Aaron Ramsey scored twice against his former club to help Arsenal beat Cardiff 3-0 in the Welsh capital and provisionally extend its Premier League lead
to seven points.

Ramsey headed in a pinpoint cross from Mesut Ozil in the 29th minute to put Arsenal ahead, and finished off the victory on a counterattack in injury time with his 13th goal of the season in all competitions. The Welshman refused to celebrate these two, though, having started his career at Cardiff, where he made his debut at 16.

In between, Ozil set up the second goal as well, slotting a perfectly weighted pass into the area for the onrushing Mathieu Flamini to hammer into the net in the 86th.

Arsenal were dominant at times but Cardiff refused to lie down and in the end it took a moment of brilliance from Ramsey and a superb save from Wojciech Szczesny from a Fraizer Campbell header to get the result for the visitors.

In just the second minute Wilshere picked up where he left off against Marseille smashing a shot off the Cardiff crossbar.

Arsene Wenger was furious in the 16th minute when a Mesut Ozil flick put Olivier Giroud through, but the Frenchman stopped in anticipation of an offside whistle that never came much to his manager's bemusement.

In the 29th minute Arsenal had settled into their stride and were passing the ball around well when Mesut Ozil curled a wonderful cross into the box from deep and Ramsey was there to deftly direct his header high into the goal.

With 10 minutes remaining in the first period Cardiff got a free kick when Kieran Gibbs mistimed a challenge on Kevin Theophile-Catherine and the resulting free-kick from Peter Whittingham evaded Bo-Kyung Kim and snuck past the post.

Arsenal started the second half brightly and Cardiff only avoided going further behind when Ben Turner blocked a Giroud shot on the line from a Ramsey cross.

Szczesny kept the Gunners lead in tact in the 52nd minute pulling off a magnificent save to deny Fraizer Cambell, who powered a header towards the far post only to see the Polish stopper push his effort away.

Wenger probably would have wanted another goal to kill the game off in the last 20 minutes and brought on Mathieu Flamini - with sleeves rolled up - who finally provided the security his manager was after in the 86th minute.

With time running out Cardiff pushed forward and Arsenal hit them on the break, Ramsey finishing clinically after good work by Theo Walcott, on as a late substitute, to well and truly ensure that Arsenal would extend their cushion at the top of the table.

The win puts Arsenal seven points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, who will both play on Sunday.