Arsenal:
            Lehmann
 Eboue Toure (Hoyte 29) Djourou Gallas
Hleb (Flamini 70) Gilberto Cesc Rosicky
   van Persie (Baptista 70) Adebayor

It happened after 12 minutes, when Robin van Persie received the ball just inside the box from Emmanuel_Adebyor, after good work by the Togalese striker beating his man wide on the left. Robin pushed it past Kirschstein as the keeper came out to his left to meet the striker. As he ran past the keeper's outstretched arm, Robin left his foot trailing, made contact, and went down a bit theatrically. Not only was a penalty given but also the keeper got shown a very undeserved red card. He'd clearly only been trying to get the ball, had tried to keep out of van Persie's way, and the ball was running out of play.

We're not complaining, obviously. And we were pleased to see the vice-captain Gilberto step up and take responsibility for the spot kick, which gave the sub keeper Wachter no chance.

Arsenal had been dominant up to this point, so it's arguable that the sending off didn't change things too much, and to be fair to Hamburg they certainly didn't fall apart. On the half-hour, Kolo Toure had to go off with a thigh problem, a worrying sight but word is that he's not too bad. On came Justin Hoyte with William Gallas moving to his preferred position in the middle of defence.

Arsenal continued to dominate and came close a few times, most notably from van Persie whose deflected shot had to be saved on the line by Wachter. He hit another one just wide (as did Rosicky) and another one straight at the keeper. Emmanuel Eboue came close too. But the home side had their moments too. It must have been on their minds that with Arsenal and Porto as favourites to go through, starting with a home loss would be a bit of a blow (having said that, Porto's failure to beat CSKA in Portugal should have cheered them up a bit).

Right at the end of the first half, Jens Lehmann was forced into a flying save, and right after the restart he should have been tested again but Mathijsen placed his shot wide from a very dangerous position. The points were clinched 7 minutes after the break when Tomas Rosicky picked up a pass from van Persie 25 yards out and level with the left edge of the box, took a touch to set up the shot, and fired a wonderful shot which curled inside the left upright. This is why we've been excited by the signings of Rosicky and Baptista - players who are happy to take a chance on a shot from outside the box. Let's hope for more of these. Rosicky's chances of filling the 'new Bergkamp' role will be limited if he always plays on the wing, but he might have skill and attitude to have a shot at it.

Although we were on top, Arsenal's football hadn't quite flowed. But the 2 goal cushion seemed to relax them and we started to look comfortable. Van Persie had a free kick saved and then Baptista and Flamini came on for van Persie and Hleb (the former presumably being taken off for a rest - he'd been our main threat. Not that Adebayor hadn't had an excellent and industrious game).

Gilberto should have troubled the keeper at least when he headed a corner over the bar with a quarter of an hour left.

The home side pulled one back right at the death, one of them getting into the box deep on the right where he spotted Sanogo who'd been left badly unmarked in the middle of the box. The cut back and finish were easy but well executed. Looked to me that Gallas (I think) had gone with the first man, leaving a hole for Sanago to exploit, and Justin Hoyte appeared to be dawdling a bit when he was in a position where he could have covered for his team mate in the middle. I guess our defence was a bit rattled still by an incident a minute earlier, when they hit the bar and then got the ball in the net from a header when it was returned into the box, only for offside to be given.

The consolation goal ended Lehmann's record-breaking run of 853 minutes without conceding a Champions League goal.