George Clooney Prevents Arsenal Goal Rout

I was so confident of a big Arsenal victory that I wrote in my preview: "So when Wenger sits with a straight face saying it will be a tough match; then remember the only tough thing about the game will be getting his team to take Olympiacos seriously, and that can be tougher than you think."

I also predicted a 5-0 victory to Arsenal on the AT prediction league, which wasn't that brave as the Greeks have an appalling record in England. It is now 29 conceded in 9 games, and one scored.

However, what I should have wrote is that the only tough thing would be getting the ball past George Clooney lookalike Nikopolidis. In the first half Arsenal had at least 7 shots on target and the Greek keeper managed to stop them all. Some of it was poor shooting, Rosicky is still a little rusty, but Arsenal had a great first half but with nothing to show for it.

It made the crowd feel a bit edgy in the second half, but that didn't stop them appreciating the silky skills of Arshavin.

It took substitutions to settle it, when Eduardo was joined by Vela, Robin van Winkle finally woke up and put away Eduardo's perfect cross. Eight minutes later Arshavin back flicked the ball into the net, a cheeky goal by the player of the match. The crowd loved it and cheered him to the echo. Meanwhile Clooney went off grumbling about Dapper Dans'.

Wenger hailed a mature performance, but I could have done with some mature shooting instead of some of the powder puff shots straight at the keeper, nonetheless let's give Clooney his due.