Or so taunted the Arsenal fans in the closing stages of Arsenal’s win at Aston Villa today, 0-2. The season isn’t even half over, so it’s certainly possible that Aston Villa will manage to escape relegation to the Championship and Arsenal will be back playing next season away at Villa Park. Aston Villa had a lively second half against the Gunners, but will have to dig deep over the next 20 matches to stay up. Arsenal will play Aston Villa again, of course, in the last match of the season at the Emirates.

I fully plan to be there, hoping to see Arsenal lift the trophy. We finished the day in first place, but Leicester City has not yet played its 16th match. But the lifting of the trophy, too, remains to be decided over the second half of the season. Much, much more to go and there are sure to be many twists and turns.

The win was “good enough.” Not the kind of domination you’d expect to see when a top team plays a team near the bottom of the league, but a decent outing considering the massive win at Olympiacos mid-week that kept us in the Champions League. So often, such a big win is followed by a big let-down. The injury situation hasn’t improved, but it hasn’t gotten worse either. The second teamers are putting in solid shifts, and a couple have really stepped up.

Today we were forced to put on the Gooner Triumphal Feast that I’ve long dreaded. It was clear to me at the end of the telecast who had been the man of the match, but so hopeful was I to be wrong that I watched the post-match show long after I should have been leaving for church. It has been a while since the NBC sports commentators overtly stated a man of the match for Arsenal. Today, they announced it rather quickly, and interviewed him. I turned to Arseblog, hoping for a different conclusion, but Arseblog also confirmed my worst fears. Aaron Ramsey had a fabulous day as he frequently does when permitted to play centrally. With key players out injured he led a fine Plan B, being an important part of nearly every attack of merit. He also scored the second goal.

Although he often frustrates me, I love the Welsh Jesus as much as any Gunner, but Welsh food is just mysterious to me. You don’t see a lot of Welsh restaurants in the States. In fact, I’ve never seen a single one.  I never had cause before to try to locate a Welsh recipe, so I googled with some trepidation.

I selected this Winter Potato and Leek Soup and this “Real” Welsh Rarebit. I was skeptical of the Rarebit because I felt the “Real” in the title may have been trying too hard. But also because I wondered if the “Welsh” in the name was for real or like the “french” in french fries. As you know, the Gooner Triumphal Feast does not kill itself over authenticity. I had stuff to do late in the afternoon that was going to prevent a big Feast commitment, so quickly concluded that a recipe involving cheese sauce over toast would fit the bill.

I was pretty sure I could get my family to eat potato and leek soup, but equally confident that the Rarebit would be sniffed at. Sure enough, that was the case. I thought it was pretty good. Which is positive, since there is quite a bit left over.

You can lead the Gooner Triumphal Feast to Welsh food, but you can’t make them eat.

It is still Triumphal.