune moment to ask if the two central defenders have a private bet to see who will score the most this season, certainly more than any Arsenal Centre Half in the past two campaigns would appear to be the outcome. The chance to make it four fell decisively to Adebayour who ran from almost the halfway line clean through on goal, angled his shot but instead of the net bulging found the body of Reina.

The team played well as a unit, Eboue and Clichy supporting the attack well with the latter also dealing with the threat of Gerrard quite effectively. Gilberto worked tirelessly protecting the back four and up front, van Persie and Henry worked diligently for little reward. The passing and movement were on the whole good, proving that this squad can live with the “big boys”, they just need to handle the “little ‘uns” better on the road. Even the hacks will be happy as a contrite Arsene deigned to speak to them. A pleasing win.