Arsenal:
             Lehmann
     Lauren Toure Campbell Cole
Ljungberg Vieira Edu Pires (van Persie 82)
           Henry Reyes

We started well, and deserved the lead on 5 minutes. A great turn from Henry outside the box, and a wicked low shot towards the far corner forced the keeper to dive to his right and tip it round the post. Henry took the corner, aiming for space at the near post left by Reyes' run away from goal. It ricocheted off 2 defenders and Campbell stretched well to hook it goalwards. Freddie finished it off confidently.

After a very good opening spell, Arsenal started to give the ball away far too cheaply. Reyes, playing on the left with Pires having been given a more central/roving role, was most often the guilty party.

But on the half hour we could have made it 2 when Henry juggled the ball halfway into the Rosenborg half, then lobbed it forward for Freddie's run. The defence was turned but 2 of them managed to muscle him out of contention, and it went out for a corner. Reyes aimed the corner low for Vieira's run into space (at the near post again). But it was cleared, and Lauren was lucky to get away with having his arms all round a white shirt as a high ball came towards them in the centre circle. The ref played a good advantage and Rosenborg won a corner off a very timely strecthing interception by Toure. Lehmann came to punch the inswinging corner but there was a crowd in front of him and, unusually, he got nowhere near. We weer lucky to see the ball loop across the goalmouth to safety.

Just after the half hour Henry came forward from the halfway line and fed Ljungberg on the overlap. He tried to find Pires with a square ball, because the keeper was rushing out to meet him and make the shot hard, but Pires was being shepherded by 2 defenders and they cleared it.

A few minutes later a very nice move from Rosenborg ended with a square cross across the box which Edu did well to hook clear.

The home side started the second half very well. A lob over Lauren on the wing was met with another lob, first time, into the box. A striker rose well above Toure and Campbell but headed just over the bar. Lehmann may have had it covered.

Moments later, Roar Strand had a decent shot from the edge of the box blocked by Cole on the 6 yard line (may have been going just wide anyway) and we were lucky to see it pop up nicely for Lehmann to collect.

Vieira played a lovely long low ball through the defence for Freddie's run down the right. He was in plenty of space again, and this time cut it back for Henry whose first-time shot was blocked at close range.

Then on 52 minutes we lost possession in the centre circle and Rosenborg broke down their left. It was pulled back to Strand again, central and just inside the box, and he opened up his body to hit a sweet side-foot shot down the centre of the goal, just under the bar and givign Lehmann next to no chance.

Arsenal responded well (but there will be questions, as always, about why it took an equaliser to make us up the tempo). A nice move seconds after the restart ended with Cole's square ball coming to Freddie who sliced it wide with his first touch. Then Freddie's low cross from the right for Edu was smothered by a dive forward by the quick-thinking keeper. Reyes shot into the side-netting from a narrow angle. Still with only a few minutes gone since the Rosenborg goal, Freddie creatde ahalf chance for Bobby with a cute back-flick in the D, but Pires was very close to him and it came to him very fast, and his first touch was too strong. Henry was put clear on the right and tried to drill it low inside the far post, which he just missed.

Still only at 66 minutes, Vieira and Edu combined nicely and strongly inside the box, the ball ending up with Paddy in space on the right of the box. He might have shot but predictably tried to square it for a red shirt in the goalmouth, and it was intercepted well.

15 minutes to go and Edu fired a great effort in from distance which swerved away from the keeper nicely, but also swerved just wid eof the left hand post.

There were claims from Freddie of handball in the box, and then he was brought down from behind in the D. Reyes took the free kick, strangely, from about 10 yards further out, and hit it into the wall.

Van Persie came on for Pires with 8 minutes to go and looked a bit off the pace. Henry got into space deep on the left and had his shot blocked by a defenders despairing backside. It came back to Reyes on the rebound but he sliced his shot and skyed it.

Cole hit a nice cross towards the far post but when it fell to Freddie he had perhaps been unsighted by Henry's jump ahead of him, He nodded it back towards Thierry but it hit a defender and was cleared.

In injury time, Henry hit a terrific shot from outside the box which the keeper couldn't hold onto, and he was lucky to see it fall to a white shirt.

Lots of Arsenal fans will be talking about the midfield and what we do with Gilberto out. I've heard a few saying that Cesc should have played instead of Edu. Well, it seems to me that perhaps the problem is with Vieira. Not with his ability but with his role. When Gilberto plays alongside him, Vieira can be more attacking because of Gilberto's defensive qualities (let's not forget, he's a player who's looked alright at centre-back). But if either Edu or Cesc is alongside him then, if anyone, Vieira has to be the more defensive one. He can do it, but he has to do it. All too often in Trondheim it was Edu and even Reyes who found themselves being pressured with the ball in defensive positions, and found themselves giving the ball away, including for the home side's goal.

Arsenal go top of the group by a point, thanks to PSV's win at home to Panathinaikos.