Welcome back to the blog! Porto: Arsenal secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last week for the first time in fourteen years, beating Porto via penalty shoot-out after the teams were tied 1-1 on aggregate after both legs. It was a late and tense night for fans at the Emirates Stadium. But ultimately the job was done, and we are now one of eight teams left in the competition. It’s something we’ve been waiting for a while to say, and will face German giants Bayern Munich (surprise surprise) in the next round. A mouth-watering tie, but more on that to come.. It was another frustrating 90 minutes (and then some) of football. Porto continued their game-plan to frustrate and limit us to playing as little football as we possible could. Now the dust has settled and the emotion subsided, I have to say that - as frustrating as it was - the Portuguese outfit came with a plan and executed it for most of the match. They didn’t let us play our usual game, limiting our chances, time-wasting and not allowing us to get a real foothold on the game. Sure there were moments where we exerted pressure, but it wasn’t the same level of sustained pressure we’ve come to see from this team recently. Arsenal needed a player to grab this one by the scruff of its neck - cue the captain Martin Ødegaard. His work rate high up the pitch to win back possession was followed by a moment of genius - a slick drag back and a lovely pass into the feet of Trossard who made no mistake with the finish. The Gunners went 1-0 up on the night, levelling the score on aggregate. Trossard hadn’t been having his best performance up until then but he certainly pulled out an excellent finish to curl the ball past Costa in the Porto goal. A massive goal. Not just in terms of the scoreline, but belief within the ground as well. The crowd sounded immense at times in that first-half (and through-out the game), but Porto had done well to curtail the noise we heard circling within the ground at the beginning of the match. The goal injected fresh noise and belief - not just in the stands but in the team as well, and we started the second half pretty well. Arsenal should have had a second goal shortly after the restart, in fact we had scored - Ødegaard was running into the corner to celebrate after stroking the ball home into an empty net, some applied pressure from Havertz instigated miscommunication and a mistake between Pepe and Costa at the back. The referee, and incidentally the VAR panel, had other ideas however. The goal was quickly ruled out after the softest of fouls was deemed to have been committed by Havertz in the build up. No goal for the captain, and we were still level on aggregate. Moments later we had another big opportunity when Ødegaard should have scored, shooting just wide of a gaping net. From then on in the game became quite scrappy and nervous. Jesus came on and almost scored from his first touch, but apart from that there were not many chances and the game seemed destined for penalties. I can't write put my finger on why, but I always felt confident should we end up deciding the round on penalties that we would go through. Shooting first and in front of the North Bank was instrumental, the fans got right behind the team, doing their best to be as off putting as possible when the Porto players stepped up. A shout-out to the fans inside the Emirates who did a great job in creating an amazing atmosphere on the night. In the end, David Raya was the hero with two huge saves.There seemed to be no doubt about any of the Arsenal penalty takers however, each player expertly converting form the spot. Raya’s second save sealed the win and sent Arsenal fans (including myself watching at home) into a frenzy. A huge win and huge relief. A really tense evening that would not have been good for the hearts of many supporters - certainly mine at least - but these are also the nights that we have craved for - big European games with everything to play for. On a side note, I thought the refereeing was atrocious throughout the two legs. I could write a whole piece on how poor the officiating was in this game, but to be honest I cannot be bothered. Arsenal won, and that’s all that matters. Moving onto Bayern Munich in the next round then (of course it would be either them or Barcelona). There will be more specifically on that closer to the first leg at the Emirates. In many of the seasons gone they've had our number but I think the two teams are in different places now and it will be a close tie in which Arsenal do have a real chance in progressing. We saw Porto deplore all the old tricks of European football, but I think with Bayern it will be more of a case of two teams trying to beat one another by playing actual football - which will suit us a lot more than the style of Porto. Brentford: Prior to the Porto game we had another tense affair versus Brentford in the Premier League. After everything that happened in the Champions League this seems like an age ago, but it was a vitally important win in the context of the title race with both Liverpool and City dropping points to each other later in the weekend. It meant with their 2-1 win over Brentford that the Gunners are top of the table. I will try to keep this as succinct as possible as this could be a whole post in itself. Overall Arsenal undoubtedly deserved the three points in this one. The first half was absolutely dominated by the Gunners, Declan Rice adding another goal to his tally with a superb header to put Arsenal ahead. Just as it looked like Arsenal were going into half-time with a one goal lead, Aaron Ramsdale (in the team to replace the ineligible Raya) was caught taking too long with a clearance. Brentford’s Yoane Wissa came charging in and managed to block Ramsdale’s clearance, the ball subsequently ricocheting into the back of the net, and Brentford had equalized on the stroke of half-time. It was horror moment for Ramsdale, with much of the focus on how he would perform surrounding this match due to the goalkeeping saga that hovered over us earlier in the season. I have to say that I personally felt really sorry for him. Of course it was a huge error, but it just seemed so typical and summarized what has been a tough tough season thus far for the England international. In fairness to Ramsdale he didn’t let it effect the rest of his game. His head could have dropped but he kept going and was instrumental in us getting the win, pulling off two massive saves in the second half to prevent Brentford taking the lead. The west London team continued to be resilient and hard to break down in the second-half with something now to hold on to. However, the last fifteen minutes Arsenal really turned the screw and eventually we found the back of the net, Kai Havertz heading in the winner from a Ben White cross. Obviously there’s been all the chat regarding whether Havertz should or should not have been on the pitch. To be honest (and yes I am biased) I do think it would have been harsh had he been shown a second yellow for diving earlier in the game. It was an incident where there was contact - albeit minimal - with the Brentford defender. Even though it wasn’t enough for a penalty, there was still contact. In the current football climate players go down if that happens, especially in the penalty area. Yes you might not agree with it, and yes it would have been soft - but it doesn't mean it’s a dive necessarily. Moreover, Arsenal should have had two penalties that weren't given when Trossard, and later Gabriel, were bth pulled down in the box. So, all-in-all, I do not think Brentford can have anything to complain about. Alright, I have been rambling on far too long. We have an international break coming up so we can all take a deep breath and then prepare the nerves for an almightily important clash away to Manchester City when Primer League football resumes at the end of the March. That is going to a hugely important game for us, obviously there be more on that later. There will also be a podcast up this week. Thanks as always for reading, Oli