Arsenal:
            Almunia
   Gilbert Senderos Djourou Lauren
Pires Flamini Gilberto Reyes (Quincy ht)
   Bergkamp  van Persie (Larsson 77)

Cardiff very nearly got off the mark in the first minute. A chip into the box found their big striker Jerome between Almunia and the defensive line. He tried to take it early as the ball dropped and only managed to chip it onto the roof of the net.

After being pretty much on the back foot for the first 6 minutes, Arsenal suddenly settled. A relaxed passing move forward out of defence found Robin van Persie, who slotted a superb pass diagonally forward and to the right for Robert Pires to collect. Bobby took a touch or two then calmly placed his shot across the keeper and inside the far post.

We looked much classier in possession, but Cardiff were still seeing plenty of the ball. The next threat though came from Philippe Senderos who found himself trying to keep the ball from a Cardiff player out on the left wing, and fired it back towards Manuel Almunia but also on target for goal. It came at him high enough that the keeper had to take it on his chest, which he did well, and fortunately there was no blue shirt close enough to make it very awkward. Still not sure it was the right choice by Senderos though.

They attacked again - another chip into the box, nodded on but emphatically cleared by Lauren. Then Senderos did well to prevent a pair of Cardiff players brining the ball into our box on the left. Phil ended up going to ground as he cleared the ball, and Jerome tripped over him claiming a penalty (but only half-heatedly, to be fair).

On 14 mins, Senderos was unlucky to get a yellow card for a very slightly late tackle in the centre circle. The free kick was sent to the right of our box from where van Persie's mate Loovens headed it into the box. I think Gilbert slipped, but someone else managed to clear the ball. It didn't feel particularly comfortable.

Then on 17 minutes the lead was doubled and the contest effectively finished. Another great break again found van Persie to the left of centre. He played a similar ball to the right, this time for Dennis Bergkamp who held the ball up then popped it forward towards the penalty spot for the run of Pires. Dennis slipped as he hit the pass, but got it perfect anyway, and Pires again passed the ball inside the left post.

Gilbert fouled on the right wing, with a high foot (but the ref saw no malice in it - van Persie would have been sent off!). The free kick was knocked in and Jerome seemed to be the only person going for it. The looping header was easy for Almunia to catch on the line. Maybe the fact that they were getting these half-chances should have made me feel uneasy, but it just never seemed all that dangerous.

Jose Antonio Reyes had a shot from a narrow angle on the left, which the keeper saved well at the near post. The resulting corner was cleared, then we played it back forward from left to right, to van Persie on the right hand corner of the box where he hit a nice first time shot which went low through the crowd and just failed to swing inside the far post.

Lauren dithered a bit a couple of times, one time unnecessarily letting a striker through down his wing. But Mathieu Flamini came back well to cover and block the cross.

Jerome had a shot from the D which went out for a throw. Pires and Reyes switched wings for a while, after both playing on the right for a while (there was some lovely interplay between them there).

Lauren was loose again, giving away a corner. It was headed clear by Bergkamp and came to Reyes who did superbly to hang onto the ball despite the attentions of 2 or 3 opponents and with the help of Bergkamp. Eventually one of those opponents just had to hack Jose down and was booked. Dennis swung the free kick in from the left and Senderos got a head on it in the middle of the box, but it bounced past the left hand post.

The visiting fans at this point entertained us with a rendition of the old 'Let's all do the Seaman' hand-flapping song. We were all a bit bemused, not having heard or cared about such things for quite a few years now.

Van Persie' cute back-heel created space for a break by Flamini, he set off upfield but was clattered into by Loovens who got booked.

For the second half, Quincy came out instead of Reyes, and went to the left wing.

Gilberto got forward right from the re-start. He got to the goal-line and chipped it into the goalmouth where it was scrambled clear for a corner. This found Gilberto's head in the box but it was blocked at point-blant range.

Van Persie had a shot from outside the box which was an easy save. Then a dodgy free kick was given against Flamini. It was cleared back to Cardiff and lobbed back into our box where again a Cardiff player found himself between defence and keeper with the ball dropping to him, this one did an air-shot.

Jerome caused a couple of almost dodgy moments, but the defence held well. I didn't really notice Djourou and Gilbert defensively but Senderos certainly had a good game and Gilbert showed an amazing amount of enthusiasm - always wanting the ball and often using it well.

Quincy did some good stuff up the left wing but his final ball was often just not quite right. On 56 minutes, a particularly good solo run past several defenders won a corner, which I think Pires headed from in front of the near post, and was unlucky to see the ball bouncing out off the crossbar.

Another good run from Quincy, and the cross was just a bit too strong for Pires at the far post.

A Gilbert error let Cardiff in, but Lauren tracked back well to clear when the free cross came over high past Almunia.

On 65, a nice long ball found Quincy again, and the cross was a good weight for Bergkamp's run, but a defender managed to nip in ahead of him and head out for a corner.

15 minutes to go and Cardiff had a proper shot, from their right of our box, a low diagonal effort that Almunia did really well to dive and stop. Lauren was on hand to mop up.

Larsson came on for van Persie and went to the right wing with Pires switching back to the left again and Quincy up front. This enabled Quincy and Larsson to connect, and I thought it was noticeable how well this worked. Larsson made a run down the middle which was found by Quincy's pass from the right. Larsson tried to play the ball inside the far post across the keeper, but scuffed it a bit so there was little power and it rolled a couple of feet wide.

With about 4 minutes to go, Jerome bundled the ball in from a corner. Almunia did have to make one brave claim in the box after that, but for the rest of it we pretty much kept hold of the ball and no-one seemed that worried. Of course, if Cardiff had scored earlier it might have been quite interesting...