The top 5 Arsenal games of the decade continued

Afternoon all,

I continue to count down my top 5 Arsenal games of the past decade:

3. Arsenal 3 Aston Villa 1 16th October 2004

The game before our 49 game unbeaten run finally came to an end but nevertheless one of the most frightening displays of football I have ever seen. During the unbeaten run there was always that feeling that today would be the day we finally got beaten, however the invincibles always found that little extra from somewhere. Many won't remember this game or only look upon it as the game before the run ended. Time has seemed to have forgotten that this game saw one of the finest displays from an Arsenal side we have probably ever witnessed. The performance had everything, we went a goal down through Lee Hendry but we ran out more than worthy winners in the end. It was sublime, the passing, the speed at which we broke and the quality of football surpasses anything I have seen by the current Arsenal.

Perhaps it was fitting that it was the last unbeaten game in the run as I don't think I saw Arsenal play better in the previous 48 games.

Teams:

Arsenal: Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Cole, Pires (Van Persie 84), Vieira (Flamini 66), Fabregas, Reyes (Pennant 76), Bergkamp, Henry. Subs Not Used: Taylor, Cygan.

Aston Villa: Postma, Delaney, Mellberg, De la Cruz, Samuel, McCann, Hendrie, Hitzlsperger (Davis 45), Barry (Whittingham 8), Cole (Angel 58), Vassell. Subs Not Used: Solano, Henderson.

2. AC Milan 0 Arsenal 2 4th March 2008

An absolutely virtuoso performance by Arsenal in the Champions league away to Milan. Most gooners would no doubt pick our victory against Inter in the same stadium as the stand out champions league win of the decade but I feel the AC Milan game was more impressive. We outclassed Milan at the Emirates but were unable to break them down so coming up to the second leg I was feeling that our best chance to beat them had now gone. We dominated the game in Milan and put in a magnificent performance, although we had to wait until the 84th minute to open the scoring it was never really in any doubt. What made this game particularly special for me was that when I was growing up AC Milan were the greatest team in Europe and I’ll never forget that night they crushed Barcelona 4-0 in the European Cup final, it was a breathtaking performance. I also remember when we played them in the Super Cup in 1994 at Highbury, seeing the likes of Maldini, Beresi and Desailly in their prime was a wonderful experience and at that time I would never have thought that one day we would outplay and outclass Milan in the San Siro. I know this Milan team was very different and not in the same class as their former greats but it didn’t matter, we beat the MIGHTY AC Milan and seeing AC Milan 0 Arsenal 2 really was a dream come true!

Teams:

AC Milan: Kalac, Maldini, Kaladze, Nesta, Oddo, Ambrosini, Pirlo, Gattuso, Alexandre Pato, Kaka, Inzaghi (Gilardino 69). Subs Not Used: Fiori, Emerson, Simic, Favalli, Gourcuff, Bonera.
.
Arsenal: Almunia, Clichy, Senderos, Gallas, Sagna, Diaby, Fabregas, Flamini, Eboue (Walcott 71), Hleb (Silva 89), Adebayor. Subs Not Used: Lehmann, Van Persie, Denilson, Bendtner, Justin Hoyte.