Arsenal v Huddersfield Town - as it happened

Preamble Morning. I've been up since 3am. I'm jet-lagged, but I expect most fans of the Terriers were up at a similarly ludicrous time to make sure they were in north London in time for today's kick-off. I expect the atmosphere to be more snoozy than boozy come midday. Right, what can I tell you about today's match? Well, Huddersfield are third in League One, and along with Bournemouth (second) and Brighton (first) make up a trio of teams who are being lauded for playing attractive passing football. Lee Clark, the Terriers' boss, has made a point of trying to emulate Arsenal's playing style. I imagine this will only help the Gunners to open them up today, mind. But still, a cup tie heavy on goals would help to keep me awake at least. There's another Novak other than Djokovic in action today too . He's called Lee Novak, and if selected, he'll likely be the lone striker for the Terriers and the bearer of much of the donkey work to allow Huddersfield's prime attacking threat, Anthony Pilkington, to cause the Arsenal defence a few problems. Both teams' sets of supporters have respected authors among their ranks today. Waving his red and white scarf and looking a bit shy is Nick Hornby, while doom-monger and wacky specs-wearing spooky pensmith David Peace will be in Huddersfield's corner. If the match were decided on who has written the better book who'd win it? I'd say Huddersfield with an injury-time winner. As for my real prediction: Arsenal 4-1 Huddersfield Town Teams: Arsenal: Almunia, Eboue, Koscielny, Squillaci, Gibbs, Diaby, Denilson, Bendtner, Nasri, Arshavin, Chamakh. Subs: Szczesny, Fabregas, Rosicky, van Persie, Walcott, Song, Wilshere. Huddersfield: Bennett, Peltier, Peter Clarke, McCombe, Kilbane, Roberts, Gudjonsson, Tom Clarke, Hunt, Pilkington, Lee. Subs: Colgan, Naysmith, Kay, Arfield, Novak, Atkinson, Chippendale. Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 11.48am: "3am? Nothing," gahs Allan Castle. "I've been up since 2 o'clock ... a combination of falling asleep at eight reading stories to kids, and then lurching awake with the sudden realisation that a noon kick-off in London has devastating implications for those of us in British Columbia. Thank god for coffee. And while you're at it god make sure that Denilson doesn't start." Can't help you on that last point Allan. 11.53am: It looks far from a sell-out at the Emirates but there's a decent noise thanks to the travelling Huddersfield fans, more than 5,000 of them. 11.54am: Here's Gary Naylor. "Re your photo, it's interesting to see Yorkshire stalwart Brian Close in the front row, third from the left. I take it that the subs weren't expecting a game." Subs? In 1922? The teams are on the way out in case you're interested ... 11.58am: If this email were true I would be sat at this desk for a further three seconds. "Be informed that you have won the sum of £950,452 in this year Pepsi Cola Online email draw." Tssk! Kick-off: Peep! Mark Clattenburg's lungs get us underway at the Emirates. Arsenal, who are captained by Samir Nasri this afternoon, are kicking from left to right on my tv so draw that picture in your head. Huddersfield have an immediate attack down the left wing. Roberts gets a decent ball into the box but Lee is penalised for a foul on Squillaci, I think. 2 min: Arshavin drops deep and drills a lovely ball to Bendtner on the right. He cuts inside two defenders and watches his shot blocked. Moments later Arshavin blasts over after Bendtner returns the favour and flicks on Eboue's attempted cross to the Russian 10 yards from goal. He was under pressure, to be fair. 4 min: Not much terrier-like stuff from Huddersfield in these early exchanges. Arsenal happily keep hold of the ball. 6 min: Huddersfield boss Lee Clark stalks off the bench in a quilted Barbour jacket looking pretty dapper. He whistles at one of his players as if he's a dog and sees his side mount an attack which comes to nought thanks to Arsenal's high line which catches Lee offside. 8 min: There's not much to say I'm afraid. Arsenal continue to keep possession and pass and probe up to the final third but Huddersfield are back in numbers and repel each attack. A crunching Lee Peltier tackle is about as good as it gets. 10 min: Bendtner misses a sitter. It's hardly news I suppose. Arshavin showed an impish burst of pace on the left wing, driving past his marker and cutting the ball back to the Dane, who should divert the ball on target from six yards out but fails to open his body and sidefoots it a foot wide of the left-hand post. Poor. 12 min: Arshavin's been Arsenal's chief threat so far. He finds space on the left again, but drives a shot straight into the arms of Bennett from 12 yards. He looks to have hurt himself having run around more in the last 10 minutes than many Arsenal fans would tell you he has done all season. 14 min: The rosey-cheeked Russian is soon back on his feet and tormenting the Huddersfield defence again. He jinks inside two defenders and drives low towards the bottom corner, but Bennett parries the ball wide. 16 min: Huddersfield look tentative out there. On a rare forray forward they look more bemused to be so advanced than confident that they can do something with the ball in the Arsenal half. 19 min: "Has there ever been a better equipped subs bench in English football?" asks Justin Kirkham. I presume you're not talking about Colgan, Naysmith, Kay, Arfield, Novak, Atkinson and Chippendale Justin. Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield (Peter Clarke og 22min) Moments after adding to his forthcoming boxset of horror misses by slashing a volley 20 yards wide under no pressure at all, Bendtner drives low into the bottom left-hand corner. On second look it was clear that the Dane's shot was going wide but a defelction off Peter Clarke steers it past Bennet into the net and prevents me from riffing any further. 23 min: Huddersfield should have equalised. Pilkington races past Gibbs on the right wing and curls a delicious ball across the six-yard box towards Lee, who only has to brush the ball into the net with his right foot, but under pressure he barely gets a touch and watches the ball miss by a foot at the left-hand post. 26 min: Denilson does himself no good in the eyes of his detractors by playing a blind ball back towards Squillaci in the Arsenal defence but finding Pilkington with it. The winger takes a touch out of his feet and tries his luck from 18 yards but drags it wide of the left-hand post by a couple of feet. That was careless stuff from Denilson. 29 min: Arshavin puts Bendtner through on goal with a delicious flick with the inside of his right boot, using the pace from Eboue's pass into him. Bendtner gets a clean strike on goal, but finds Bennett's ample midriff. 30 min: Uh oh! Nasri has pulled up with a hamstring injury. 31 min: Sub Rosicky on, Nasri off. Yup. That twanging sound was the Frenchman's hamstring. Did Nasri really have to play in this game? I'm just asking the question many Arsenal fans will be asking right now. 33 min: "Missing person's report: 6 foot 2 inch man, last seen at 12pm this Sunday, French/Moroccan, wears a distinctive #29 jersey. Call A. Wenger," writes Greg Cross. It's a fair announcement Greg, I don't believe Chamakh has had more than a couple of touches this half. 35 min: Much like Chamakh, Huddersfield can't get a touch of the ball. Pass, pass, pass goes the Arsenal machine. 36 min: To give Chamakh some credit, his handball did allow him to set up Bendtner for Arsenal's opening goal. Although the goal has now been credited as an og to Peter Clarke in Huddersfield's defence after a replay makes it clear that Bendtner's scuffed shot was going yards wide. 38 min: Arsenal's defence goes to sleep for a moment and Huddersfield should equalise. Gibbs lets Pilkington drift away from him on the far post. Gudjonsson finds him with a lofted ball into the box but, under no pressure at all, he heads wide from 10 yards. 40 min: Gudjonsson goes this close for Huddersfield with a wonderful free-kick from 35 yards that moves in about 10 different directions as it heads just wide of the top-right hand corner. Red card: Squilacci 42 min! A wonderful run from Hunt is brought to an abrupt end by Squillaci, who is high up the pitch and cynically blocks Hunt with his right arm as the Huddersfield player attempts to streak past him into a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was the right decision. This may at last be interesting ... 45 min: Huddersfield suddenly look more lively. Their position in League One clearly proves they can play, but until this moment they have looked more embarrassed than emboldened when going forwards. They are putting much more pressure on the ball in these closing exchanges and have a couple of pot-shots from outside the area which are blocked. Half-time emails Aidan Gibson is one among many Arsenal pessimists. "I was sort of hoping for a major cock up from Squillaci today so Wenger could see the light and buy another centre back. Of course he'll say it wasn't a red card. And then Djourou will get injured on international duty and our back four against Barça will be Eboué, Squillaci, Koscielny and Clichy. Joy." "Why wasn't it HIS flipping hamstring?" Allan Castle really hates Denilson. "Would love to see Torres at Arsenal, why should Chelsea have a free run?" asks Greg Cross. Well, probably becuase they have £50m but continue ... "I would just love to see what he could do with the Nasri, Fabregas, Wilshere and Arshavin supply... instead, Bendtner and Chamakh are the guys entrusted to help Arsenal win trophies ..." On the subject of Bendtner. Does the word modesty not have a Danish equivalent? How he had the temerity to celebrate his horrifically scuffed shot with such gusto is beyond me. "In response to Justin Kirkham (19min)," writes Simon Chamberlain. "Here's United's subs bench from as long ago as yesterday: Kuszczak, Brown, Berbatov, Rooney, Giggs, Nani, Bébé. I'd take that over Arsenal's today." I think Bébé and Brown have me leaning towards Arsenal's Simon. "Hello Gregg, Not to err...defend Squilacci here, because I do believe that what he did was stupid, and he did stop the striker's run unlawfully," writes Dahmann. "However, the striker no longer had the ball, because he had passed it to a team-mate (on his right hand side) who was clearly offside. It wasn't a denial of goal scoring opportunity, because there was no way his offside team mate could have passed the ball back to him for a one-o-one with Almunia. To put it simply, the attacking threat stopped when the striker made his pass, what happened afterwards sholdn't warrant a red card in my opinion. Or did I miss something?" Hunt was running on to the ball himself as far as I saw it Dahmann, which means it was a goalscoring opportunity. 45 min: Arsenal get off to a flyer in the second half. Rosicky plays a wonderfully-weighted pass through the inside-left channel to Arshavin, who shows McCombe a clean pair of tiny heels, before driving into the sidenetting from 10 yards out. He snatched at his shot there like a man who knows he's come in for criticism recently. Arsenal sub: Chamakh off, Song on: This happened at half-time, forgot to mention it. So Denilson is no longer filling in at centre back you pessimistic Gunners you. 50 min: Pilkington has had some joy up against Gibbs today and again shows great pace to get to the byline and deliver a cross into the box. It's a rushed centre though, which Almunia plucks from the air with ease. 51 min: "Would that be the same lumbering striker who put a perfect cross on Van Persie's head against Leeds, did the same against Ipswich (but RVP hit the bar) and scored a peach of an opening goal against Ipswich? Is it the same fella, Gregg?" That would be the same fella David Young. Just going off the evidence I've seen today. And I believe most watchers would say lumbering was a fair adjective on today's evidence. 54 min: I can't believe I'm going to write these words but here goes: What an amazing tackle by Andrei Arshavin. The Russian stretches a leg out in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Lee driving inot a gaping goal after a cross into the box from the left. It was brave too. 57 min: Arsenal are continuing to dominate possession even with the disadvantage of being down to 10 men. Their problem is the frequent lapses in concentration at the back though. Arsenal fans never seem to be able to rest easy. 59 min: As if to prove my point a cross to the back post from Hunt finds the head of McCombe, who gets above both Song and Koscielny to head just wide. 60 min: Huddersfield sub: Arfield on, Tom Clarke off. Huddersfield look like they're going to throw bodies forwards now. 62 min: Brilliant save from Almunia. Lee gets his head to a ball clipped in from the edge of the box and angles a header down towards the right-hand corner of the goal which looks all the way to be the equaliser, only for Almunia to use his full frame to stretch his right hand out and divert the ball wide for a corner. Gudjonsson goes close with a volley from the resulting corner and all of a sudden Huddersfield have got a real foothold in the game. Goal! Arsenal 1-1 Huddersfield (Lee, 64 min) It was only a matter of time. Huddersfield were piling on the pressure. Hunt goes close with a volley and Huddersfield win a corner. Lee rises highest in the box and heads powerfully past Almunia. 67 min: Huddersfield look to be the dominant force for the first time in the game. Fabregas is on for Diaby , as Arsenal attempt to salvage the situation. 70 min: Bendtner nods the ball down to Koscielny as Arsenal go more direct in search of a winner, but Koscielny blasts his shot into Peter Clarke's backside and Huddersfield clear. 72 min: Arsenal have responded well since conceding. Arshavin shows delightfully tricky feet to cut inside Peltier and set Bendtner up 10 yards from goal, but he takes a touch when he should hit it first time and his shot is blocked. 73 min: Peter Clarke risks a red card with a last-ditch tackle on Bendtner as the big man brushes himself down and tries to get himself on the scoresheet. The Huddersfiedl defender's tackle is perfect. It had to be. And Bendtner is denied. 75 min: Mark Northern grudgingly defends Nicklas Bendtner. "Oh, come on. He's not the only striker with a massive ego. You can't BE a striker without a massive ego. And am I the only person who's noticed that the Dane looks like a young, tall, slender Simon LeBon?" Yes, you probably are the only person to think that Mark. I don't have a problem with Bendtner. He misses a hatful of chances and keeps on plugging away. That should be applauded. And he is never anonymous in games. A good thing too. But to celebrate a scuffed shot just rankled a bit after his first-half showing ... 78 min Allan Castle may well be at the Emirates, because Denilson has just tumbled to the turf as if he's been shot in the hamstring. Arsenal are down to nine men now after a promising spell. Meanwhile Pilkington wastes a good shooting opportunity for Huddersfield by shunting the ball into the six-yard box when he could have wellied it at goal unmarked. 80 min: Another downbeat Gunner writes: "Have to say they [Huddersfield] deserve the goal, and probably more, abysmal from Arsenal again. There is something about changing this team too radically that makes them struggle, even against lower league teams. Anyway, I hope this is decided either way today, don't need yet another replay." I'd say a draw is fair on the balance of play throughout the match Damien. Denilson is back up on his feet and in midfield, but whether he is fit I am not sure. Having used all their subs Arsenal need him to soldier on, errant passing and all. 82 min: This is in the balance. Both Arsenal and Huddersfield are taking it in turns to attack. Both look a little low on gas though. It could be a mistake that settles it. Pilkington is booked for kicking the ball away. Arsenal penalty (84 min): Bendtner is tripped in the box. Goal! Arsenal 2-1 Huddersfield (Fabregas pen 86 min) Fabregas stutters twice as he runs up but dispatches the ball decisively into the bottom right-hand corner. 87 min: It was a penalty having looked at it a second time. McCombe should have been sent off too, but was given only a yellow card. 88 min: Roberts almost equalises for Huddersfield with a free-kick whipped in at the top right-hand corner that goes over by a whisker. 90 min: Fabregas leads the way for Arsenal by encouraging at bit of keepball. Even Denilson joins in. 90+2min: Fabregas is booked for dissent. I suppose that'll waste a little time too. 90+3 min: Huddersfield throw everyone forwards and lose the ball deep in Arsenal's half. Arsenal break through Fabregas, who is felled by Hunt 25 yards from goal on the left. The Arsenal captain stands over the ball ... 90+4 min: Fabregas hits the free-kick a couple of yards over. The wall was never 10 yards back, mind, so no wonder. That looks to be that. Full-time: Peep! Here's some optimism from an Arsenal fan at long last. "The one silver lining in this largely disastrous match is that Arshavin had his best game in months. Just unlucky." Arsenal just about shaded it in my opinion. Many neutrals like to say that the underdogs were unlucky and deserved better, but over the 90 minutes Arsenal did enough for me. Despite a 15-minute spell in the second half they dominated possession and created chances. That's not to downplay Huddersfield's performance, it's just a pity that they didn't come to the party prior to Arsenal's sending off. Anyway, I'm here for another couple of hours then it's time to catch up on my sleep. Thanks for your emails.