Auxerre - 0 Arsenal - 1The performance may have been far less flamboyant than at PSV Eindhoven a week earlier but a second successive away win in Group A featuring another goal from Gilberto Silva took Arsenal to within touching distance of the second group stage last night.
The Brazilian's strike early in the second half was enough to see off an Auxerre side who barely tested David Seaman but struck the bar through Benjani eight minutes from the end. Arsenal's display was solid and composed rather than eye-catching but, after going last season without a clean sheet in the Champions League, three shut-outs in a row are an excellent sign.
Manager Arsene Wenger's talk of Arsenal's "total football" after Saturday's 4-1 win at Leeds had only added to the hype surrounding the club but the Frenchman made clear before kick-off he saw no danger of the incessant praise affecting his players.
"I'm not scared at all that it goes to their head," he said. "I think it's important they get praise when they deserve it. They know it's very fragile and they have to repeat it again and again. But I'm convinced my team wants more."
Wenger had sprung a minor surprise by sticking with Kolo Toure at left midfield at the expense of Freddie Ljungberg, who had been rested at Elland Road. Otherwise, with Dennis Bergkamp and Martin Keown still injured, this is was an expected Arsenal starting XI.
Arsenal were straight on the offensive, albeit without such spectacular results in a generally sterile first half. Neither goalkeeper was forced into a testing save before the interval.
A couple of early Arsenal attacks, both with Thierry Henry prominent, demonstrated the danger Wenger's team can pose. Yet Auxerre were far from overrun in the early stages, showing some neat passing touches and occasional spells of pressure without managing a direct threat on Seaman's goal. But with Auxerre needing a win after taking only one point from their opening two matches, they were not intent on all-out defence.
The longer the half wore on the more possession Arsenal enjoyed and the more control they exerted - at least until Auxerre threatened briefly just before the interval - but they were not at their most fluent.
Yet there was plenty to admire in Arsenal's early defending, with Sol Campbell looking solid and Pascal Cygan again standing up well beside him. In front of the back four Patrick Vieira made important challenges and interceptions.
Without the France striker Djibril Cisse in their attack, Auxerre were clearly missing something.
Wenger asked Sylvain Wiltord and Toure to switch flanks in an effort to bring greater spark to Arsenal's play but the lightning counter-attacks which mark their best efforts were missing. Henry was quiet by his standards and had a free-kick easily saved by Fabien Cool.
Inside the first three minutes of the second half Arsenal had the lead from one of their fine breaks. Toure's run down the left was key, the Ivory Coast player passing in to Wiltord, whose touch found Gilberto Silva running into the area to shoot across Cool.
The sharpness which has seen Arsenal score in 47 straight league games was shown again, with Gilberto Silva offering more evidence that, despite his image as a steady midfielder, he can burst forward to good effect.
Wenger brought on Jermaine Pennant for Henry, who had needed treatment, and Arsenal seemed in little danger of conceding against an Auxerre side whose efforts to force their way back into the match were producing little.
AUXERRE Cool, Jaures, Mexes, Boumsong, Radet, Fadiga, Faye, Tainio (Sirieix 90), Lachuer (Gonzales 73), Mwaruwari, Kapo Obou. Subs Not Used: Hamel, Agboh, Grichting, Vandenbosshe, Doumbe. Booked: Jaures.
ARSENAL: Seaman, Cole, Cygan, Campbell, Lauren, Toure (Edu 60), Silva, Vieira, Wiltord (Luzhny 83), Kanu, Henry (Pennant 58). Subs Not Used: Taylor, Ljungberg, Jeffers, Stepanovs. Goals: Silva 47.
Referee: F De Bleckere (Belgium).
