Arsenal 3 Porstmouth 0: Arsenal's eventually brisk dismissal of Portsmouth from their presence on Saturday said much for how Arsene Wenger's side may evolve over the next three years but less about how their present Champions League ambitions will look after the next three nights.
Though Highbury enthused over the hat-trick from Thierry Henry which steepened the decline of Velimir Zajec's team - this was Portsmouth's seventh Premiership defeat in eight games - few Arsenal supporters could have failed to notice the number of chances the opposition created before Henry found the target.
In Munich a fortnight ago Arsenal, 3-0 down to Bayern and heading for an even more calamitous exit from the Champions League than usual, were given a flicker of hope when Kolo Toure pulled one back two minutes from the end.
So if Arsenal defeat Bayern 2-0 on Wednesday they will go through on the away goal. Their ability to score twice against the Germans at home is not in doubt, but the chances of a side who have kept one clean sheet in seven Champions League games this season denying Bayern at least one goal appear slim.
Given the sort of opportunities Portsmouth created before half-time Bayern would surely put the tie way beyond Arsenal's reach.
Within five minutes Lomana Tresor LuaLua had drawn a sharp save from Jens Lehmann, on the quarter-hour Yakubu Aiyegbeni rose above the grounded Pascal Cygan to head against the crossbar, and just past the half-hour Arjan de Zeeuw met Patrik Berger's free-kick with a diving header too close for Arsenal's comfort.
Wenger was as pleased not to have conceded a goal for the second game running as he was with the victory. "Thierry can score goals, we all know that," he said, "but that we don't concede goals is new for us. Wednesday's game will be more about mental strength. We must regroup, relax and show resilience. I'm sure we can do it."
At least Wenger can save more experienced legs for Europe, give his growing kids' army valuable first-team experience and still achieve victories in what is fast becoming a tussle with Manchester United for second place and automatic entry to next season's Champions League.
The latest to emerge is Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, an 18-year-old Dutch striker who started his first Premiership game on Saturday and confirmed in patches his qualities of speed, technique, vision and touch.
"Quincy was sometimes surprised by the speed of the passing," said Wenger, "but he showed me what he can do on the ball. However, when he hasn't got the ball he still needs to learn how to play with others."
In other words: tries hard, could do better.
But once he had helped to set up the first goal, more was seen of his ability to use the ball wisely under pressure.
After 39 minutes Owusu-Abeyie sent Lauren to the left-hand byline, the ball was switched to the middle and Henry's shot took a slight deflection off De Zeeuw on its way in. Eight minutes into the second half Patrick Vieira, now getting more space, sent in Henry for a simple second goal.
Henry's third, with five minutes remaining, was a familiar curling free-kick, aimed towards the top near corner of the net, which Kostas Chalkias managed to reach only for the ball to spin into the net off the falling goalkeeper's body.
