CHAMPIONS LEAGUEArsenal showed they may be better adapted to Champions League than to the grind of the Premier League

THE FOREBODING always lay with Milan. As Champions League holders they had everything to lose and the draw for the last 16 presented them with a composite of everything a long-established team fear. Arsenal are young, fast and, worst of all for Milan, they have the technique to keep the ball and make older opponents exhaust themselves by chasing it.

There was no coincidence in the fact that the two goals for the visitors came in the last six minutes. The Serie A club were spent by then, even though Arsenal ought also to have scored when Carlo Ancelotti's players were comparatively fresh. A programme of rebuilding is now mandatory for Milan and it will be all the harder to complete because they have spent so long putting off the day when the challenge would have to be faced.

Arsene Wenger is not so much open to change as devoted to it. This win reminded him of another triumph at the same stage of the competition two years ago, when Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg. Even he, however, may have lost track of just how many alterations have taken place even since that night.

Of the starting line-up then, only Emmanuel Eboue, Philippe Senderos, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb were also in the XI picked for San Siro. The exercise has involved much more than switching a few faces. In Madrid, for instance, Flamini had been at full back. In Milan, he was at the centre of things, literally and figuratively.

After the victory, Wenger emphasised that it had been vital not to drop back and Flamini was quick to harass Milan before they had properly begun to develop moves. This is the current interpretation of the holding midfielder's mission and it is in complete contrast to the style of the deep-lying Gilberto Silva, who did appear against Real in 2006.

Not even Wenger can commit himself to so much re-engineering while safeguarding the club's status completely. Arsenal have won nothing since the 2005 FA Cup and their prospects in the Premier League this season are in the balance, with a one-point lead offset by the fact that they have still to go to Chelsea and Manchester United.

The win over Milan did indicate, nonetheless, that outstanding performances by the club this season will not all be confined to the first half of the programme. Judging by the response from the squad to a special occasion on Tuesday it might be that Arsenal will prove better adapted to the Champions League than to the grind of the Premier League. Sunday's match at Wigan will show whether the team can cope with a jarring switch of milieu.

Arsenal, all the same, have been more resourceful than was expected. They barely faltered when players left for the African Cup of Nations and perhaps the squad have looked hapless just once. In the FA Cup-tie at Old Trafford, the mere absence of the usual full backs was more than the team could cope with and Arsenal shrank from the contest with United.

San Siro, though, showed them in a far more attractive light. They may have conceded four goals to United, but Milan could not breach them across the whole span of the Champions League tie. Ancelotti's team did not even seem likely to score, despite flurries at the start. A routine save from an Andrea Pirlo free-kick was just about the sternest task set Manuel Almunia.

There was good protection for the goalkeeper and Senderos, in particular, was resilient. He contributed as well to that clean sheet in the Bernabeu, encouraging the idea held in some quarters that he is more suited to the elite nature of the Champions League than to the hurly-burly of the domestic game.

It is too early, nevertheless, to make binding judgments about most Arsenal players. The average age of Wenger's line-up on Tuesday was 24 and a half, whereas the figure for Milan was slightly over 30. One Arsenal youngster had both vitality and a judiciousness that would not have been out of place in the greybeard ranks of the Serie A club.

After a lull, Fabregas (20) was back at peak form and set the tone of the match from central midfield.

There can still be quibbles about Arsenal's limited options in specific areas but, no matter what happens, this season is one of great progress on several fronts. A year ago Arsenal were permitting themselves to be knocked out of the Champions League by a moderate PSV Eindhoven.

At the very least, they go into the remainder of the tournament as a side who will ask searching questions of rivals rather than nursing doubts about themselves.