Are you all watching, Europe?

Last night was the perfect European night - and with that comes the frustrating task of writing a piece about it. Media outlets and websites are desperately fighting amongst themselves to be the first to insist that they always knew Arsenal had it in them, discreetly kicking the histrionic post-United and -Chelsea "Worst Arsenal team ever?" articles from a few weeks ago under the carpet.

But that isn't to say we can indulge in a bit of Arsenal worship for once.

Firstly, I'm glad that Bendtner has finally shown everyone what he can do. No other player in this team is capable of regularly getting themselves into poaching positions, and when he feels like putting his chances away he can really rack up goals. Yes, perhaps a hat-trick was slightly more than he deserved last night; but he is a striker and desert doesn't always count when you're playing in his position, as was shown in the Burnley game. The strange thing about the previous match was that he actually played very well and showed great anticipation - obviously this was tempered somewhat by the fact that he seemed to think the goal was somewhere near the corner flag, but he showed that what makes him different to most Arsenal forwards is his ability to get himself on the end of our passing moves.

It's a shame for Nasri not to go away with the match ball, but no one will be forgetting his goal any time soon. He's been on brilliant form lately and I think most people wanted to see him start last night; subsequently he earned his place by showing us the kind of skill that earned him the 'new Zidane' tag back in France. Despite the injury problems at the start of the season, he has really started to produce (sound familiar?) and prove to any doubters that the transfer fee was worth it.

Arshavin provided - and forgive me for the cringing cliche - several moments of magic, not least his one-man waltz through three Porto defenders before setting up Bendtner's second. Abou Diaby played a disciplined game and performed his role superbly, acting as the 'all action' midfielder after holding back wisely during the nervy early stages. Alex Song was, as always, dependable as the defenders' shield and bailed them out on two vital occasions; and Almunia actually looked fairly solid, holding onto a couple of palm-stinging shots and reacting well to grab the ball from a corner after Nasri controlled it at the far post.

I should note that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Porto aren't exactly the best opposition we'll face this season - in fact, I would place them below most Premiership teams on the basis of their performance in both legs against us - and their defensive vulnerability made our own back five look like a thick concrete wall neatly set inside our goalmouth. Sol had a decent game but looked a bit suspect in the first few minutes of each half, while the backline was collectively guilty for a few moments of poor positioning and several rash decisions. Still, our dominance kept us out of too much trouble, and we could afford to take their attack as seriously as I could take Hulk once I realised that he is essentially Denilson on steroids.

All in all, a very encouraging display, and it was great to see our squad depth demonstrate itself as Eboue and Walcott each turned in a decent cameo. Bring on Hull, and what should be our fifth league win in a row...