Arsenal:
                  Almunia
        Lauren Campbell Toure Clichy
Pires (Cesc 74) Gilberto Flamini Reyes (Eboue 82)
      Henry (van Persie 71) Bergkamp

But it is probably fair to say that the scoreline was flattering to Arsenal, who dominated the game without ever really getting into gear. And it was only the late introduction of Robin van Persie, proving all of us right who have been saying that he's our most likely source of goals at the moment, after Henry, which made things safe.

Anyway, we got the points, and are now, as the say, "free to concentrate on the league" (but in a good way).

It was pelting down with rain to start with, and for much of the game. But Arsenal started well. The first half chance came on 9 minutes when :Jose_Antonio_Reyes skipped past a couple of challenges as he dribbled square from right to left across the edge of the box. It looked like he was trying to find space for a shot but in the end he tried a cute chip into the box instead, which was just a bit too strong for Bergkamp.

A minute later, a great ball from Robert Pires put Henry through wide in the right of the box, he hit a low cross back through the crowded box which managed to miss all the defenders but again was a yard too far in front of Dennis.

Then Reyes got fouled 25 yards out and Henry tried to chip the free kick into the box but didn't get under it enough and it was cut out by the first defender.

Up the other end, Kolo Toure tried to be a bit too cute in defence but got away with it. There were other instances of this, but as time went on Arsenal adapted properly to the conditions and were on average clearing the ball in a more emphatic and direct way than usual.

On 14 minutes Dennis and Bobby nearly combined to make a goal, Bobby feeding Dennis in the D then running on to the right for the return ball, and squaring it to the 6 yard line where Dennis had to stretch a bit to get his foot onto the ball, causing him to lift it too high and it came out off the crossbar.

A minute later there was a terrific long through ball for Dennis, not sure who from. He was having to hold a defender off as he ran forward with it, causing his second touch to be a bit too strong and allow the keeper to come out. Still Dennis managed to stretch for it and the resulting deflection only just stopped it going goalwards.

A great turn by Pires on the right wing (Freddie Ljungberg being out with his hammy and Reyes starting on the left) left his man for dead, and he hit a low cross for Dennis who hit it first time from the D but only scuffed it through to the keeper.

Up the other end we had a close call when Almunia had to dive at someone's feet to sweep the ball away with his arm, after the striker had got in front of Sol Campbell to get to a square cross from their right.

On 17, Henry and Reyes exchanged passes in the D a couple of times before the latter played it forward. But Henry couldn't get near it: he felt he'd been held back but from where I was it looked minimal.

Then Sparta had acouple more rare and ineffective attacks. First Toure did well to shepherd the ball out, then a dangerous looking cross from their right to left came back to a white shirt (they had a look of Tottenham about them with their dark shorts) just outside the D, but the resulting shot went high and wide.

The break through came on 23 minutes. After a move forward involving Lauren, Dennis, and Gilberto, it was Reyes who set it up with a cute flick of the ball behind him as he ran across the D from left to right, it came sweet for Henry who hit it first time, and sent the ball curling just inside the far post.

Sparta tried to get straight back at us. Amnother long-range shot went high and wide, then Toure headed a dangerous cross out for a corner which was played back for another long-range shot which was blocked on the edge of the box and came out for another shot which Almunia saved (it looked like it took a slight deflection from the other end of the ground). Then another shot, this time from all of 35 yards, went higher and wider than any previous.

On 32 minutes Dennis broke down the middle and played it wide right for Reyes whose shot was palmed out for a corner.

Lauren slipped over giving the ball away on the right wing, and gave away a foul in his haste to get back at the Sparta player who was running away from him with the ball. The ref felt the need to have a word (but it wasn't till the second half that he felt the need to inflict his first and only booking (a Sparta player).

A nice move across the edge of their box and back ended with a Reyes shot dragged a foot wide. With a couple of minutes to go before the break Reyes brought the ball down the left on the break, he played it infield to Henry who chipped into the box for Dennis in space on the right but again he had to stretch for it and only succeeded in poking the ball through softly to the keeper.

Up the other end Sparta claimed a handball against Campbell in the box. As Wenger might say, I did not see the incident (but to be fair, I was 50 yards further from it than he would have been).

The second half was more of the same: Arsenal dominating but not scoring, Sparta mainly shooting badly from distance. But they did get themselves into some nice positions to miss badly from closer range too.

They hit a dangerous cross from our right towards the far post which Gael Clichy did well to head backwards away from goal, and then chase after it to block the Sparta man following up.

Almunia made the first of several really bad kicked clearances. This one was the worst though. It went past Campbell just inside the box who tried to wave a foot at it as it went past but was in the wrong shape for it (he'd never have been expecting the ball to go anywhere near him), but had done just enough to distract the Sparta man the ball was heading for.

8 minutes after the break, Henry won a free kick on the left which he curled towards the near post and the keeper got over to touch it out for a corner (I'm sure it was heading just wide anyway). Henry took a bad corner, cut out by the first defender (looks like Reyes' success from corners while Henry was out hasn't brought about a change in duties).

Reyes broke and hit a great cross-field ball for Henry on the right. But his first touch was less than perfect (not saying it was easy!) and he lost time, allowing him to be crowded out when the support didn't arrive (it was disappointing to see Reyes himself not following his ball in towards the box).

Sparta were given offside as the ball was chipped into our box, which may have been a bit lucky for Clichy who appeared to have maybe barged into the intended recipient.

With 25 minutes to go, van Persie came on for Thierry Henry, who went off very slowly but not obviously unhappy. I'm assuming it was just a matter of wanting to be careful with him after his rush back from injury had led to him missing the game against Tottenham.

Van Persie's second touch came when the ball was played forward to him just outside the box and he controlled with back to goal onyl to be fouled. He hit the free kick himself and although it was straight in line with the keeper, the pace of the shot and the fact that it was dipping just under the bar made it a decent save.

Pires blasted a shot high after being fed by Reyes, and then with 17 minutes left was subbed for Cesc Fabregas.

Van Persie won a couple more free kicks one of which Reyes curled over the wall but just wide of the post.

Almunia hit another poor clearance. Sparta took the ball wide left and chipped it into the box where a striker got his head to the ball but lopped it just over the bar from close range, with Almunia making what looked to me like a strange dive, nowhere near where the ball was going. To be frank, if the goal had been scored, our keeper would have looked a right chump.

A terrific Bergkamp effort from the right flew just over the far top corner.

A ball out of defence on our left was missed badly by Reyes, but he got lucky when the defender played it straight back to him. He passed forward and central to van Persie, near their box again. His first touch wasn't that good but he kept hold of the ball. It had allowed a couple fo defenders to get inti position ahead of him but he touched the ball to his left to make a litrle space and then hit a bullet of a shot inside the left hand post for 2-0.

Emmanuel Eboue came on for Reyes and went to the right wing. Lauren gave away a corner which was headed goalwards and I think hit the post. Then they got back to basics and blasted another shot high and wide.

They got another corner with 5 minutes to go, after indecision by Almunia (fair enough I suppose, he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to get away with catching the ball after an Arsenal defender had knocked it towards him in a not-particularly-controlled fashion). The corner was headed clear by van Persie then floated back into our box, behind the line of advancing defenders. A striker beat the offside and got a free touch on the ball right in front of goal but somehow managed to hit it over the bar from about 6 yards.

Straight after that, we went up the other end and Eboue cut the ball back nicely from deep in the right, giving van Persie a straightforward chance from near the penalty spot which he made no mistake with.

Moments later he nearly completed a famous hat-trick with a great shot on the run after a diagonal ball forward into the box. The keeper blocked and Robin almost got it in from the rebound. At the death, Mathieu Flamini nearly got into the act when he forced a near post save.

In the other match, Ajax got an away win against FC Thun. So we're clear at the top of the table, already through to the knockout stage and needing to lose both our remaining matches away to Thun and then at home to Ajax, in order to fail to finish top. The way things are going, it's easy to see Arsenal and Ajax going into their last match with nothing to play for, and Sparta needing to beat Thun at home that night to finish third. Having said that, it's also easy to see us taking an under-strength side to Thun for the next game, with Thun knowing that a win would probably guarantee them that UEFA cup place. Still, first or second doesn't make a huge amount of difference, and I'm sure there are few Arsenal fans that wouldn't prefer to see us allowing the league to take precedence at least until the knockout stage starts. We don't want to have to rely on taking Liverpool's route into next year's competition do we?