Arsenal v Milan - live! 49 min: From a Milan free-kick that might as well be a corner, Stephen El Shaaraway heads wide at the far post. He should have done better. Second half: And we're off ... there don't appear to be any changes on either side. That seems odd to me, as I'd suggest Milan would be better off playing with 10 man rather than 11 incliuding Djamel Mesbah. There's always one: Having taken the time and trouble to copy and paste my predictions from earlier in the report into an email, the utterly charming and delightful Adal Mirza has writen this lovely missive: "Guardian sports writers getting it spot on again. Are you wearing your Man Utd shirt? Wear it proud mind. You have to hand it to Adal and people like him (there are a lot of them about) - not content with being sore losers, they're so enraged with their lot in life that they're incapable of enjoyiung the good times either. No doubt Adal was as confident Arsenal would be 3-0 up at half-time tonight; probably as certain as he is that anyone who thought that Arsenal might struggle to overcome a 4-0 deficit must be a Manchester United fan. Saltuk Ozertuk writes: "I am a huge Arsenal fan, and I am really scared now," he says. Can we ever recover from going up 5-0 and then conceding a last minute goal to win 5-1 but lose the tie on away goals? Half-time punditry: Having spent several minutes ripping Milan's players a new one for their poor marking at set pieces and even poorer attitude going into this match, Sky pundits Graeme Souness, Alan Smith and Ruud Gullit are now singing the praises of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, just one of several home players who've been excellent tonight. Half-time Arsenal go off having reduced their arrears by 75%. They were 33-1 to qualify for the next round before the start of play tonight, now they're 5-6 favourites. 45+1 min: A lapse in concentration results in Stephen El Shaarawy being put clean through on goal with only Wojciech Szczesny to beat. Bearing down on goal from right to left, he lifts the ball over the keeper only to see it hit the outside of the upright and bounce wide. That's a let-off for the Gooners. 44 min: You'd have to say Arsenal are the favourites to win this tie at this stage, as long as they don't lose the run of themselves and forget to defend stoutly. They've been making hay down Milan's right wing, where the visitors' left-back Djamel Mesbah looks like some supporter who's won a competition where first prize was the opportunity to play for AC Milan for an evening. He's having a shocker. Arsenal 3-0 AC Milan (Agg: 3-4) (Van Persie 43pen) Robin van Persie buries the ball past Christian Abiatti! That's a splendid penalty. 40 min: Penalty for Arsenal! They attack down the right flank again courtesy of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whjo cuts into the box where Mesbah and Nocerino hack him down. 39 min: Theo Walcott sets off on a gallop down the right flank and is taken out by beleaguered full-back Djamel Mesbah, who he's been tormenting all night. The Arsenal winger goes down holding his thigh, but is fit to continue after receiving treatment. 38 min: Arsenal free-kick, about 45 yards from goal. Robin van Persie tries to drop the ball in over the edge of the six-yard box, but completely miscues and fails to get any lift on the ball, which fails to clear the first defender. 37 min: From the left flank, Robin van Persie sends a low cross into the Milan penalty area, where Gervinho and Walcott are waiting. Thiago Silva intercepts and clears. 34 min: Robinho attacks Arsenal down the right touchline, cuts inside and runs into Gervinho. The ball cannons off the Arsenal forward's shins and looks to be going out for a corner, but Kieran Gibbs hacks it out for a throw-in before it crosses the line. Funnily enough, if Roninhjo had looked up there, he would have seen Stephen El Shaarawy loitering with intent on the edge of the six-yard box. 32 min: AC Milan go on a rare sortie out of their own half, courtesy of Urby Emmanuelson. The ball finds its way cross-field to Ignazio Abate, who shoots straight into the gloves of Wojciech Szczesny. 29 min: From the edge of the final third, Tomas Rosicky slips the ball through to Robin van Persie, who has his back to goal in the penalty area. He tries to take possession on the turn, but is dispossessed by Thiago Silva, who hoofs clear. 28 min: On the goggler, Gary Neville is stressing the importance for Arsenal to defend. He points out that they will inevitably get another four or five chances to score, so their priority should be to keep their heads and avoid conceding one. Remember, if they do concede, they'll be straight back to square one with a four-goal deficit to overcome. Arsenal 2-0 AC Milan (Agg: 2-4) (Rosicky 25) Arsenal go down the left flank, courtesy of Walcott. Mesbah stands off him, allowing him to drive in a low hard cross. Thiago Abate's clearance is dismal and only goes as far as Tomas Rosicky, who coolly slots the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from about 18 yards. 24 min: Arsenal attack down Milan's right flank again, having clearly identified Milan left-back Djamel Mesbah as a weak link. The link-up play between Song, Gervinho and Walcott is marvellous, releasing ... oh my word! 22 min: Arsenal continue attacking, with Alex O-C oin the edge of the final third attempting to dink the ball over the top of Milan defence, on to the head of Van Persie. Milan clear. 20 min: Christian Abbiati is forced to fling himself to his right to palm a Robin van Persie shot from just outside the penalty area around his right upright. From the ensuing corner, Arsenal win another one. For the first time this evening Alex O-C's delivery is poor and fails to clear the first man, allowing under-siege Milan to clear their lines. 17 min: Arsenal carve open the Milan defence, courtesy of Rosicky and Van Persie. It's two on two as the former passes to the latter, albeit a mite too early. Under pressure from Thiago Silva, Van Persie is forced to pass the ball back to Rosicky, but his pass is wayward and goes behind the midfielder. On the edge of the penalty area, being marked by Mexes, Rosicky backtracks, picks up the ball and plays it between defenders, but his pass is too weighty and Abbiati beats Van Persie to the ball, earning a free-kick when the Arsenal captain challenges him for it. Arsenal should have scored there. 15 min: Kieran Gibbs gets booked for sweeping the legs out from under Stephen El Shaarawy: free-kick for Milan, just to the right of Arsenal penalty area. The ball's whipped in to the penalty area, where Gibbs clears. 14 min: Thiago Silva does well to dispossess Theo Walcott in the Milan penalty area, shepherd the ball out to the flank under pressure from the Arsenal forward and hack clear. 14 min: Bacary Sagna gets booked for a mistimed tackle on the slow, immobile Mark Van Bommel. 11 min: The early signs are promising for Arsenal, with both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott having started brightly. On Sky Sports, match analyst Gary Neville suggests they should try dribbling towards Mark van Bommel at pace, in the hope of getting the slow, immobile midfielder sent off. 9 min: That early goal was just what the doctor ordered for Arsenal and has got the Emirates rocking to its foundations. Arsenal need to be careful, though - they've looked vulnerable ever since scoring. Arsenal 1-0 AC Milan (Agg: 1-4) (Koscielny 5) Well, well well. Arsenal win a corner, which Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain whips in to the near post. Completely unmarked, Laurent Koscielny nods home from just outside the six-yard box. 5 min: Amazing scenes! Mark van Bommel gets booked for his first tackle of the game, on Rosicky. Normally he gets away with seven or eight of those before the referee even contemplates showing a card. 4 min: AC Milan attack, with Robinho trying to work an opening for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, only for Bacary Sagna to clear. 2 min: Excellent play from Arsenal, who attack down the right-hand side, only for Theo Walcott to be caught offside as he makes a dartying run towards the edge of the six-yard box to get on the end of a short pass from Rosicky. 1 min: Arsenal immediately go on the attack, switching from left flank to right, before working the ball all the way back to Wojciech Szczesny, via Laurent Koscielny. Pre-match niceties: Skippers Robin van Persie and Christian Abbiati exchange pennants, the ref tosses the coin and Arsenal kick off playing from left to right. Not long now: The players emerge from the tunnel, with Arsenal's players kitted out in their usual home strip of red shirts with white sleeves, white shorts and white socks. Milan's players wear black shirts shorts and socks with the three red stripes of Adidas on their sleeves, shorts and socks. Prediction time: I can't see Arsenal winning this match, let alone the tie: Arsenal 1-3 AC Milan. Meanwhile in the Milan XI: Like Arsenal, the Italians will line up in a 4-3-3, albeit one that's likely to be less anxious to play expansively and get forward. In midfield, Mark van Bommel will do hius usual job of kicking anything in a red shirt that attempts to run at the back four, while Antonio Nocerino and Urby Emanuelson will play further forward on his right and left respectively. Up front, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Stephen El Shaarawy will line up on the right and left of Robinho, where they will no doubt attempt to cripple Arsenal with lightning fast counter-attacks. That's an attacking looking Arsenal side: But then, it needs to be. Despite doubts about their fitness, Kieran Gibbs and Tomas Rosicky will start, with the latter on the right-hand side of a midfield trio comprised of Alex Song in the centre and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right. Up front, Robin van Persie will lead the line, with Gervinho on his left and Theo Walcott on his right. Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Rosicky, Song, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, van Persie, Gervinho. Subs: Fabianski, Park, Djourou, Jenkinson, Chamakh, Miquel, Ozyakup. AC Milan: Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Thiago Silva, Mesbah, Nocerino, Van Bommel, Emanuelson, Ibrahimovic, Robinho, El Shaarawi. Subs: Amelia, Aquilani, Zambrotta, Bonera, Ganz, Yepes, Roma. Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia) Good evening everybody. You'd bet on a one-legged man to win an arse-kicking competition before risking it on Arsenal to overturning their 4-0 first leg deficit against AC Milan in tonight's Champions League last 16 second leg. But as my podcasting chum James Richardson said in yesterday's episode of our podcast Football Weekly, it's going to be fun to watch them try. Without going into the minutiae of what I'm sure were complex mathematical calculations, Arsene Wenger has stated that he puts Arsenal's chances of emerging triumphant from this tie at 5%, which makes Arsenal ... [minute-by-minute reporter counts on fingers] ... 19-1 longshots, but renders their cause far from hopeless, even if they are just one kick or header of the football away from needing six goals, rather than the comparatively derisory four that would put them in a penalty shootout. "We'll put out the best possible team to qualify," said Wenger in yesterday's press conference. We want to have a real go and make it possible. Of course we will have to drive forward. The best way is to ignore the first game - we can score goals. In the last two home [Premier League] games we scored 12, so we know we can. Arsenal players can take heart from the fact that Milan have high profile previous in the field of Champions League collapses, having thrown away a 4-1 first leg lead to lose against Deportivo La Coruna in 2004, then allowing Liverpool to come back from 3-0 down at half-time to beat them on penalties in the final the following year. Small wonder, then, that their coach Massimiliano Allegri has been urging against compacency ... even though he'd probably be doing it anyway even if he thought his side were already home and hosed. "When you're playing in the last 16 of the Champions League in London against Arsenal, despite being 4-0 up, I would never expect my team to relax," he said. In football you never know what might happen - so we need to forget the first game and focus on qualifying for the next round. The Gooners are going to get thumped, aren't they?