So many optimism before the game, so many positive comments on our young players coming of age. But we had to wait for today to judge and unfortunately, many will be asking the same questions which were asked last season.

Until the 60th minute, you can say we didn't deserve to lose as we could have easily been 0-2 up, but if Almunia decides to kill all the good that was done since then, I'm afraid questions should be asked on our players and not on the referee or Rooney.

Tactics

Well Arsene Wenger seems keen on the 4-3-3 formation and its proving to be a new source of creativity for the young lads. They have more room to venture and take responsibilities as we saw in this game.

Song

Mesmerising throughout the game, played just in front of the back four and showed some good mature touches.

It's the first clean sheet of our Premiership season and it's a very comfortable win the one registered this afternoon at the Emirates, but unfortunately, there's still a question or two which will be asked in the coming days.

Many will ask how come Fabregas didn't celebrate the fourth goal, is it an injury or something else?

There is not much to say about this amazing start to the season. Three wins out of three, twelve goals scored and players who were not convincing last season seem to have turned into true champions. Of course, the tough ones are yet to come, but so far, so good from the Gunners.

I am still not entirely convinced by the forward line, seems as if they are not clicking the way they want to, but I will expand on that tomorrow in my day after thoughts since as always, I will just limit myself to player ratings for now.

The Game Finally! There was a moment where I thought this was going to end 1-1 but the lads were brave enough to hold on and glad to see the strikers helping out in defence when we ...

Manchester City away from home last season was when we really hit the bottom and you would expect to see changes and lessons learned after that.

Unfortunately, not for us. Same old players, same old mistakes, same old tactics and same old players out of position. I wish I could say I don't know why Nicklas Bendtner, who clearly said he hates to play on the wing and did so well as a central striker for Denmark was played on the right, but I have the answer.

Lady luck is back, it seems. A lot of questions will be asked after last night's performance, starting with why on earth seven, eight, maybe more highly-paid professional footballers decide to approach a Champions League game with such an uninterested approach.

I don't know, it seemed many didn't want to travel to Belgium or maybe thought that wasting time against such a weak team was not in their plans.

Admit it. You never thought our season would kick off with such a scintillating display, or did you? I am of course thrilled for what we've witnessed this afternoon and I just don't know where to start from in terms of positive notes about the game.

As I have so much to say but don't want the article to be 25 pages long, I will limit myself to one comment and player ratings today as I will go deeper into the match in tomorrow's match-after thoughts.

The Game What we're witnessing this year is not much better than last season. We were 7 points from the top after defeating Chelsea in November 2008, we will be 8 points from the top if ...

The Game With Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott certain absentees, Arsenal face West Ham away from home hoping to close the gap at the top of the table. If you want, please do join the discussion in ...

The Game Was Diaby's injury a blessing in disguise? That's surely the question many are asking after seeing the Arsenal struggle for the first 10-20 minutes but come out and dominate after the introduction of Alex ...

Having won the first two games of the group, Arsenal will face AZ Alkmaar away from home and will be searching for a hat-trick of wins which would virtually guarantee them a place in the ...

The Game Third defeat away from the Emirates, not good for a team with our ambition. Arsene Wenger's solution to start with a very offensive midfield and Eduardo up front just didn't work out. Aaron Ramsey ...

As I was reflecting on the game yesterday evening, I so much kept on comparing this 1-2 away win with last season's win at Stamford Bridge with the same scoreline. That one was a game ...

It's the first Premiership game of the season and a must-win one considering our tough start to the new season. As always, thoughts and analysis about the first half will be posted in a couple of minutes time.

Kindly refresh the page for updates.

It's late, I'm tired so I apologise if I will be a bit short on my analysis today, I will of course expand tomorrow in my day-after thoughts. Well a win is a win, and when it's a 0-2 one away from home in the Champions League, it's a crucially important one.

Our forward line was disappointing, very disappointing and we should consider ourselves lucky to leave Celtic Park with two goals in the bag, not really for the fashion in which we scored but because indeed, Van Persie and Arshavin failed to produce magic tonight.

One of the comments I read when we drew Celtic was that if the Scottish side were playing in England, they would only be playing in the Championship. I thought that was disrespectful back then but from what I've seen in these two games, I'm afraid they are indeed very poor. Credit to their supporters though, they kept on cheering their side until the end, kudos to that.

The Game

Having lost their last two away games in the Premiership, Arsene Wenger's side will be looking to end the away negative run as they face Roy Hodgson's Fulham. And, with Chelsea losing away at Wigan, simply put, the Gunners cannot blow such a golden chance to close the gap at the top.

With Chelsea losing away at Wigan, we simply HAD to win this afternoon and so we did. It could have easily ended in a draw or worse if it wasn't for Vito Mannone, the Italian goalkeeper who many including myself thought he was there just to make numbers. Instead, he played full of confidence, excellent in leaving his goal and incredible in denying the home side.

The Game This will go down as our worst performance of the season. You just can't hang on and on and on like that, waiting for the final whistle, as when you do, you get punished. ...

The Game So many questions asked before the game, all of which will be answered in just a few minutes. Arsenal face Sunderland, away from home, with Robin van Persie, Gael Clichy, Kieran Gibbs and others ...

The Game Third defeat away from the Emirates, not good for a team with our ambition. Arsene Wenger's solution to start with a very offensive midfield and Eduardo up front just didn't work out. Aaron Ramsey ...

This game was a good test for the Arsenal team, especially to the first team players as Barnet played with a high tempo.

First let's start with the negative of the game. Remember not being too harsh on any of the players as this is the first pre season game.

Well Arsenal's new signing Vermaelen did not look to add any height in the team, he did seem to be quite short and so it proved when Barnet scored their first goal.

Arsenal's pre-season campaign ended with a disappointing 2-0 defeat away at Valencia and a lot of pending questions still waiting for an answer. It may have been "just a friendly game" but when this takes place just days before the kick-off of the official season, it makes more sense to file it as a "big game", just as Wenger described it.

I often start articles by showing my gratitude for the huge amount of visitors we get and today I'll do the same because I was contacted by William of World Sports Network to let us know that they picked our blog of all independent ones as their favourite. The list can be found here and my personal thank you goes to all those which make all this possible, readers and contributors.

Having secured qualification for the group stage of Champions League, we can now, yes, focus on Manchester United although I would like to first archive these two-days of Champions League football by sharing with you my thoughts on the game and the draw.

The dive, the dive, the dive

I can't believe UEFA will investigate Eduardo's dive, seriously.

Regardless how good or bad our opponents have been so far, regardless how good Arsenal's performances have been since the season started, nothing beats the drama of a Manchester United vs Arsenal game and with Alex Ferguson's side already losing a game, they will be more than determined to get all three points.

Last week I was away for four days and the timing for my trip was spot on as of course the Arsenal were not in action because of World Cup Qualifiers and friendlies. But, I can't say I didn't miss anything as there was plenty going on and below I will try to provide my thoughts on all the news on our beloved Arsenal.

The Game

Having lost 2-1 away at Manchester United, Arsenal face the other side of Manchester, Mark Hughes' team who according to many, may as well fight for one of the top four Premiership positions.

As for the line-ups, contrary to false rumours, captain Cesc Fabregas is fit to start but Tomas Rosicky is only the bench for the Arsenal, joined by Eduardo.

The Game

It's the first game of Arsenal's Carling Cup campaign. As always, Arsene Wenger opts to start with a young side although Philippe Senderos and Mikael Silvestre will provide experience at the back. Although on the bench, Carlos Vela makes his first appearance of the season after the Gold Cup injury and it's great news for the Gunners to have him back.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was not surprised by the impact of Mexican striker Carlos Vela on yesterday's game against West Brom in the Carling Cup.

On Vela's performance, the Frenchman said:

When he came on straight away he made a difference because he is dangerous in his control and in his movement.

The Game

How to describe a game which was so close to perfection and indeed confirming last Tuesday's performance just as I asked yesterday? I am the first to ask you people not to get carried away after a scintillating display and that's why I wanted to wait for today to see whether Fabregas and co.

The Game I apologise to all those who were in chat this afternoon, the website we use to provide it went down and so did the page apparently. I'll see if I can find a different ...

The Game Theo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky are all out injured for the Gunners who will be looking for their third consecutive Champions League win tonight. Onto the line-ups with Gael Clichy returning as ...

Well I have to admit yesterday was a horrible day which I want to forget as quickly as I can. I rarely go personal in my articles but first I was devastated to see my ...

The Game It sounds strange to introduce a Carling Cup game without mentioning Jack Wilshere and Carlos Vela. The two were surely looking forward to this "big" game, but injury forces them out. If you want, please ...

The Game I will not lie to you, dear friends, we got lucky. Liverpool should have killed us off in the first half, a shocking, depressing and negative first 45 minutes after which I told all those ...

I think by now you all heard that for today's game we have Denilson and Armand Traoré not available as they suffered injuries against Liverpool and in a way, there are question marks on who ...

Only months ago, I was one of the few who was criticising Wenger for sticking with the same squad over and over again rather than trying something new, and I was getting a lot of stick for that, with the main argument of those bashing me being that we were still in the Champions League and the future is bright as our players "are only 19 or only 20 or only 21″.

After yesterday's 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid, Arsenal are facing Glasgow Rangers in their attempt to win the 2009 Emirates Cup.

Half-time report to be published in a couple of minutes time. Kindly refresh the page for updates.