Arsenal 2 -0 Montpellier - We're Through Again!

Whatever people think about Arsene Wenger and the current lack of trophies at the club you can't deny our fantastic achievements when it comes to getting into the Champions League and getting out of our group. This is the 13th year in a row that we've gone through from the group stages and although it's likely we will get knocked out in the later stages it's still a remarkable achievement. Just look at Man Utd and Man City last year and Chelsea who are on the brink of elimination this year along with Man City once again going out of the group stages whilst the Arsenal march on.

We knew a win for us and Schalke would put us through and we got what we wanted. The game wasn't as straightforward at times as we would like but overall it was a lovely routine win and a clean sheet. We didn't have to play great but we did enough. Montpellier had a lot of the ball, especially in the first half but they never really looked like causing us any trouble. I can barely recall them making a shot on target.

The first half was really sloppy by our standards. We gave the ball away so many times it was a bit frustrating. Despite our lackluster first half we were the ones who came closest to scoring. Vermaelen put in a cross from the left hand side which Koscielny headed against the bar. Just moments later our other centre back, Per Mertesacker picked the ball up outside the box and danced past a couple of players before eventually being tackled before he could get a shot away. Podolski had a couple of shots that went just wide but he was clearly warming up for something more special...

We took the lead early on in the first half. Vermaelen sent a cross into the box for Giroud to header down into the path of Jack Wilshere who scored his first goal since his injury. It was a lovely little finish from close range and no more than the boy deserves, he's been excellent so far. We stepped up a gear after that and managed to score again. This one was special. My usual goal celebration is 'GET IN!' but this one made me say 'What a goal!. Good work by Oxlade-Chamberlain on the edge of the box resulted in the ball falling to Giroud who dinked the ball over the defense to Lukas Podolski to volley in with his left foot. It really was a fantastic finish.


Giroud had a chance to score against his old club when his shot was saved but he had to settle for his two assists on the night. The Frenchman is really looking like a fine addition to this team and we seem to playing more to his strengths. His hold up play, cushioned headers etc. is what you need from a traditional 'number 9' which we are seeing more of and he's also good defensively when needed to. Podolski is showing us why Wenger signed him and from being a side who looked like we couldn't score a couple of months ago we now have a very tasty looking strike force. We also now have Gervinho back and it will be interesting to see if he can get back into our front three. It will be tough for him.

So we're through to the next round. Top of the group is out of our hands but Wenger said he wants to go for it. Personally I don't really care. If you want to win this competition you have to beat the best so sometimes getting them sooner rather than later might be a good thing.