Reasons To Be Cheerful

All things considered that was a very good night's work against Porto. Let's not kid ourselves that the opposition bore any resemblance to the side that lifted the trophy just over two years ago. Nonetheless they were the first to admit that they could not live with the quality of their hosts football last night. Manuel Ferreira, the beaten coach, admitted "Arsenal are a team with the ability to change a game very quickly. Their play was really fast and we could not keep up."

On the pitch it was a delight to see Henry head home an Eboue cross for the second succesive match. Alexander Hleb produced a calm and classy finish early in the second half and that was sufficient to maintain a one hundred percent record thus far. The only cloud, and what a cloud, was the injury to Gallas, The man's quality shone through again last night. Get well soon William.

Off the pitch there was precious little to moan about either. One of the major talking points recently has concerned the clubs threat to eject spectators who stand during matches. Those who, like me, were next to the visiting supporters last night would have noted with interest that next to no effort was made to keep them on their seats. Nobody doubts it is a contentious issue. As one who enjoys a good sing-song, but has also taken his octogenarian father to a game where he could not physically stand up every five minutes, I can see both sides. Fair play to the stewards, at least in blocks 22 and 23 who saw the funny side and enjoyed the light hearted banter that ensued when they were compelled to ask for some of us to comply with the requirement.

And whisper it softly, but it seemed less congested heading for the tube station after the game. As at the Zagreb game I left a minute before the end for fear of missing the last train home and comfortably made it. A couple of people from my neck of the woods waited for the final whistle and did catch that last departure, but a friend from Wales failed, so it may well be related to which station you choose. I hate missing even a minute so it's final whistle at night games for me from now on, as long as the Met continue to keep the queues moving.

Time to catch up with some much needed sleep, and finally get over that last pint of London Pride at Paddington. Until tomorrow my friends.