There was consternation in North London last month that Arsène Wenger had ventured into the land of Jack and the Beanstalk when he bought Andrey Arshavin. Arsenal needed a player with maturity and experience who could hit the ground running and steer the club towards silverware. Instead, Wenger appeared to have wasted his money on the beans that comprised a short, unfit Russian who wears gloves on a mild spring afternoon.

Against Blackburn Rovers, it became clear that Wenger had in fact bought something magical.

Arshavin has worked hard on his fitness and on Saturday soon discarded his gloves. More impressively, he played with a gash in his foot that required stitches at half-time.

“There was no question that he wouldn’t play in the second half,” Wenger said. “He’s not a soft boy, he’s never in the medical room — he’s a tough boy. I think he is a man of challenges. To leave St Petersburg where he was the star and to go to England at 28 years of age and to say, ‘OK, I want to start it all again’, you need to have character and to like challenges and he does that in a very focused way.”

Wenger is light on players who are over 27 and know how to win trophies, so the Russia and former Zenit St Petersburg playmaker could be what is needed to turn a potentially forgettable season into something memorable. Arsenal face Hull City tomorrow in an FA Cup quarter-final, they are in the last eight of the Champions League and a top-four finish looks a modest rather than desperate target.

Wenger called Arshavin’s style “provocative”, but the entire Arsenal performance was one that provoked the worst in Sam Allardyce’s team. Blackburn attempted to impose themselves physically, but succeeded only in looking leaden-footed.

There was a spell at the start of the second half when the visiting team did not know whether to shift their attention to the left, right or centre and so simply stared in bewilderment as Arsenal danced and dissected. With the score at 1-0 after André

Ooijer had, under pressure from Arshavin, put the ball past his own goalkeeper, Blackburn might have felt blessed that despite this onslaught, a combination of blocks, saves and poor finishing, meant that they were, somehow, still in the game. The Arsenal crowd were unsure whether to jeer or encourage Nicklas Bendtner, who had myriad opportunities to score, but wasted them all.

Arshavin’s 65th-minute run, dummy and fine angled strike put the match beyond Blackburn and two late goals from Emmanuel Eboué - the first set up when Arshavin’s powerful strike was blocked by Paul Robinson, the second a penalty - sealed victory in front of supporters who had endured three successive goalless draws at home in the league.

Allardyce said that his side’s destiny will not be decided by results against teams such as Arsenal, but Blackburn performed much better at Old Trafford and faltered partly on Saturday because of injuries - notably to Ryan Nelsen and Stephen Warnock, two of their most influential players this season.

Wenger is finally emerging from his injury crisis. Theo Walcott started his first Barclays Premier League match since suffering a shoulder injury in November and was sprightly and dangerous. The England forward is 20 today and is improving still.

“Compared to one year ago there is no comparison,” Wenger said. “That is what people sometimes have problems to accept, that at that age, every three months you go higher up. How much, you can never predict, but there is still a lot more to come from Theo.” There is still, one suspects, a lot more to come from Arsenal, too.

Arsenal (4-4-1-1): M Almunia 6 - B Sagna 5, J Djourou 5, K Touré 7, G Clichy 5 - T Walcott 7, A Song 7, Denilson 6, S Nasri 6 - A Arshavin 8 - N Bendtner 6. Substitutes: C Vela (for Bendtner 80min), A Diaby (for Walcott, 80) E Eboué (for Nasri, 84). Not used: L Fabianski, K Gibbs, W Gallas, R van Persie.

Blackburn Rovers (4-1-4-1): P Robinson 6 - D Simpson 4, A Ooijer 5, C Samba 5, G Givet — Z Khizanishvili 4 - E-H Diouf 5, A Mokoena 4, S Warnock 5, M G Pedersen 5 - J Roberts 5. Substitutes: D Dunn 4 (for Givet, 13min), M Olsson 5 (for Warnock, 55), B McCarthy 4 (for Khizanishvili, 66). Not used: M Bunn, Tugay, K Andrews, K Treacy.

Referee: P Dowd Attendance: 60,091