Arsenal 0 Ajax 0This was a microcosm of Arsenal's season: success with a flipside. Honour was shared as both teams progressed from Group B but the home side suffered both injury and ignominy.
It was Jose Antonio Reyes who limped off after a nasty kick from Johnny Heitinga, while none other than Thierry Henry had to hang his head. With the last kick of the first half, Henry had the chance from 12 yards after Reyes had been awarded a controversial penalty, yet the Frenchman belied his reliability by sending his shot wide.
It was the fourth time Arsenal have missed from the spot this season, further illustrating their frustrations. But what might concern Arsenal fans more was the fact that Arsene Wenger employed a stifling five-man midfield which endured even after the introduction of the prolific Robin van Persie.
At stake for Arsenal was the opportunity to record wins in all six of their Group B fixtures this season. But the prize has historically been a dubious one.
Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Spartak Moscow and Barcelona have all previously achieved the feat but none went on to win the competition. Few of even the staunchest Arsenal supporters would believe that defeating Thun, a weak Sparta Prague and a struggling Ajax team is evidence of being preordained to lift the European Cup.
For Wenger, it was a night for experimentation, though the result was hardly alchemic.
Taking the opportunity to rest the legs of the senior players Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell, Gilberto Silva, Freddie Ljungberg and Jens Lehmann, he offered first-team action to some of his more raw youngsters while toying with the formation.
Using Henry as a lone spearhead, Wenger fielded a 4-5-1 formation that has seldom been seen in one of his sides at Highbury. It was an interesting tactic that invited fleet-footed midfielders to support their captain in attack, and so Alexander Hleb and Reyes did in breaking to create the game's first attack on 15 minutes. It yielded a corner, of which nothing came.
So flexible are Henry's talents that he is effective even when restricting himself as a deep pivot. Thus he took a single touch to push Hleb's pass into the path of Quincy Owusu-Abeyie. It looked a wonderful opening for Arsenal's Ajax academy graduate until Heitinga thwarted his run.
Though Owusu-Abeyie's occasional self-indulgence lost possession and drew the jeers of the home crowd, it was he who brought the first save of the game with a low shot from 16 yards. With so little activity in front of him, Philippe Senderos took it upon himself to embark on a driving run from defence.
He fed Henry, who in turn found Owusu-Abeyie. The Dutchman's shot was parried well by Maarten Stekelenburg; it fell to Reyes but his wayward follow-up flew wildly over.
The biggest cheer of the night came when Robin van Persie, once baited by Ajax, replaced the injured Reyes on 65 minutes.
Nigel De Jong almost brightened a tedious night with his arcing shot from 30 yards, but Almunia flung himself to deny the effort.
ARSENAL: Almunia, Eboue, Senderos, Toure, Lauren (Gilbert 73), Hleb (Fabregas 62), Larsson, Flamini, Reyes (Van Persie 65), Owusu-Abeyie, Henry. Subs not used: Poom, Cygan, Djourou, Lupoli. Booked: Flamini, Hleb.
AJAX: Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Grygera (Trabelsi 14), Vermaelen, Juanfran, Maduro (De Jong 29), Galasek, Sneijder, Pienaar, Rosenberg, Boukhari (Babel 80). Subs not used: Lobont, Rosales, Anastasiou, Lindenbergh. Booked: Heitinga.
Referee: Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez (Spain).
