Emmanuel Adebayor eh? Born offside, infuriatingly languid and seemingly with no sense of urgency for so much of the matches he plays in. Lambasted by fans this season after a summer of his agents angling for a move. Very highly paid and not always loved for it. And then you get a goal like the equaliser against Villarreal last night.

As happened twice on Saturday, against Manchester City, a ball from Fabregas and the Togonator does the business. Three goals in two games and optimism in the air. Chances are the number 25 will be sold in the summer, but that strike added a few million to his value.

Both goals last night were things of beauty to the neutral. Senna’s strike was pure quality, although Gooners can wonder why he wasn’t closed down a bit quicker. I think that, although the strike could have been prevented, players are not tightly man marked for every second of every game. Fabregas was the one who should have tracked him, but it’s unrealistic to expect the creative midfielder to cover every blade of grass. Fact is it was a wonder strike during a period of the game when the home side were on top. It was preventable, but when have Arsenal ever played a Champions League match when the opposition never even had an opportunity? The difference was that this one went in and the visitors were vulnerable to the tie escaping them with further goals.

The defending was a mixed bag. But no-one is going to prevent quality teams forging chances if they have any ambition to score themselves, and 1-1 is a better result than 0-0. Arsenal did right not to play with the caution they exercised at the same venue three years ago, a tortuous night then ended in relief and celebration. I’d venture that this Villarreal side is not quite as good, but they are still pretty useful and the return leg next week is no gimme.

Arsenal, symbolized by their goalscorer, both frustrated and delighted in turns last night, but there was no doubt the second half performance was much improved, which may be down to superior fitness or the need to get something from the game. As I’ve said before though, cup games are ultimately about results and Arsene Wenger would have settled for a score draw before the game.

The Manchester United scoreline confirms that by this stage of the competition, there are no weak sides remaining, and Arsenal’s experience would confirm that. Playing a little south of El Madrigal in 2001, fans were anticipating an easy run to the final in Paris after being in the same half of the draw as Valencia, Leeds and Roma. They didn’t even make semi-final.

Neither United nor Villarreal are out yet, although history suggests that most of these two-legged affairs are tight games that are ultimately decided by who gets the best result in the first game. Let’s hope that holds true.