Arsenal:
                     Lehmann
           Lauren Toure Campbell Clichy
Ljungberg (Pennant 49) Vieira Cesc (Flamini 82) Reyes
          Bergkamp Henry (van Persie 82)

Clichy looked particularly good going forward, and linked up well with Reyes. The young Frenchman went on a great run on 9 minutes, squaring the ball for Henry in the D. he passed it on quickly to Bergkamp whose low shot skimmed the outside of the right hand post.

Vieira took a quick free quick just outside our box which started a fast attack. It went wide right to Henry who approached the goal and hit a shot which was parried by Kiely and fell to Clichy. He snatched at it a bit, sending it over the bar. Not an easy shot as it was coming at him a bit high, but with a bit more composure he would have had time to take another option, maybe chesting it down first.

The shenanigans between Ljungberg and Hreidarsson started after 20 minutes or so. There had been a couple of incidents between them before the one that sticks in the mind most: HH holding onto FL from behind as he tried to run across midfield with the ball, Freddie trying to shake him off and perhaps raising an arm in the process, which gave HH the hump so as Freddie got clear of him he scythed the Swede down from behind.

Cesc looked fine for the most part. His passing was superb but perhaps he hasn't quite got used to the pace of the game yet - he was being caught in possession rather too much.

We took the lead on 33 minutes thanks to a move started by Jason Euell. The striker found himself with the ball halfway into his own half, and in his haste to get rid of it and get back upfield he made asloppy pass back to a defender which Henry intercepted easily, outside the left hand corner of the box. He passed diagonally across goal for Dennis to run onto. Kiely came out to his left, beyond his 6 yard box, but Dennis got there first. Dennis shielded the ball from the keeper then turned to face him, Perry came across to help Kiely who dropped back towards goal... but not far enough because Dennis picked out Freddie's run into the box and the cross gave him a chance to get ahead of two defenders and turn it into the empty net with Kiely still by his post.

There was more sillyness between Freddie and Hreidarson. Then, bizarrely, Vieira was booked for a tackle that was far less bad than much of what had come before. Almost as if the ref had been keeping his cards in his pocket waiting for Paddy. To be fair, Grame Stuart was booked soon after for jumping through Freddie, and again it hardly seemed to deserve it, since he was going for the ball while Freddie stayed on the ground. It did hurt Freddie though and he went off the pitch for a while to get treatment for his back.

Freddie came back onto the pitch and you couldn't help feelign that he assumed it had been Hrediarsson who'd fouled him, because he went straight over and hacked him down from behind, with clearly no attempt to get the ball, and got himself added to the ref's list.

Charlton will have been pleased to go in at just 1-0. But a couple of minutes into the second half it was 2 thanks to a bit of Henry magic. The ball had been played deep and wide on the right to Reyes, whose pass found Henry in the box. 6 yards out and with back to goal, Fortune was close behind him trying to guess what he was going to do. Wait for someone to come into a position to lay the ball off to? Or turn him to the right or the left? Instead, Thierry backheeled it forcefully through Fortune's legs and past the hapless keeper.

Straight away, Freddie was brought off for Pennant. Maybe it was to protect his back, maybe to protect his disciplinary record, maybe a bit of both. Nice to see Pennant get another chance and nice to see him take it with gusto and skill.

Charlton probably should have clawed one back 5 minutes later when, after a bit of head tennis in and out of our box, Lisbie did well to out-strength Campbell, backing into him and laying it off for Stuart. A really good chance 15 yards out which he hit wide of Lehmann's left hand post.

Reyes and Lauren both had shots deflected out for corners, the latter after his own brilliant link-up with Henry, including a delightful final return ball, on the stretch, from Henry.

Henry's second and our third was another classic strike, but one which Addicks boss Alan Curbishley will feel shouldn't have been allowed him. Henry was positioned on the edge of the box to the left of centre, with Reyes outside the box to the left. They exchanged passes a few times, each feinting to shoot before lsipping it back to the other, until it came nice for Henry to whack first-time in off the underside of the bar.

Charlton's failure to close him down was typical of a long spell in the second half when the visitors seemed mesmerised by Arsenal's quick possession football. On 70 minutes Bergkamp found Reyes in loads of space in the same position on the left and he hit a sweet low shot across Kiely and into the far side of the goal. Soon after, he might have had another. This time it was a lengthy spell of possession involving every single Arsenal outfield player, maybe 25 passes total, ending with Reyes again in that space on the left. But this time he blasted it over the bar.

With 8 minutes to go van Persie and Flamini came on for Reyes and Henry, van Persie joining his compatriot Bergkamp up front. The keep-ball football suffered a bit for the changes, but we defended well as Charlton came forward more trying to grab some consolation.

The final chance of the game was a lovely Pennant cross which Vieira fired goalwards only to see Kiely pull off a tremendous one-handed save, diving to his right.