Arsenal 3 Adebayor (penalty), Fabregas, Rosicky
Portsmouth 1 Kanu
Former Gunner Nwankwo Kanu returned to play and scored against his old club with a 'pinball' shot. But by then his current side Portsmouth were already trailing by three goals courtesy of Manu Adebayor's penalty, Cesc Fabregas's close range strike and Tomas Rosicky opportunist goal from a quickly taken free kick.
Last season, Pompey came away with a point after letting a two goal lead slipped away. This time around there was no evidence to suggest that they are going to repeat such a feat.
Perhaps, most sides now would come to the Emirates with a plan to score an early goal and let Arsenal come at them. Portsmouth certainly looked to follow the same plan but as the match progressed it was clear the home side was not in a charitable mood.
The Gunners dominated possession and when they did not have the ball quickly put opposing players under pressure. It was such such pressure from the impressive Gael Clichy that led to the first goal.
He forced a mistake from a Pompey player and Robin Van Persie capitalised. He won the race to the ball against David James who in turn brought the Dutchman down in the box. Referee Mark Halsey did not hesitate to award the spot kick to Arsenal.
Adebayor stepped up and sent James the wrong way as he drove the ball hard and low to his right. 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Then the score became 2-0 in the 35th minutes when Gilberto Silva's header found Fabregas just a metre from goal. Despite the close attention from Sean Davis, the young Spaniard managed to turn and slot the ball home.
Central defender Phillipe Senderos nearly made it 3-0 with a header three minutes into the second half. How he must have rued his fortune when a minute later he was at the other end being dismissed by Halsey after he brought down Kanu as the Nigerian was having a go at Arsenal's goal.
The dismissal for me was a bit harsh as I believe that Kolo Toure was closing in as well thus not making the Swiss defender the last man.
But Arsenal seemed to thrive when they seemed to be in a crisis. True enough, they kept the pressure on Portsmouth. A foul on Clichy led to a free-kick which was quickly taken by Fabregas.
Rosicky took full advantage of the visitor's defence which went to sleep and drilled home the ball, nutmegging Glen Johnson along the way.
The celebration was a short one as Kanu pulled one back almost immediately with a goal he did not know much about. I some sort of expecting the Pompey to mount a more sustained pressure after this but Arsenal possessed too much quality to see this one out despite playing with just ten players.
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