That should be that.

Jeez that was a sharp finish. Using the other leg at the very last moment when I thought the chance was gone. A lot more life and getting some decent balls across in this half. So basically most of these players were not good enough the other night. At least they are trying.

???

Mari is a ‘project’.

Bot malfunction

I like the look of him.

It’s encouraging that he is vocally organising his fellow defenders.

According to Jermaine Jenas Portsmouth didn’t get the reward that they deserved in the first half hour.

I would disagree. Given that they had zero shots on target they got exactly what they deserved.

In fact they’ve still not had a shot on target.

He can jog on.

Jermaine Penus is such a wally. You’d have thought Pompey were bombarding us the way he was carrying on

That was great from Saka

Thoughts on Mari? Looks composed and comfortable but it is Portsmouth.

A good start, as you say though not very demanding opposition.

Was there no other player available than Xhaka to come on. Maybe a young player for a few minutes. I shake my head

Pépé ?

We’re all desperately hoping that there’s a quality centre back there. We sure need one.

We just to miss that bit of guile to open up teams. That final ball

AMN either would do. But instead Xhaka gets another appearance bonus.

Well we do have official sponsors of Ovaltine and Mogodon.

Another goal or two would have been nice. We've passed them to death second half.

AMN on in the 90th minute. We are 2-0 up. What is the point?

74% possession.

Arteta doesn't fancy Ainsley much, does he.

Decent result. We need to try and be more direct from central positions though

Ha ha. Nice one Martin Keown. Just slipped in the fact that Arsenal went a whole league season unbeaten. What a star.

After a slow start some good performances from the younger or newer players. Some will say it was only Portsmouth but then again some well paid players at the club only had to play Olympiocas the other night and we were already leading 1-0 before we started. So not brilliant but a functional win and we repelled them pretty well.

I'm 63 and probably ahead of him in the pecking order at the club

Such biased commentary in potential giant killing cup sides is so annoying. I get that a lot of people will tune in hoping for the upset but commentate properly. Amongst other things it is patronising to the smaller team.

I see big teams dominate games and lose 1-0 and it is a totally deserved victory for the small team. If the roles were reversed and the same game played out it would be incredibly harsh on the minnow who deserved much more having dominated the game.

Job done. Relatively straightforward in the end. They never really laid a glove on us.

We still cry out for craft in mf - someone who can thread a pass to our young, fast and willing runners up front.

I always want the underdog to win so I'm okay in principle if the commentary hopes for an upset, but I do object when it goes from light support to blatantly skewing the description of the game being played. Portsmouth did okay in the first half hour, but lets not pretend they were dominating the match.

Nice setting to enjoy the win.
3 or 4 other Gooners about the pub.

Good to see the future of Arsenal FC on display against Portsmouth. Eddie should start ahead of Lacazette from hereon. I prefer the directness of Reiss to Pépé's useless trickery.

We are going to win the FA cup and upset Liverpool's treble in the final with Aubameyang doing his impression of Thomas in '89 (I know that was a league match, beating pedants to the punch) and Man Utd fans will thank us on twitter. The Oracle of Arsenal has spoken.

Actually I did know that lesser-known teams participating the UEFA are not necessarily 'also-rans' in their leagues. But, yes, I did google Qarabag FK to check. I'm glad I did because theirs is a rather an interesting story actually.

Arteta’s thoughts: he was comfortable, very vocal and he commands the back four. He looks like he’s played here for months.

One stat I saw was that Mari completed 13 of 17 long balls, no one else in the team even attempted more than 9.

Hope his good form carries through

Those long winter nights must fly by round your place.

More like mosquitos flying around my place. So a miserable night indeed, although not long by your standards.

And its going to 38C and humid tomorrow .