Arsenal Pass the Port

There are welcome signs that Arsenal are beginning to feel very much at home in the palatial surroundings of the Emirates Stadium. The players are clearly growing accustomed to the fact that they have a much bigger playing surface than at Highbury and the result is free flowing attacking football and a mean defence that is getting into the habit of not conceding.

Porto were the latest victims in a sparkling performance in which the result was never in doubt, despite having a Kolo Toure ‘goal’ disallowed after just three minutes, an extravagant miss when Robin Van Persie blazed over on 30 minutes and the extraordinary antics of an Italian referee whose judgement was impaired by the desire to grant free kicks to Porto’s Anderson Oliviera whenever he fell down and a tendency to penalise Tomas Rosicky every time he tackled and made contact with the ball.

When Arsenal finally went ahead in the 37th minute, it was certainly worth the wait. In a re-run of their third goal against Sheffield United, Emmanuel Eboue provided a fabulous pinpoint cross for Thierry Henry to head home his 50th goal in European competition and two minutes after the interval the Gunners were two up, as Gallas and Henry combined to set up Hleb, who rifled the ball in from the right side of the penalty area.

There could, and perhaps should, have been more goals but the only discordant note was the sight of William Gallas, who owing to a pre-match injury to Djourou had been given an opportunity to show what a masterful centre back he is, limping off late in the game with a hamstring problem.