With the eyes of the world on Cesc Fabregas in his first outing as captain of the Club, many were also keenly following the fortunes of the man he replaced. William Gallas was in the thick of the action in the first period

Match Review – Arsenal 1 Dynamo Kyiv 0 – Champions League

After this slender victory, one analogy comes to mind: “beggars can’t be choosers”. And seeing as our last two outings had brought comprehensive defeats with none scored and five conceded, I think it’s fair to say that we had assumed the role of beggars. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win – especially when it secures your place in the knockout stages. In that sense an ugly victory was probably the best possible outcome, as a flourishing win may have papered over some of the cracks.

The build-up to game was of course dominated by the captaincy issue. Given the horrible injury problems we had in defence, we can be glad that deposed skipper William Gallas was restored to the lineup. Almost as concerning – if not more – were the injury problems out wide. We lined up with four central midfielders across the park, and had Diaby been fit it could well have been five. After a bad spell of games, Nicklas Bendtner was taken out of the firing line and replaced by Mexican superstar Carlos Vela. A wise choice as Vela’s movement was bound to bring something different to our rather static attack on Saturday. For Bendtner too, I’m sure he appreciated being away from the glaring eye of the disgruntled Arsenal fan. While he will be the first to concede that his recent form has been patchy (at best), the way he has been singled out and scapegoated has been a tad unfair.

Despite filling the round holes with square pegs, one of them started very brightly. Aaron Ramsey out on the right look sharp and alert and nearly opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a cute flick at the near post. Indeed, the entire team looked less sluggish than the previous two games.

With Ramsey and Vela in the lineup, the side had even more of a youthful exuberance (if that were possible). Our passing was crisper and quicker, although we didn’t create any clear cut chances. The two combined just before the half-hour to nearly put us in front as Vela’s searching cross flew all the way to the back post, where the young Welshman was steaming in but snatched his shot under pressure.

That’s not to say it was all Arsenal, as a neat passing move by the Ukrainians around the edge of the area that saw Aliiev get a shot away which Almunia gratefully dived on. Minutes later the goalmouth action was up the other as Robin van Persie burst into life and twisted and turned before having his shot blocked by Bogush in the Kiev goal, much unbeknownst to the keeper himself.

With the eyes of the world on Cesc Fabregas in his first outing as captain of the Club, many were also keenly following the fortunes of the man he replaced. William Gallas was in the thick of the action in the first period, be it good or bad. The good was when he made a nuisance of himself early on and nearly connected with a dangerous v.Persie free-kick (a feat his mate Silvestre repeated later). The bad came with 37 minutes gone. Having seemingly mopped up near the touchline, he slipped and let in Bangoura, who advanced and clipped the outside of the post with his shot. A massive let-off; had that gone in then I’m sure poor Willy would have wanted the earth to open up and swallow him.

But he didn’t let it get him down and in injury time had the ball in the net as he stayed upfield following a corner being cleared, but to his dismay, the linesman correctly adjudged him to be offside.

Even after the restart Gallas was immediately involved, this time managing to block a v.Persie effort two-yards from goal. Whether or not the Dutchman’s scrambled effort was going in is another matter – but I’m sure it can’t have done relations between the two any good.

After a bright opening five minutes to the second-half, our performance dipped. Unsurprisingly, Kiev came into the game more and Bangoura fired a warning shot from twenty-yards that sailed harmlessly wide. Then Aliiev had a pop which was gathered at the second attempt by Manuel.

Our midfield was crying out for some pace and inventiveness. Song had looked solid defensively in the first-half but when we needed to up our tempo attacking-wise, he was found wanting. That’s not a criticism of the lad, just a fact. He will look better in a midfield with the likes of Nasri and Rosicky. Denilson too looked uncomfortable out on the left and on many occasions was one-on-one with the full-back but did not have the speed to get past him. And with the midfield failing to dominate, the movement of Vela was never going to bear fruit. But you can’t keep a good man down for long and on the hour the Mexican had a very speculative effort at the near post that Bogush tipped wide for a corner.

The game then fell into a lull for the next twenty minutes, with the only piece of action to stoke the crowd’s fire being when Aliiev, the cheating cunt, writhed around on the floor ‘injured’ as we attacked, yet when Kiev won possession and broke, he completed a miraculous recovery and sped forward. He would get his comeuppance later on.

With fifteen minutes left and Bendtner already on for the increasingly impressive Ramsey, the big moment for the Emirates faithful arrived when Jack Wilshere came on to become the youngest ever Arsenal player in Europe. That he came on for Vela raised a few eyebrows, but the pragmatic Gooner would have realised that with a 0-0 draw sufficing, there was no need to go hell for leather.

Yet before Jack had a chance to make an impact, Kiev could/should have scored. Lax play at the back saw Milevskyy played in, but his shot was saved from point-blank range by the onrushing Almunia. Having saved us so many times away in Fenerbahce, the Spanglish keeper was once again to the rescue here.

Jack finally got the ball and was involved in a move that saw Cesc thread the ball through for v.Persie down the left flank, but his low cross narrowly evaded Bendtner in the six-yard box. Yet even with the game become ever more stretched, one never sensed that a goal was coming. That is, until the 85th minute. Eerily reminiscent of Aston Villa’s first goal a few weeks ago when Sagna was down injured and Ashley Young took advantage of the gaping hole at the back, this time it was Djourou’s turn to be on the floor as Kiev approached the Arsenal goal. A stunning tackle by Gallas in the box avoided a similar outcome, and eventually the ball was played out. The referee restarted the game with a drop ball and Cesc pounced, sending a raking ball over the top for Bendtner to latch on to. The Dane controlled it (with a hint of handball?) before firing it past Bogush at the near post with a flash of his pink boot. You could tell it meant a lot to him as he bared his torso to celebrate in front of the same fans that a mere three days earlier had been baying for his blood. I’m sure the booking he picked up in the process was well worth it.

Game over. Or so you thought. With a scoreless draw being enough to see us through, it would have been classic Arsenal to grab a late goal before conceding an even later one. And there was more than a smidgen of nervousness in the air as Kiev lined up a free-kick forty yards out. Crazily before it was taken, Aliiev managed to irk the referee, who brandished a red card at the cheating cunt. With their heads gone, the set piece was shepherded out by Almunia. Job done.

Like I say, not the greatest of performances, but a classic result. Tony Adams was at the helm during the famous “1-0 to The Arsenal days”. A fitting way, therefore, for Cesc to start his reign.