p a t c h r i s

UEFA Champions League Qualifier: Arsenal vs. Celtic at The Emirates Stadium, London Arsenal starters: Almunia, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen, Sagna, Bendtner, Denilson, Diaby, Song, Eboue, Eduardo. Arsenal go into the game with a 2 goal aggregate lead and are expected to comfortably qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. Random comments: 1) Diaby chewing gum. Can one do that and still concentrate on playing the game? Could you accidentally choke on gum while running? 2) Bendtner made one stray pass so far. I'm watching you, Niklas... 3) 28' Penalty for Arsenal. But come on, Eduardo, there was no contact. Shame, shame (my Twitter friends agree). Eduardo converts penalty, 1-nil. 4) Denilson is an improved player this season 5) Half-time, it's Arsenal 1-0 Celtic 6) 53' Excellent play by the Gunners. A clever flick from Bendtner leads to an eventual goal by a weaving Eboue. Great stuff! Arsenal 2-0 Celtic 7) Celtic jerseys blend in too well with the green pitch 8...

The Gunners continued on their fine start to their English Premier League season with a brace from Abou Diaby and one goal each from William Gallas and Aaron Ramsey at the Emirates Stadium. With a different starting line up to the previous games, the Arsenal featured Eboue, Diaby, Kieron Gibbs, Eduardo, Almunia, Denilson, van Persie, Vermaelen, Gallas, Fabregas & Arshavin. Johann Djourou, Tomas Rosicky, Samir Nasri are still unavailable due to injury. Fabregas was taken off at the break today (substituted by Aaron Ramsey) after suffering a knock. The game was open and Portsmouth allowed Arsenal to play their regular free flowing style of football. Rather enjoyable if you're a gooner, or even a neutral. Not so much if you're a Portsmouth fan. Next up is the 2nd leg of the Champions League qualifier vs. Celtic at home, followed by a big crunch match against Manchester United, who won 0-5 away at Wigan tonight. We'll see if they really do miss Cristiano Ronaldo.

Arsenal emerged 0-2 victors in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League game away from home this morning at Celtic. William Gallas' back deflected a free kick from Fabregas into the right side of the Bhoy's goal just before the break, while Caldwell, who showed an otherwise good performance let in an own goal while trying to block a tricky low cross in the second half. The Gunners began with the same starting line up which demolished Everton 1-6 away over the weekend. The first 40 minutes in Glasgow was closely contested, albeit with the visitors having more of the possession. Celtic were quickly closing in on the Arsenal players and allowed little room for them to play. The second half saw the play open up significantly as the Gunners were allowed more space to move and run. However, the only other goal seen this morning was an own-goal by Caldwell. More could be expected of the Gunners, but the result shows two wins out of two so far this season, and one can't complain ...