Arsenal vs Dinamo Kiev - Emirates Stadium, London - Tuesday 25th November 2008

There have been some bad weeks for Arsenal fans recently. Losing to Fulham, Hull and Stoke were all bad. Losing various players to various injuries doesn't make things better. Realising that you will not challenge for the title, and will struggle to qualify for the Champions League, is a depressing thing to come to terms with - especially in November. But generally, the 10 days leading up to this game were full of depressing stuff for Arsenal fans. A spineless loss against Aston Villa; Theo Walcott getting injured for 3 months whilst on international duty; Gallas opening his big fat mouth and getting us all over the back pages for the wrong reasons; and finally another pathetic, directionless defeat against Man City. With Gallas (at last) stripped of the captaincy, and Cesc Fabregas installed as captain the day before the game, most were hoping that a genuine turning point (for the better) had at last been reached.

The game itself was more of the same (or at least similar) in terms of the performance. Arsenal created little, struggled to cope at times with a Kiev side who were very physical, and didn't often look like scoring. Given the number of injuries (not to mention the bad form), expectations were low, and the game was very much as expected. It was quite tight, fairly unremarkable, and not all that good to watch. Kiev had a couple of chances towards the end, as they realised that a draw would not be good enough for them, but Almunia made some good saves to keep us level.

Then, a few minutes from the end, Nicklas Bendtner latched onto a fantastic long pass from Captain Cesc, to score. The fact that he managed to control the ball was mildly surprising, but the finish was emphatic. Even if he was wearing the most ridiculous pair of pink boots when he did it. Kiev players were frustrated and appealing to the referee, but they can all sod off, especially the one who got a second yellow card for his troubles towards the end.

This was one of those games where, undoubtedly, the result was much more important than the performance. Keeping a clean sheet was a very positive thing (although I suspect Chelsea will test us more in that department on Sunday),; and a win sees us through to the knockout stages of the Champions League, and therefore able to rest some players in Porto in 2 weeks time. The way our season is going, you have no idea what will happen on Sunday now – whether a win tonight means that we will lose then for sure, or whether this is finally the start of a run of form. For the time being though, congratulations to Captain Cesc, and good luck for the rest of your (hopefully long and successful) reign!