An Xmas Eve post to sate you before a lot of us get stuffed on cooked birds, cheap plonk and bad hats.

Given how close we are to December 25 (and I realise this is a blog read by people of many religious backgrounds, but I trust you can forgive me), it says something that I cannot wait for December 27, rather than the 25th.

I guess a certain work colleague who doubles up as a Villa fan adds to the anticipation. Moreso, the fact we play a day after most of the other teams makes it even more of a painful wait.

There are scant offerings when it comes to Arsenal news at the moment. It leaves us with nothing more than savouring memories of the previous match, at home to Hull in an eventually comfortable 3-0 win.

One player who stood out, after so many recriminations against him, was Abou Diaby. A player, I hope, who can conjure up some of his happier memories against Aston Villa.

Diaby first came to our attentions as a gangly 19-year-old brought to the club in the Highbury farewell season, alongside a young Adebayor, Walcott and slightly older Mart Poom.

His first encounter with Aston Villa was at Villa Park where he scored the flukey, solitary goal of the match, when Julio Baptista took a wild shot and cannoned it off the Frenchman’s foot, wrong-footing the keeper.

Only a month or so later, Diaby put the icing on the cake as Arsenal trounced the Villans 5-0 at home in the Highbury sunshine. It was the proper announcement of the young footballer’s arrival, and by all portents, the signs looked very promising.

Then came that horrible ankle break at Sunderland, and Diaby’s career was on the rocks for the best part of 8 months.

Since then, it’s been a story of inconsistency, of wild swings between awesome domination of midfield to invisibility on the pitch.

Last season, Arsenal found themselves in a vice-like tight spot in the race for fourth place. An underwhelming one for Arsenal’s stature, but Aston Villa were giving a plucky, well-founded fist of it, having soundly beaten the Gunners at the Emirates earlier.

At Villa Park, it looked like Arsenal had turned a corner when Denilson ran to the byline to celebrate a goal out of the blue to open the scoring.

But it was Diaby’s goal that stood out.

Wrong-footing Gareth Barry on the right wing, he back-heeled a ball to himself on the byline. Feeding Eboue on the flank, the Frenchman sprinted like his life depended on it through the middle.

He jinked his run past the defender, Eboue duly obliged, and Diaby smashed the ball home emphatically. It was a terrific team goal in it’s own right, but it showed the awesome potential, so often unreached, inherent within the midfielder.

After another injury let-off this season, Abou’s return against Hull last week was timely both for himself and for Arsenal. After a half that passed everyone by, he put his foot down, working the hard yards in defence, and pummelling Hull when rampaging forward.

His link-up play with Alex Song, Eduardo and Arshavin was vital. His goal demonstrated power, drive and hunger.

And against Aston Villa, that’s something that the whole team will need to show. But Diaby is the man with the weapons at his disposal to make it happen.

Filed under: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blogging