Well I thought Arsenal would score against Porto, but I never expected five.

Arsenal ran riot at the Emirates hammering Porto 5-0 in the Champions League as Nicklas Bendtner scored three goals, and Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Eboue each chipped in one. Yes, the same Nicklas Bendtner who could not hit a barn door on the weekend scores three goals tonight in the Champions League

“I believe over 90 minutes we controlled 80,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We controlled the game and scored great goals, and we were good to watch.”

Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira called the match a “fast movie.”

“Arsenal put us under pressure and scored an early goal,” he said. “In the second half, it was exactly the same. They controlled the match.”

Ferreira had it right in that when Arsenal play at pace, but their movement and passing ability, they are too fast for most teams to handle. And they were way to fast for Porto tonight.

Arsenal move into the quarter-finals with Bayern Munich who won tonight. Unless there are sopme major upsets in the next two weeks, the top teams in the draw for the quarter-finals will be Barcelona, Real Madrid and the three English teams.

At this point, progression in the Champions League becomes the luck of the draw. Bayern, Sevilla or Bordeaux would be “easier” opponents for Arsenal than one of the other English or Spanish teams.

But with two weeks until the draw, we can bask in the glory that was Arsenal tonight.

What did you think of the Gunners performance tonight?

Another week and another huge game for the Arsenal. This time it is in the Champions League as Arsenal try to overcome a 2-1 deficit and defeat Porto to move into the quarter-finals.

Arsenal will have to do it the difficult way, without inspirational leader Cesc Fabregas who will miss the game due to a hamstring injury, as well as William Gallas who will also miss the game due to a calf injury.

But the good news for Arsenal is that Sol Campbell has recovered from the groin problem that kept him out at the weekend, and with Arshavin, . But with Arshavin, Nasri and Walcott all fit, Arsene Wenger will have a good squad to pick from.

Arsene Wenger on the game:

“There’s always something new in our game so we can innovate and change history. The team has a good chance to make history. We are very young and in a strong position and, of course, we want to win. Scoring away from home is still a massive advantage under UEFA rules and that’s why we are confident we can do it.

In the first game, Porto defended well. I don’t think they will be ultra-defensive. We conceded unusual goals in the first game so we want a better defensive performance and we want to score goals. We know it’s a tricky game, as it always is in the Champions League against an opponent of Porto’s quality, but we believe we can do it. We are confident and are in a good position, so let’s go for it.”

Porto are not an easy team to beat, but I expect Arsenal’s speed and passing ability to be the deciding factor in the game. That away goal in Portugal by Sol Campbell was huge and ultimately I expect that to be the difference.

I am not that confident that Arsenal can shut Porto out, but I believe that they will create enough chances to go through. The only potential problem I see is that Arsenal spurns a lot of chances in front of goal and I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt them.

Prediction
Arsenal 3 Porto 1. Arsenal advances 4-3 on aggregate.

What is your prediction for the game?

Newspaper reports say that Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas will miss tomorrow’s Champions League tie against Porto because of a hamstring injury he picked up during the win over Burnley.

Massive loss to the Gunners. Fabregas has been amazing this season. But with Arshavin back I am expecting Arsenal to over turn the Porto 2-1 lead.

Arsenal beat 3-1 in a game that could just as easily have been 7-1  or 2-2. The Gunners missed chance after chance especially Nicklas Bendtner who missed at least four sitters in the game.

But here we are in early March and Arsenal are sitting two points out of first place. If you has said that would be the case at the start of the year most Gunners fans would not have believed you.

Yes we could talk about all the missed opportunities today and the injury to Fabregas. But those are stories for tomorrow and Monday. Tonight is about Arsenal being very much involved in this title race and with three of the next four league games against Hull, West Ham and Wolves, Arsenal should continue to put pressure on Chelsea and Man United.

Looks like all Arsenal’s international players will be returning healthy, which is good news. Even better news was the sight of Andrey Arshavin coming on as a half-time substitute for Russia. Arsenal will need Arshavin’s magic in the coming weeks.

According to Italian daily Corriere dello Sport, Roma are weighing up the possibility of a summer move for William Gallas. Roma is managed by Claudio Ranieri who signed Gallas for Chelsea in 2001 and reportedly wants to work with him again. If Gallas leaves at the end of the season, is it a big loss?

Interesting quotes by Gael Clichy on the Arsenal web site. Clichy was talking about the impact that Sol Campbell has had and said:

“Sol is not the kind of guy who is going to run for 90 minutes like a left-back or a midfielder but he was really focused and professional. The way he played against Porto and the way he came in against Aston Villa showed that the guy is a great leader. We surely missed people like that and it’s great to have him back. He is a big influence in the dressing room. That’s what people say about experienced players and I think we have the best one.”

When Arsenal signed Campbell I was one of those Arsenal fans who was not in favor of the signing. But I was wrong. Arsenal needed his leadership both in the dressing room and also on the pitch. It was Campbell going around to the players at Stoke, keeping the morale up, keeping the players focused on winning the game.

Media reports say that Arsenal are Arsenal are close to finalising a four-year deal for Bordeaux’s striker Marouane Chamakh. Chamakh is out of contract this summer and has made little secret of the move.

‘I’ve dreamed of the Premier League since I was a little boy. I am ready to discover the experience for myself,’ he said last week.

With Chamakh at 6′ 1″ (1.85m) as well as Bendtner and the fit again Rob Van Persie Arsenal will have three center forwards with some height that can play as target men and pose a threat in the air.

Arsenal have overtaken Chelsea in the ‘rich list’ of European clubs. Moving up to fifth place on the list.

The Deloitte Football Money League has Real Madrid and Barcelona in the top two spots but mainly due to the continuing decline of the pound against the euro. The Deloitte list is based on clubs’ revenue excluding transfer fees.

Arsenal moved ahead of Chelsea as the Gunners recorded a 7% rise in revenue to £224 million compared to Chelsea’s’ £20 6million – a 3% fall in revenue.

Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, said:

“Chelsea’s revenue has dropped because last season was a bit worse than usual on the pitch, they had frozen season ticket prices and there was not a lot going on in big new commercial developments. Arsenal have the advantage in matchday income with a new 60,000-seater stadium and they made the semi-finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup.”

If the exchange rates had remained at their June 2007 level then Arsenal would probably have overtaken Bayern Munich and moved into fourth place.

Deloitte Football Money League – 2008-09 revenue (Last year’s position in brackets)

1 (1) Real Madrid £341.9million
2 (3) Barcelona £311.7m
3 (2) Man Utd £278.5m
4 (4) Bayern Munich £246.6m
5 (6) Arsenal £224.0m
6 (5) Chelsea £206.4m
7 (8) Liverpool £184.8m
8 (11) Juventus £173.1m
9 (10) Internazionale £167.4m
10 (7) AC Milan £167.4m
11 (15) Hamburg £124.9m
12 (9) Roma £124.7m
13 (12) Lyon £118.9m
14 (16) Marseille £113.5m
15 (14) Tottenham £113.0m
16 (13) Schalke £106.0m
17 (n/a) Werder Bremen £97.7m
18 (20) B Dortmund £88.1m
19 (n/a) Man City £87.0m
20 (17) Newcastle £86.0m

On Sunday, Arsenal Football Club released the following statement:

“During yesterday’s match against Stoke City, Aaron Ramsey sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg. Yesterday evening he underwent surgery. The operation successfully reduced the fractures and whilst it is too soon to state an exact timescale for recovery, Aaron will certainly miss the remainder of this season. Our thoughts are with Aaron at this time and everyone at the Club wishes him all the best in making as speedy a return to action as possible.”

A horrific injury to Arsenal youngster Aaron Ramsey overshadowed a last-gasp win over Stoke that hauled the Gunners firmly into the Barclays Premier League title race on Saturday night.

The 19-year-old midfielder appeared to break his leg after a red-card challenge from Ryan Shawcross that had echoes of team-mate Eduardo’s own bad injury two years ago.Shawcross, who was shown an immediate red card, appeared to be in tears when he left the field and a number of other players were clearly upset by the incident.

The injury overshadows a huge Arsenal come from behind win, that moved the Gunners to within three points of leaders Chelsea and ended Stoke’s 11-match unbeaten run

Arsenal had begun the game by handing veteran Sol Campbell his first Premier League start since rejoining the club last month. Partnering Vermaelen, the former England defender was expected to have plenty of Rory Delap throws – a recent Arsenal weakness – to deal with and it was not long before they were tested.

Having been undone by the Irishman’s potent weapon on their previous two visits, the trepidation amongst the back line was obvious as Delap lined up his first throw after four minutes.

It was probably much to their relief that Mamady Sidibe headed wide from a long throw close to Tony Pulis’ technical area, but they were to be examined again soon enough.

That Arsenal had not learned from previous experience was clear as Alex Song’s natural instinct to put the ball out for a throw rather than concede a corner kicked in. That allowed Delap to launch another missile from level with the six-yard box.

Delap picked out Shawcross with a flat delivery and the defender’s glancing header allowed the onrushing Pugh, just onside, to nod in at the far post.

Delap continued to bombard the Arsenal penalty area at every opportunity, from right and left, but the Londoners managed to clear the next three throws, albeit uncomfortably, without further damage.

It took 25 minutes for Arsenal to muster an effort on goal, Fabregas controlling a bouncing ball yards out and forcing Thomas Sorensen to concede a corner.

Then Arsenal started to win some possession in a congested midfield and equalised after 31 minutes with a clever throw-in routine of their own.

Bacary Sagna went short to allow Fabregas to cross from the right and his pinpoint delivery was met by a looping header across goal from Bendtner 10 yards out.

Arsenal controlled the rest of the first half but had only one serious opportunity when Fabregas fired a free-kick into the wall.

Arsenal showed a great deal of fighting spirit to continue to play and attack after the Ramsay injury. Arsenal’s persistence paid off when Bendtner’s flick into the penalty area was handled by Pugh.

Fabregas stepped up to squeeze a low spot-kick into the bottom corner and spark emotional celebrations.

Arsenal added a third during seven minutes of injury time as Sorensen parried a Rosicky shot and Eduardo squared for Vermaelen to easily score.

Wow..What a start to the day. Manchester City hammer Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge and Arsenal have a chance to close the gap to the top of the table to only three points if they win at Stoke today.