Arsenal moved to the top of the group tonight thanks to 2 superb goals by Fredrick Ljungberg. The final ball in both cases came from Dennis Bergkamp. Playing in an unusual role on the right side of midfield, Dennis answered his (alleged) critics with a superb performance. Although his distribution was suspect at times, his tackling back and preparedness to play the role given to him was a joy to behold.

The first goal came from a chipped Kanu cross to the right side of the box. Dennis cushioned a header into the path of Ljungberg who banged it in first time with his left foot.

The second was all Bergkamp. He picked the ball up just inside Lazio's half, ghosted past a few defenders, then slipped the ball forward for Freddie to run onto and pass low beyond the keeper's right hand.

Lazio were somewhat disappointing, it has to be said. After all that talk of their multi-million pound strikeforce, they ended up bringing Crystal Palace reject Attilio Lombardo off the bench, only to realise that he was no good and bring him off half an hour later for another Premiership reject Fabrizio Ravanelli.

Full marks to their stand-in keeper though, who had to be sharp to deny several good Arsenal opportunities.

Although we could theoretically still fail to qualify, progress to the second round is now virtually assured. And it's worth remembering that in this year we've now beaten and outplayed both the Italian double holders, and the Spanish champions-in-waiting.

Although we're always reluctant to count chickens, it's worth noting that Arsenal now need only a draw against Sparta to guarantee qualification. If we draw against Lazio, only losses to both Shakhtar and Sparta would see us out. Thanks to ArseWeb reader Simon Cadde for the calculations!

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