Captain Cesc sends Arsenal into holiday jubilation as Aston Villa are defeated 3-0 at the Emirates

Despite a scoreless first half at the Emirates, Arsenal’s supersub Cesc Fabregas was brought on in the 57th minute, and the hamstring-injury-stricken midfielder scored two spectacular goals even though he could only play for 27 minutes.

After being tackled by Richard Dunne, Fabregas curled a wonderful 25-yard free-kick past a diving Brad Friedel to give the Gooners the lead in the 65th minute.

In the 81st minute, after a spell of Villa pressure, Traore hit a long diagonal pass out to Theo Walcott on the right. Walcott, also a second-half substitute, rushed forward before touching the ball into the path of the onrushing Fabregas, who swept home a 12th goal of the season.

The Spaniard, though, appeared to have aggravated his hamstring problem and was replaced by Aaron Ramsey,  who just turned 19 yesterday, for the closing stages.

Arsenal keeper Almunia made a brave save to deny Gabriel Agbonlahor, before Diaby netted Arsenal’s third goal in stoppage-time, finishing low from the edge of the area.

The 3-0 scoreline may appear to be a bit flattering to Arsenal, as Aston Villa did have a good amount of chances, but all-in-all Arsene Wenger’s men better on the day.

Post-match quotes and interviews from Arsene Wenger and Martin O'Neill are embedded after the jump.

Wenger, in the post-match interview, said, “"It was a very important game because it’s a good opportunity to go close at the top of the table.”

“It’s important for the team to know that they can win big games. I believe we were dominant and I always thought in the last 20 minutes we could make the difference.

Wenger continued, "With Villa you’re defensive solidity is tested because they are very good on the break. I’m very happy tonight because we were solid defensively. We were also patient, steady and we took over in the second half.”

Arsenal have been linked with a striker in January with Robin van Persie on the sidelines and Wenger has confirmed they will do business if a deal is right. "Let’s say we’re in the market with our eyes open,“ he concluded. "If a good opportunity shows up we’ll do it.”

On the other hand, Martin O'Neill was not too upset with his side’s performance. "It was never a 3-0 result. We were doing fine,“ he told Sky Sports. "We didn’t perhaps have the same cutting edge in an attacking sense. We were a little sporadic but you’d expect that away from home, particularly here at the Emirates. I thought we were in reasonable control and doing fine. Then the goal obviously changed the pattern of the game. I didn’t mind at the end us conceding a couple of times as we were chasing the game. Even at 1-0 the game could have gone either way. Overall Arsenal are a very fine side and they showed that today.”

Fabregas was the hero for Arsenal off the bench and O'Neill was full of praise for Arsene Wenger’s captain.

“He’s a wonderful footballer,” he continued. “He came on and scored that fantastic goal for them. I think he got injured in the second one. He’s a terrific player.

O'Neill realizes that one game doesn’t define a season, as he said, "We don’t have much time to dwell on it. Overall we’ve got a big game against Liverpool coming up. It was a major test for us today. We didn’t come through this. There’s another one ahead and we’ve got to be prepared for that.”