Arsenal:
               Almunia
Hoyte Campbell Toure Cole (van Persie 76)
Pires (Quincy 88) Fabregas Flamini Reyes
       Henry Bergkamp (Clichy 72)

Of course, Rosenborg were not the most intimidating of oppositions. They've only won one of their umpteen away legs in the Champs League, against a Dortmund side featuring (coincidentally?) Jens Lehmann in goal. But, as they say, you can only beat what's put in front of you, so to do it in style can only be a good thing. And the biggest problem of late has been failing to finish off sides that we ought to beat (I see the draws against Southampton, Palace, and West Brom as considering more of a problem than losses at Old Trafford and Anfield), so beating one in any fashion comes as a relief. The confidence should be high going into Sunday's massive game here against Chelsea.

On 2 minutes our free kick into the box from the right was cleared to Cesc in the D and he slipped a diagional pass wide right into space for Pires, but it was a little strong and by the time he reached it Bobby couldn't get his foot round it properly, and hit the side netting.

But a minute later we were ahead with a lovely goal from the rejuvenated Reyes. Bergkamp's ball forward from the left wing found him just outside the box. He feinted to go left than brought it back to the right, bamboozling a defender who ended up on his arse, and then slipped the ball beneath the keeper Espen Johnson.

On 10 minutes a spell of great passing play from Arsenal ended with Henry trying to slip the ball through for Flamini's run into the box. He went down and it looked like there had been contact, but nothing was given.

After a terrific run from his own half Henry got the ball to the goal-line and it found its way back to Reyes on the edge of the box. His shot was eflected halfway to goal, causing it to bounce up off the ground and making the save quite tricky for Johnsen. Moments later Pires brought the bal lup the right touchline and hit a low cross to the near post that Henry only just failed to make contact with. And before you could draw breath Rosenborg broke up our right and the ball was switched to the far side where Brattbak was in loads of space. He hit a sweet low volley that Almunia did really well to save, flinging himself to his right to fingertip it round the post.

Bergkamp's touch let him down when in front of goal a couple of times, but his role as a support striker was crucial and played to perfection, showing what a difference he still makes. He was always available and often used. He played a few great balls through the defence for the other strikers to run on to, and credit to the Rosenborg keeper for hsi awareness and repeatedly making the right decision about coming out to close them down.

On 23 Flamini went down under challenge on the edge of the box again, and the ref waved play on again. It nice to see (both times) Flamini just have a quick glance at the ref then get right back up and on with the game. Just after that, Henry grabbed the second. Put into a one-on-one situation by a lob forward, he got there just before the keeper and poked a high chip over him, following it as it bounced into the net just to make sure.

Straight away they were up our end again, and Almunia had to make a good high cathc from a cross. He dropped it as he landed, but to be fair I think that was because he landed on another player, and he did recover well.

A defensive error let Bergkamp in on the left of the box but the keeper closed him down and blocked. Bergkamp acknowledged to Henry that perhaps he should have squared it, but I saw it more as a good piece of keeping than any kind of error.

Then just before the half hour Cesc scored a beautiful goal, which woul d have made the likes of Henry Dennis or Kanu proud. Bergkamp's ball into the box found Reyes in a central position and he squared it first time for Cesc to his right. Cesc juggled it round a defender standing between him and goal, before stretching his left foot to strike the ball while it was still high up, placing it just inside the far post. Glorious stuff, and it makes Cesc our youngest European goalscorer (he was already our youngest Premiership, League Cup, and overall scorer so just the FA Cup to go!).

This was Arsenal at their best, and there was more to come in the next few minutes with some of Henry's trademark charging around to win the ball back and some great defensive headers by Hoyte and Cole. But Rosenborg did have a go at us. Hoyte's crucial header went for a corner which they headed against the post, and then they hit a cross from the left wing which Almunia ran for at the far post but only palmed it out to that side. It went straight to Hoftun who hit it back first time. Almunia did well to recover in time to attempt to save, but didn't get there and the ball went in off Flamini on the line. It was a great shot, to be fair.

Straight away Cesc went on an amazing run skipping roung challenges until once again the keeper made the right choice and came out to block. If he'd scored it would have been a contender for goal of the season.

On 41 a pass forward (Dennis probably) sliced the defence open and put Henry through again. He beat the keeper and was then brought down. I thought the keeper was a bit unlucky - I guess there was contact but it's hard to see how he could have avoided it. Maybe I'll feel different when I've seen a replay, but I was glad he was only shown a yellow despite clearly preventing a goal. Pires stepped up and placed the penalty inside the right hand post. The keeper guessed right and wasn't far from it.

Arsenal started the second half with what looked like a different plan, letting the visitors attack and trying to hit them on the break. Fair enough at 4-1 up, especially with Sunday coming (you can bet that Chelsea had an eye on that one as they were losing at Porto).

7 minutes in and Reyes hit a fantastic ball from left wing in our half to right wing in theirs. Henry controlled it perfectly and played a one-two with Pires before blasting it over the bar.

Sol gace Almunia a dodgy backpass but the keeper did well to clear it for a throw rather than a corner. When the cross came in, Cole did another great clearing header from the 6 yard box. A few minutes later, he repeated the trick from an even more dangerous cross.

Cesc scuffed a shot giving Johnsen an easy save, after a move that went all over the pitch involving most of our player. Just before the half hour Clichy came on for Dennis, who handed the captain's armband to Henry (reports that the latter was going to be captain from the start having precede the news that Bergkamp was fit to play). Clichy went to the left wing and Reyes up front, but a few minutes later Reyes dropped back again and Clichy into defence, when van Persie came on for Cole.

The rest of the game was all about Aresnal attacking and about whether van Persie could score. He might have ended up with a hattrick. Pires played a great ball for him but he had to stretch a bit to make the shot and sliced it wide. Then a cross from Hoye was cleared to van Persie and he hit a terrific volley which the keeper blocked. It flew high in the air and was headed clear, but only to van Persie again and this time he hit the shot high and wide.

Nice interplay from Reyes and Pires ended with a Reyes chip as the keepr came out to him, but it just cleared the bar and landed on the roof of the goal. Then Pires blocked as Rosenborg tried to clear, and van Perise was put through again only to blast wide. Finally with 7 minutes to go, a lovely move was finished by Pires's ball into the box, Reyes knocking it square to van Persie on the left, and a very cool finish at last.

Near the end Pires had a rest and Quincy came on for a couple of minutes. But th efinal action was another dodgy Almunia moment when he palmed a corner out and we were lucky when the ball came back in to see it cleared from the 6 yard box. From the next corner, Almunia finally got a decent meaty punch on the ball.

So, 5-1 at the end which is our best home win in the Champs League and equals out best ever (last season at Inter). Panaithinaikos' win at home to PSV means that we won the group, unbeaten (see table). That means we get to play at home in the second leg of the next (knock-out) stage, and get to play a group runner-up (currently Barcelona, Porto, Bremen, Bayern Munich, and probably Madrid, Lyon, and either Liverpool or Monaco).

Eirik adds...
Hoftun's goal was his first in the Champ's League, in the 60th game. Of CL goalscorers only Gary Neville has had to wait longer (77 games).