Arsenal:
                Lehmann
       Lauren Toure Campbell Cole
Bergkamp Vieira Gilberto Ljungberg (Pires 70)
       Reyes (Aliadiere 79) Henry

Birmingham came to defend in depth, as so many teams have done, and as so many teams have found to work. If truth be told, we've scraped through enough matches in this way this season, that if we do continue unbeaten it'll be a miracle due to teamwork resilience and a fair slice of lady luck, as much as due to the awesome attacking play that the media keep focussing on.

Arsenal were better, miles better. But mostly in the middle third of the pitch: I'm not sure that we had a real shot on goal in the first half. There were moments of brilliance of course, but the visiting side's sit back policy gave them some moments of their own, and if they'd had Mikael Forssell instead of Clinton Morrison then we might now be rueing the end of the dream.

Freddie played with his dodgy wrist heavily bandaged, and started on the left in place of Pires. He didn't look that happy there and came inside even more than usual. A lot of our good stuff came through Bergkamp on the right. On 6 minutes he hit a great pass for Gilberto who ran forward then backheeled it back to Dennis, who tried a chip from the edge of the box but over-hit it.

Moments later Reyes combined nicely with Vieira, ending with a Reyes curler which didn't quite work. On 15 minutes City ventured forward through Morrison, breaking down the right. He hit a long high cross to the far side of the box which Stephen Clemence met with a useful shot.

Then we had a short but amazing spell. Freddie and Jose tried to burst through the massed defence and nearly did so. Vieira blocked a clearance just outside the box then chased after the ball as it looped towards the touchline, and did brilliant to win it. But City got hold of it and whacked it forward for a striker to run onto - we had a heart-stopping moment as Lehmann raced far out of his goal but he'd judged it right and calmly the ball was passed up the right win for Henry. As he got level with the penalty spot (but wide right), and still running at a fair old whack (as is his wont) he backheeled it towards the back for Bergkamp, whose cross/shot was deflected and cleared.

David Dunn went on a terrific strong run and Toure had to bring him down, although apparently he went down a bit easy - not a criticism just an observation ;-) Savage asserted himself over a couple of possible better-qualified team-mates, and then whacked the free kick straight into the wall.

Towards the end of the first half Reyes hit a nice ball into the box for Freddie and Upson came across to make an excellent block at point blank range.

If anything Arsenal looked more jaded and less inspired in the second half. Early on Savage hit a good high cross, Lehmann jumped with Morrison and the ball went goalwards only for Campbell to hook it off the line (actually, from behind the goal I thought it looked over the line). But the ref had blown for a foul by the striker on the keeper (and it was nice to see a complete lack of histrionics from Lehmann - maybe someone's had a word).

Freddie, from that central position, fed Reyes who'd found loads of space on the left, and his ball into the box was only just out of the reach of Kolo's storming run.

Then Reyes was involved again with a great interception near the half-way line, but as he ran upfield no-one joined him, and he did well to win a corner out of it.

Halfway through the half there was a low shot from Clemence which Lehmann saved well, and then there was that "thank heavens it's not Forssell" moment when Lazaridis beat Lauren on the wing and hit a low cross which Clinton Morrison, near the penalty spot, managed to screw up completely. If he'd just lashed it he might well have scored, but he tried to control it first instead (been watching Arsenal too much perhaps).

Pires came on for Freddie, and made something of a difference, but Aliadiere came on for Reyes and didn't (although, to be fair, although Reyes did a lot of good stuff in his own right he looked to be on a completely different wavelength to Henry).

So Aliadiere needs to feature in of the last 3 games for a medal. Keown needs them all, and was brought on in the 90th minute so as to get the box ticked for this one. There was some fun and games on the touchline first though, as Parlour went out to warm up to wind Martin up, and even went so far as to remove his training top and feign getting ready to use up that 3rd and final subsitution.