Arsenal 1 Portsmouth 0: Match Report & Player Ratings

Diaby made a couple of Patrick Vieira like tackles in the opening 4 minutes, which was encouraging.

By the 7th minute, Arsenal were already beginning to gain control of the match. Both teams pushed up, squeezing the midfield.

The atmosphere was tense, neither team looking particularly confident. In Portsmouth's case that was hardly surprising considering they arrived on the back of three straight defeats concluding in a 4-1 home thrashing by West Ham.

Arsenal needed width, and it took 20 minutes to arrive, a fine cross by Sagna requiring a firm clearing header from Marc Wilson.

On 23, a long ball flung in from wide right found the head of Peter Crouch, who beat Gallas all ends up to nod the ball down onto Arsenal's post. Almunia was also well beaten. A lucky escape perhaps.

By the 28th minute, Arsenal had still failed to test David James, and looked fragile to the counter attack despite Portsmouth's lack of forward pace.

Portsmouth slowly increased in confidence due to Arsenal overplaying in midfield and steamed forward on 31, but Diaby broke up play on and set Adebayor clean through. With Distin closing in Adebayor delayed allowing Sol Campbell to lunge in from behind and win the ball clean. Distin mopped up.

Should have been 1-0 Arsenal, Adebayor too hesitant, but it was a great recovery tackle from Campbell.

On 41, Nasri swapped roles with Bendtner - so Bendtner was now playing left wing?? Still, the cunning Nasri looked to be the likeliest chance of an opening, a powerful shot deflecting wide just before half time.

One minute into the second half, and James almost handed Arsenal a late Christmas present, ineffectively punching a corner straight to Silvestre whose tame header was nodded away by Portsmouth's rearguard.

On 52, Nasri  played Bendtner in centrally, but the 6'5-inch Dane went down under minimal contact. No free kick, he really has to do better.

By 57, Arsenal looked stale an unimaginative, Portsmouth looked organised - it seemed obvious that early substitutions would be required as the quality of Arsenal's football was pretty dire.

A sloppy Denilson pass set up a Portsmouth attack that was wasted, allowing Arsenal to counter. Nasri's pinpoint cross diverted from Adebayor's head by the impressive Sylvain Distin.

On 58, David James fumbled another Nasri cross, the ball dropping to Adebayor left side of goal. 10 yards out, and with the whole goal to aim at, but his strike was slashed into the side netting.

Vela replaced Eboue on 65, forcing Bendtner to change position - now wide right?? Surely Van Persie would be more effective there? Wenger thinks otherwise. Vela immediately fires a dangerous cross into the box, but Distin again clears.

An Arsenal corner on 68 finds Bendtner free in the box, but he headers tamely into a crowded area - the ball appearing to strike Papa Bouba Diop's hand - but purely accidental.

Vela is getting into the game more, whipping in another cross that James deals with well, then Ramsey appears for the anonymous Diaby.

Up the other end, a rare Portsmouth attacking forray results in a strong Nadir Belhadj strike dealt with comfortably by Almunia.

Going into the final 10 minutes, Arsenal are fully in control, with Nasri looking the most likely to break the deadlock and Vela giving Arsenal attacking impetus.

On 81, a free-kick wide left is crossed in by Denilson, James comes out to punch but Gallas gets there first nodding into an empty net. 1-0 Arsenal! David James pays the price for his third gaffe of the game. Arsenal gain the lead without having done much to earn it.

Can Arsenal hold on despite Portsmouth showing little attacking threat? Jermaine Defoe replaces the hard working David Nugent and switch to 4-4-2.

"There's only one Tony Adams" sings the Emirates crowd.

A brief scramble in the Arsenal box is frantically cleared in the 88th minute, and then Arsenal wisely - for once - use their brains and spend the remaining 6 or 7 minutes keeping the ball by the corner flag to record a 1-0 victory.

All in all, another unconvincing display from Arsenal. Had Adams been a little bolder he might have got something out of the game, but in light of recent results stuck with a 4-5-1 formation that was effective up until the 81st minute - largely due to Arsenal's lack of penetration and inability to string together convincing passing moves with any consistency.