Arsenal Whomp Sorry Porto 4-0 : The Emotional Rollercoaster Continues

Welcome to the emotional rollercoaster that is Arsenal F.C. 

After disappointing fans with an average performance culminating in the shock loss to Hull in the Premiership on Saturday,  Arsenal were back at their scintillating best tonight against F.C. Porto.

The Gunners named an almost unchanged line-up from the Hull City game, the only change to the starting 11 was Samir Nasri coming in for Emmanuel Eboue on the left hand side.

Nearly 60,000 fans were at the Emirates to watch the game between Arsenal and Porto.

Porto went with a fairly defensive line-up, playing what seemed like a back seven for most of the first half.

Arsenal started brightly and, bar one or two Porto counter attacks that went close, controlled the first half with 65% possession.

Nasri, Walcott, Fabregas, van Persie and Adebayor all looked good going forward in stark contrast to the game at the weekend.

After half an hour and still no goal, this Arsenal fan was b3ecoming a little concerned that we would not be able to turn possession into goals, that was until Adebayor broke through and cut the ball back to Robin van Persie to slot home in the 31st minute.

A brilliant Arsenal move which was well converted by van Persie. 1 - 0 to the Arsenal.

Unlike recent games, Arsenal kept up the pressure after scoring the first and Adebayor scored Arsenals second, beating his marker and guiding a header into the ground that bounced over the keeper and defender on the line in the 40th minute. 2 - 0 to the Arsenal.

Arsenal were just as good in the second half, controlling possession and creating all of the chances.

Robin van Persie scored just three minutes into the second half with the outside of his right boot to beat the Porto keeper and make it 3 - 0 to the Arsenal.

Van Persie and Nasri were substituted for Bendtner and Eboue in the 63rd minute and Arsenal seemed to hardly break stride, if anything they were a little wasteful in front of goal with Walcott, Nasri, Adebayor, and Eboue all missing from about 6 yards out in the second half.

Then on 69 minutes, Bendtner was felled in the box and Adebayor duly converted the resulting penalty to make it 4 - 0 to the Arsenal.

It was one of those nights where Arsenal could have scored 10 if they were a little more steady in front of the goals. 

The Porto keeper Helton was poor and the Porto defence were all at sea, Arsenal players breaking through seemingly at will.

Carlos Vela came on for Theo Walcott in the 71st minute and cut apart the Porto defence with a sublime run which Bendtner failed to convert.  Even Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice were laughing on the Arsenal bench, a sight you don't see too often.

Party mode was on for the last 10 minutes with Eboue doing his best impression of Cristiano Ronaldo via a string of stepovers.....unfortunately the Ivoirian midfielder couldn't follow it up with a goal.

You may notice that I have hardly mentioned Porto in this recap, that is purely because, apart from a sublime strike by Lisandro early in the first half, they were rarely in the game.

All in all it was a brilliant performance from this Arsenal side and hopefully one which will again silence the nay-sayers and the doubters in the media.

Whilst this victory does not necessarily mean that Arsenal have fixed all of their problems, it does reinforce what this side is capable of when they are in form.

This side have a bright future, there is no doubt about it....