Aaron Ramsey opened the scoring in the first half
with a goal against his former employers. The
Wales international refused to celebrate in front of
his old supporters who afforded him a round of
applause for the gesture.
Cardiff came out strong in the second half and
looked likely to find an equaliser but substitute
Mathieu Flamini rounded off a fine Gunners move
late on to put the result beyond doubt.
Ramsey struck again in injury time at the end of a
swift counterattack to add some extra gloss to an
impressive result.
The result – Arsenal's fifth win on the road this
season in the Premier League - extends the club's
lead at the summit to seven points, with the rest of
the top six not playing until Sunday.
Cardiff boss Malky Mackay made one change to
the side that started last weekend’s 2-2 draw with
Manchester United, with Kim Bo-Kyung, who
scored the late equaliser against the champions,
coming in for Peter Odemwingie.
Arsenal, meanwhile, made three alterations to the
team that recorded a 2-0 Champions League
victory over Marseille on Tuesday, bringing Kieran
Gibbs, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla into the
starting XI in place of Nacho Monreal, Flamini and
Tomas Rosicky.
The visitors were quick out of the blocks, with Jack
Wilshere, who netted both of his side’s goals in
midweek, rattling the crossbar inside two minutes
with a left-footed curling strike from the edge of
the penalty area.
A nasty clash of heads between Per Mertesacker
and Bacary Sagna left the German in need of
lengthy treatment in the opening stages, and
Fraizer Campbell headed narrowly wide of the left-
hand post for Cardiff before the defender returned
to the action.
Mesut Ozil then touched the ball beyond Steven
Caulker in the 15th minute to send Olivier Giroud
through on goal, but the striker incorrectly
assumed he was in an offside position and
stopped playing.
The delay gave goalkeeper David
Marshall time to come off his line and block the
eventual effort.
However, Ramsey broke the deadlock for Arsene
Wenger’s men in the 29th minute, meeting an Ozil
cross to head into the top corner for his seventh
league goal of the season. Having performed
Cardiff’s trademark ‘Ayatollah’ gesture before kick-
off to the delight of the home fans, Ramsey refused
to celebrate after putting his former employers a
goal down.
Arsenal maintained their pressure after the break,
with Caulker having to clear off the line from a
Giroud strike following good work in the penalty
area by Ramsey.
But the hosts were almost level six minutes into
the second period, Wojciech Szczesny getting
down brilliantly to his right to keep out a Campbell
headed effort.
Kevin Theophile-Catherine drilled a long-range
effort goalwards shortly afterwards as Cardiff
continued to push for an equaliser, but Szczesny
was equal to the strike once again.
But Arsenal doubled their advantage in the 86th
minute, when Flamini smashed home from 18
yards after receiving the ball from Cazorla, before
Ramsey finished off a quick Arsenal counter-attack
to deliver the final blow in stoppage time.
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