"Champions of England; Champions of Europe" - Could this be Arsenal fans' new chant?

By Rob Burnett in

Published 11:23 10/03/10

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"Champions of England; Champions of Europe."

A Manchester United chant, of course, but the 60,000 leaving the Emirates last night with smiles as wide as the Holloway Road were not the only ones wondering if Arsenal could pull off one of the great seasons of all-time, just weeks after they looked abject, bedraggled and fighting for respectability.

Admittedly, it helped that Porto were powder-puff opponents, okay-ish on the ball until they got within 30 yards of the Arsenal goal but a disaster waiting to happen at the other end.

But Arsene Wenger's side still destroyed them, creating chance after chance, passing the ball with such effortless ease, always finding the extra man.

And that, remember, was without skipper Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and the possibly soon to return Robin Van Persie.

Nicklas' Bendtner's self-reinvention from gormless geezer to Great Dane captured the attention, even if his hat-trick boiled down to two tap-ins to find vacant nets and a penalty from virtually the last kick of a long-dead game.

Even so, Bendtner was in the right place and did not flinch from the task at hand, putting his Burnley debacle behind him in the space of 90 minutes.

Of course the highlight was rightly Samir Nasri's stunning dribble for the third goal that killed the Portuguese off just as they started to hint at a comeback.

The comparisons with Archie Gemmill for Scotland against Holland in the 1978 World Cup, and Ricardo Villa's FA Cup-winning effort for Spurs to beat Manchester City in 1981 were valid and understandable.

Yet perhaps more enjoyable for Wenger would have been the fourth, created by the outstanding Andriy Arshavin, and finished with surprisingly dextrous simplicity by Emmanuel Eboue.

When Arsenal were at their best under Wenger, at the start of the decade, they seemed never more dangerous than when defending a corner.

Once the ball was cleared, it left wide open spaces for Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg to exploit with their devastating pace.

Over the past couple of seasons, those have been the goals Arsenal have conceded, not scored.

Think of Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in last season's Champions League semi-final, Wayne Rooney's effort at the Emirates a few weeks ago, and Didier Drogba breakaway second for Chelsea seven days later.

Yet as Arshavin led the assault and Eboue completed it, Arsenal demonstrated some of that Wenger blueprint remains embedded in the collective DNA of the club.

There are still fundamental weaknesses, the biggest one being the mentality of Wenger's side.

Were they able to play the rest of the domestic season in a bubble, unaware of events elsewhere, they would surely win them all, in all probability enough to outlast Chelsea and United and win the title.

But you can't. You have to win games knowing the importance, knowing what your rivals have done, knowing the pressure and heat is on.

That is where the doubts over Arsenal will persist until they can show the courage required to be able to play their own game despite the expectations and demands.

In terms of personnel, too, the Gunners are vulnerable.

Sol Campbell is revelling in his second Arsenal coming but at times against Porto he creaked and swayed - and there are be far more testing opponents to come than Falcao and the "Invisible" Hulk.

Manuel Almunia, also, will never be more than a barely-adequate goalkeeper, nowhere near the class of David Seaman or Jens Lehmann, a long way behind Edwin Van Der Sar and Petr Cech.

The physical frailties of Arsenal's mini-men is also an issue. Nasri, Arshavin, Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott all have talent but have suffered more than their fair share of injuries - and Wenger needs everybody fit and firing for the run-in.

But when you can play with the cutting-edge elegance Arsenal displayed on Tuesday night, then it can make the problems disappear.

Wenger knows that, for all the problems, the up and downs the roller-coaster season has brought since August, it will be the next two months that will define what this Arsenal side really is.

They are, at this moment, a maximum 14 games from Judgement Day.

The bookies still say it will not happen, that the weaknesses and limitations will be exposed, that Chelsea or United will conquer at home and are more likely to do so in Europe too.

But Arsenal, written off so many times, are already in the last eight of the Champions League, have the momentum and, with the horror injury sustained by Aaron Ramsey, have an additional cause to rally them. 

Champions of England? Perhaps. Champions of Europe? Maybe. But you can't say "No" to either of them and that tells you everything.

Bendtner: 'We can win the Champions League'

Arsenal 5-0 FC Porto: Daily Mirror match report  

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