The writing was on the wall early on, when Dortmund hit both of Seaman's posts one after the other.

First it was Ricken, put through down the middle by Ewerthon whose pass split Campbell and Cygan all too easily. Ricken's low early shot beat Seaman but came back off the foot of his right hand post.

A little while later, Koller's header hit the inside of the other post and bounced across the face of goal.

Ljungberg, playing in an advanced role with Kanu dropped to the bench, won a controversial free-kick 20 yards out after 18 minutes. Henry took it as usual, but got it right. The defence made it fairly easy for him, leaving a huge hole on the left hand side of the goal. Thierry lifted his kick over the wall and the keeper, guarding the gap on the other side, didn't even move.

Dortmund equalised after 38 minutes with a Rosicky free-kick which was almost a carbon-copy of Zola's goal against us earlier in the season. This time it was Koller in Gudjohnsen's role of failing to make contact with his head, and again the ball crept inside the far post. It actually took a glancing deflection off Gilberto and it went through, which could have helped both Koller and Seaman misjudge it.

Dortmund didn't have that many chances in the second half, but just about deserved the win. It came through a controversial penalty won by Koller. Seaman appeared to hesitate coming out to meet the big Czech for a through-ball. The striker got a toe on it just before the keeper reached the ball, and then launched himself over Seaman in a pretty impressive dive. There didn't appear to be contact, and I've heard a lot of non-Arsenal fans joining in with the claims that it was a blatant dive. But to be honest I think we'd have wanted it given if it had been up the other end. Seaman was late to the ball, and did prevent Koller continuing his run. The fact that Koller felt the need to go into his ballet act does leave a bad taset in the mouth though!

Rosicky gave Seaman no chance with the spot kick.

So that's 4 2-1 losses in a row. Anyone know the record for the most times a team has achieved the same scoreline in consecutive matches?! And does anyone know the record for scoring in consecutive matches in all competitions? We Arsenal are now on a run of 27. See Record-breakers page.

But Auxerre, down to 9 men by the end, crashed to a 3-0 loss in Eindhoven. So Arsenal and Dortmund are both through. As things stand, the Germans will top the group. But a home win over PSV could get Arsenal back into pole position. In this competition, however, it's never obvious that that's what one wants.

Reports of a big snip for Seaman were grossly exagerrated by his hairdresser. He may have had a bit taken off but it's still definitely a ponytail, and the tache is still definitely a tache.

To put this loss in perspective, Dortmund are the German champions. They are unbeaten in their domestic league this season. Their only loss in Europe this season was when they were outclassed at Highbury. If we finish level with them on points, we will finish above them. Arsenal beat them on aggregate. As part of a run of 4 losses it is of course a worrying result, but the result in itself is no disgrace. The performance was not good, and after 3 losses in a row we have a right to expect a little more. But let's not forget that some of the results we'd had during the great run that started the season were a little fortunate. The acclaim Arsenal received was over the top.... the media build you up so they can shoot you down. Like we said at the time, you just have to enjoy those times while they last. They'll be back.