Sometimes you need a bit of luck and Arsenal were the recipients of two slices of good fortune to fire them into action at Molineux yesterday. Wolves had started strongly but two first-half own goals saw their early confidence evaporate and, from then on, the Gunners took firm control of the match.

The encounter was finished as a contest on the stroke of half time when a sweeping Arsenal move was capped with a sublime lay-off from Robin Van Persie into the path of Cesc Fabregas who calmly passed the ball into the net. It was a goal to light up any game and was a moment of genuine class in what turned out to be a relatively bloodless victory in tricky conditions. Andrei Arshavin made it 4-0 in the 65th minute and a late Wolves rally, coupled with some abysmal Arsenal defending, allowed the home side to pull back a consolation effort with a couple of minutes to go.

As an Arsenal supporter, there are few more exquisite and satisfying pleasures in life than seeing the Gunners giving Spurs the sort of good hiding that silences all the pre-match talk from their manager, players and supporters and sends them all back down the Seven Sisters Road well-and-truly put in their place. Yesterday was one of those days and it was a match to savour.

To be honest, Arsene Wenger’s team were not at their best yesterday but they didn’t need to be. Tottenham’s much-vaunted improvement this season failed to materialise at Ashburton Grove and they looked very ordinary indeed. Manuel Almunia, who was finally recalled to first-team action, only had one meaningful save to make all afternoon when he palmed a David Bentley free-kick over the bar. That aside, the visitors had no real attacking ideas beyond punting hopeful long balls up to Peter Crouch.

Arsenal completely failed to learn the lessons of the last-minute goal conceded against AZ Alkmaar and threw away a two-goal lead against West Ham at Upton Park yesterday. It was an exasperating outcome which meant that rather than finishing the day within striking distance of the top of the table, the Gunners had to content themselves with lurking in third, five points off the pace with a game in hand.

Yesterday's performance was arguably the weakest overall display the team has turned in this season. Even when they lost to United and City, they showed a good deal more spark and purpose in those matches than they mustered at the Boleyn Ground.

Just as it seemed that Arsenal had done enough to win an untidy match against AZ Alkmaar in Holland on Tuesday night, hesitant defending from a free kick allowed the Dutch side the opportunity grab a late equaliser. The Gunners had to settle for a point when they really ought to have taken three but it was an outcome that should not do any serious damage to their qualification hopes or, indeed, their chances of winning the group.

Though Arsene Wenger’s men dominated the ninety minutes and, for the most part, looked good value for a win, the late concession of a goal ought to serve as a timely reminder that, for all their sumptuous attacking play, defensive miserliness is just as important a facet for any successful team. The beautiful simplicity of Cesc Fabregas's goal underlined the team’s brilliance going forward but this was counter-balanced by the team's failure to defend a route-one set-piece at the death. From a speculative punt into the area, Granziano Pelle was allowed an unchallenged header and he nodded the ball into the path of Mendes da Silva who simply ran behind the static Alex Song to volley home. Though the players might have been looking around at each other after the ball hit the net, replays showed a catalogue of collective and individual errors.

After an interminably boring international break, it was a return to real football this weekend and the Gunners got straight back into their Premier League stride with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City that sent them into the top four with a game in hand on the leaders.

Two first-half goals in quick succession from Robin Van Persie and Abou Diaby seemed to put Arsenal firmly in charge of yesterday’s match. From there, everyone expected the team to go on to rack up a score against a Birmingham side who spent most of the first forty five minutes penned in their own half. But, a combination of Arsene Wenger's men taking their foot off the gas and a moment of extremely weak goalkeeping from Vito Mannone allowed the Blues back into the contest as Lee Bowyer pegged a goal back in the 38th minute.

Six goals from six different players at Ashburton Grove on Sunday was the product of a sensational attacking performance by the Gunners as they thrashed Blackburn and signed off for the international break on a high. Any complaints about the Arsenal defending - which was well below par - were completely drowned out by the symphony of goals at the other end.

Despite Blackburn taking the lead twice in the first half, Arsenal had plenty in the tank by way of response. Their approach play and finishing was simply breathtaking at times and the performance - at least from an offensive perspective - was an appropriate one to mark a week that saw Arsene Wenger become the longest-serving manager in the club’s history after his 13 years in charge.

Two vital wins over the last four days have put the Gunners in control of their Champions League group and seen them head in the right direction in the Premier League too. In their different ways, the victories over Fulham and Olympiacos have shown that this Arsenal squad has developed since last year. On Saturday, the team proved they could "win ugly" and defend a slender one-nil lead and, on Tuesday night, they showed relentless endeavour in breaking down an Olympiacos side that had no attacking ambition whatsoever and defended with ten men.

After last season's debacle at Craven Cottage, many Arsenal supporters were looking to Saturday's match against Fulham as a barometer of whether this team has the heart required to come away from tricky away grounds with a result. Roy Hodgson's team are a different prospect on their own turf. They raise their game when hosting higher profile teams and are capable of overturning the formbook - as both Arsenal and Manchester United found to their cost last season.

Arsenal were a long way from their best, particularly in the first half, but when Robin Van Persie latched onto an exquisite pass from Cesc Fabregas and converted a sharp chance, it was enough to give the Gunners the edge. Some determined defending and a few decent saves from stand-in goalkeeper Vito Mannone saw the lead held and the three points safely banked.

After their victory in Belgium last Wednesday, back-to-back home wins were the perfect medicine to chase away the Manchester blues as Arsenal comprehensively brushed aside Wigan on Saturday and then a mixture of second-stringers and youngsters comfortably dealt with high-flying Championship leaders West Brom in the Carling Cup last night. All three wins were a great response from the squad to the two disappointing reverses at the hands of United and City.

If there had to be any criticism of the performance against Wigan it was that the margin of victory should have been greater. Only taking a one-nil advantage in at half-time belied the Gunners dominance and there was a sense that they were making hard work of a match that should have been over by the break. As it was, within three minutes of the restart, Thomas Vermaelen added to his first-half headed goal with a fabulous second - stroking the ball into the net from just outside the area. It was a strike that ended the game as a contest and from then on it was a cruise to three points as Eboue and Fabregas added a third and fourth respectively.

We wanted more ruthlessness from the team and last night we got it - just about. Having gone two goals behind in the first five minutes against Standard Liege, Arsenal fought back to win 2-3 and started their Champions League campaign with a valuable away victory. In truth though, it was one of the poorest displays of the season so far but, as we have found out in recent weeks, it is better to play badly and win than to play well and lose.

The start the Gunners made to the match could not have been worse. A defensive howler from Eduardo and a dubious penalty helped put Liege two up before Wenger’s players had even had the chance to settle into their rhythm and they looked rattled in the early stages. Once the opening flurry had died down, the home team sat back and attempted to soak up the building pressure as Arsenal began to dominate possession. It was a ploy that seemed to be working admirably for them and genuine goal-threats were restricted to a minimum throughout the half.

For the second time in two matches Arsenal returned home from Manchester with nothing to show for their efforts but a stinging sense of injustice. Whilst the 4-2 scoreline flattered City and the behaviour of Emmanuel Adebayor left a vile taste in the mouth, the Gunners can once again only blame themselves for not taking more from a game in which they were worthy of at least a share of the spoils.

Most of this morning's headlines rightly address the shameful performance of Adebayor. It is understandable that a player might think he has something to prove when coming up against a club that has discarded him but there are ways and means of going about that. The methods that Adebayor deployed to make his point only really served to prove what a classless and crass moron he is.