At the moment he is playing under such a huge pressure that he is not himself

“At the moment he is playing under such a huge pressure that he is not himself.” Which begs the question: can he handle it? Wenger deemed this harsh also and, in the context of such a rout, that was true. But even he prefaced his verdict by talking of this game in conjunction with Sunday’s and he leaves himself open to another prolonged selection debate. In the end, they simply equalled their best European Cup score, which came last season in the San Siro, no less, against Internazionale.As an indicator for Sunday’s Premiership encounter with Chelsea this contest provided little, however. Four quick-fire first-half goals against a plainly demotivated opposition soothed the nerves and if Arsenal had continued at full throttle they would have recorded their biggest win in European competition, eclipsing the seven goals they knocked past Standard Li? a decade ago.

Normally the Norwegians only present the capital with a Christmas tree at this time of year. Here it was a present worth £10m, which is what a relieved Arsenal will accrue from reaching the knock-out stages.
With Panathinaikos beating PSV Eindhoven, Arsenal had the satisfaction of winning Group E having gone into the evening fretting over whether they would simply qualify. After arriving in London early to combine the Champions’ League with shopping, Rosenborg leave later today having also gift-wrapped Arsenal’s passage into the last 16 of the competition. His assistant at Fratton Park, Jim Smith, is likely to go with him, while the present incumbent, Steve Wigley, may stay on as youth team manager..

Frank Lampard is currently the second best player in the Premiership according to statistics after his dominant performance in Chelsea’s 4-0 demolition of Newcastle on Saturday. Early yesterday, everything seemed clear: Glenn Hoddle was planning to take his former job at Southampton, while Harry Redknapp, having recently vacated Portsmouth, was looking forward to a break from the game.
Instead, Hoddle was unveiled as the new manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Redknapp was in talks to take over at St Mary’s Stadium – a move unlikely to endear him to Portsmouth fans.Hoddle, out of the game since being sacked by Spurs last year, has signed a deal taking him up to the end of the season, with the task of taking Wolves out of the lower reaches of the Championship and into the Premiership. His intentions towards the Saints changed when he heard Redknapp was also being sounded out for the job.Redknapp was himself a target for Wolves but prefers to stay down south. A B de Villiers, an opening batsman, and Dale Steyn, a fast bowler, are the only two members who did not take part in the tour of India.England (v N Oppenheimer XI, Johannesburg, today): M E Trescothick (capt), R W T Key, M A Butcher, G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, P D Collingwood, C M W Read (wkt), G J Batty, S P Jones, M J Hoggard, S J Harmison.South Africa (Squad for first Test, Port Elizabeth, starts 17 Dec): G C Smith (capt), N Boje, H M Amla, Z de Bruyn, A B de Villiers, H H Dippenaar, A J Hall, J H Kallis, M Ntini, S M Pollock, J A Rudolph, D W Steyn, T L Tsolelike (wkt)..

The West Indies and New Zealand have, and hopefully South Africa will – come a fortnight’s time.”In order to get himself fit for this gruelling 10-week tour Harmison has gone through the same routine as last winter and trained regularly with his beloved Newcastle United. When Harmison first turned up at St James’ Park he admitted that several of the players looked at him and wondered, “Who the hell is he?” But now after a year in the headlines their attitude has changed.”This time you could see they had taken an interest in what had taken place in the West Indies and throughout the summer,” Harmison said. “Graeme Souness [the Newcastle manager] is not someone who enjoys cricket because he is a Scotsman but when I left even he shook my hand, wished me luck and wished England well.”In a country where fast bowlers are expected to win matches, Harmison will have a significant effect on the way this five-Test series swings. But Harmison, like the seven other members of England’s squad who did not go to Namibia and Zimbabwe, desperately needs some cricket, and this is reflected in the team named for today’s opening match. Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones played in all England’s one-day games and are rested against the Nicky Oppenheimer XI.In South Africa’s Test squad there were two notable omissions.