Capital Gold's Tony Gale reckoned 'barely deserved to win', but win we did - 2:1 against the mighty Preston North End.

But it will surely be the feeble 15,000 crowd which grabs most of the attention - that's what the club get for fielding a second-string side, and for making the gesture of not including the game in season ticket entitlement. There may also be a developing scandal regarding the 2,800 away allocation: it seems we refused to give Preston any extra tickets, despite clear signals that Highbury wouldn't be full. Expect one of the papers to pick up on this tomorrow.

Kanu opened the scoring just after the half hour, but Preston's Macken popped up to equalise soon after. Arsenal took the lead 15 minutes after the break, through Stefan Malz, and held on to the end.

Arsenal know that they will face the winner of tomorrow's tie between Watford and Middlesbrough, with a draw to decide who gets home advantage. And we thought UEFA came up with the most bizarre draw systems...

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