Arsenal: Arsenal v Rosenborg

It's make-or-break night for Arsene Wenger's Gunners in tonight's final round of Champions League games.


Arsenal know they need to beat Rosenborg in order to guarantee qualification for the next stage of the UEFA Champions League.

The Norwegian side are rooted to the bottom of Group E but are promising to put up strong resistance at Highbury after earning a point from the game in Trondheim.

Arsene Wenger will start with Manuel Almunia in preference to Jens Lehmann in goal with Justin Hoyte and Mathieu Flamini filling in for suspended duo Lauren and captain Patrick Vieira.

Thierry Henry will skipper the side in Vieira's absence while the likes of Edu and Gilberto Silva are still sidelined.

Rosenborg have been travelling around London on the tube as they found it the most effective way of avoiding the busy London traffic.

Skysports

Arsenal




M Almunia, J Hoyte, S Campbell, K Toure, A Cole, R Pires, F Fabregas, M Flamini, J Reyes, D Bergkamp, T Henry
Subs: J Lehmann, F Ljungberg, R Van Persie, P Senderos, G Clichy, S Larsson, Q Owusu-Abeyie

Rosenborg




E Johnsen, F Winsnes, T Hansen, E Hoftun, S Stensaas, R Strand, F Johnsen, J Solli, D Braaten, T Helstad, H Brattbakk
Subs: I Ronningen, O Olsen, R Russell, P Skjelbred, O Storflor, C George, A Tettey

Ref: Stefano Farina

2mins 47 secs on the clock and Arsenal take the lead. Reyes takes it past two in the box and slots it home...

23 mins on the clock and Flamini flicks the ball over the top, Henry races on to it, beats the defender and lobbs the ball over the goalkeeper.

Arsenal 2-0....

Looks a stroll in the park so far for the Gunners!

28 mins gone and Pires lays the ball to Fabregas, he chests the ball and smashes into the net past the keeper. Great goal!!

Arsenal 3-0

Oh dear! How many more?

37 mins.. A freekick from Brattbakk into the box and Almunia flaps at it only for Hofton to turn it into the goal.

Arsenal 3-1...

Bad mistake by the Arsenal keeper. Looks like their goalkeeping troubles are not over with mistakes like that..

40 mins...Henry into the box and the Rosenborg keeper brings him down. Penatly taken by Pires who blasts it to the left of the keeper...

Arsenal 4-1

Hrmm didn't look like a penatly too me, the keeper was a bit unlucky...

Long Wait but....

83 mins..Reyes slots the ball through to Van Persie who guides it past the keeper!

Arseanl 5-1...

Thats how it ended up 5-1..

I watched the game and i must say it was pretty boring to be honest...

Originally posted by TRD
Thats how it ended up 5-1..

I watched the game and i must say it was pretty boring to be honest...

LOL....all that commentary for you to come out and say that in the end TRD. you scripted it like play that was really exciting

a good win for arsenal all the same and chelsea got beat, this will give arsenal confidence for the weekend big match. and chelsea well. am not sure how much this match meant to them as they already through

Hehe well it was boring, Rosenborg wasn't that good a side. No wonder they was bottom of the group.

Almunia the Arsenal keeper did a fantastic save right early on in the game and you would have though he would take confidence from it. But heh he never, he gradually got worse as the game went on. I wasn't that impressed with him and it looks like the Gunners will go shopping for a new keeper either in january or when the season ends....

Yep 5 goals should boost confidence but the Premier and Chelsea will be a totally different matter. Its a must win game for the Gooners...

how did the 2 new boys get on?

Arsene Wenger will start with Manuel Almunia in preference to Jens Lehmann in goal with Justin Hoyte and Mathieu Flamini filling in for suspended duo Lauren and captain Patrick Vieira.

where the good?

Hoyte had a solid enough game and Flamini look real class i was pretty impressed with him...

maybe if this flamini guy plays a few more good games, match practise etc it will save them signing som1 for midfiled cover

Yeah i would say so.

ohhh..

Marseille are still protesting against the midfielder's controversial switch to Highbury but the Frenchman is fully focused on the task in hand.

Skysports gave him a rating of 8 and they dont give out high marks too often lol!

Arsenal have won Champions League Group E after cruising to a 5-1 home victory over Rosenborg, with the Gunners sharing out the goals.

Arsene Wenger's men went into the Highbury clash against the Norwegians trailing leaders PSV Eindhoven by three points.

But the Dutch were thrashed 4-1 by Panathinaikos in Greece, allowing Arsenal to take top spot by virtue of their superior record in head-to-head clashes with PSV.

Jose Antonio Reyes opened the scoring after three minutes, taking advantage of sluggish Rosenborg defending, and Thierry Henry notched his 35th goal in 66 Champions League appearances when he lifted the ball beyond keeper Espen Johnsen on 24 minutes.

Five minutes later, Cesc Fabregas became the competition's second youngest-ever scorer when he netted after some sublime skill.

Manuel Almunia had earlier made a fine save to deny Harald Brattbakk but blotted his copybook when gifting a goal to Erik Hoftun (38) - though Robert Pires' penalty shortly before the break kept it comfortable for the home side.

The Gunners predictably took their foot off the gas after the restart, though Robin van Persie livened the game up when he came off the bench to grab his first Arsenal goal in Europe from close range on 84 minutes.

The draw for the knock-out stage takes place on Friday 17 December, and Arsenal head into Sunday's crunch Premiership clash against Chelsea with their old swagger back.

Sportinglife