Evening all, and a poser to begin: are Arsenal a)no longer Arsenal; or b) still the same old Arsenal?

GOAL! LUDOGORETS 2-1 ARSENAL (XHAKA) And there we are! Sanchez snaps a pass down the left for Ozil, who hits the line and cuts back for Giroud, who misses it. But Xhaka arrives with perfect timing to sweep a plant past Borjan into the far bottom corner. This is alright!

I've already made one claim that was immediately disproved, but I really don't see who's dragging Arsenal back into this apart from Alexis. And to do it on your own is a lot.

This can happen when you make lots of changes, but the first ten minutes really did not suggest it. On which point, Mustafi and Koscielny did not look comfortable against Wanderson and Cafu in that first game, and tonight they're flanked by full-backs who don't usually play.

GOAL! LUDOGORETS 2-0 ARSENAL (KESERU) Wanderson finds Jonathan Cafu with a lovely, sweeping crossfield pass, and his pal teases Gibbs down the left, feinting inside, nipping outside, and crossing low and hard for Keseru to punch home with his instep.

Well, that was not coming, but for the fact that it came. Do Arsenal, without their full XI, have the quality to come back?

GOAL! LUDOGORETS 1-0 ARSENAL (JONATHAN CAFU) Wanderson's free-kick is excellent, flatish and towards the far post. Ospina stays, and Cafu arrives before the various defenders in dunderheided pursuit, connecting with a firm enough instep volley to send the ball into the far corner.

Sanchez is played by the ball turning his back on a dinked pass, and Ludogorets have a free-kick, 30 yards out and left of centre...

This is not like the previous game between the sides, not at all. Arsenal are bossing possession, and are going to score shortly.

Arsenal are starting to motor, Gibbs sending a long pass out to Coquelin, somehow appearing on the left wing, and he slots into Ozil's path. He really should score, but his effort is tame, straight at the keeper.

"What's Alexis Sanchez's best position?" Steve Bower asks Jim Beglin. "Wherever he plays," comes back the answer. That's nice.

Sanchez gets down the left and digs out a cross which might make it to Giroud, except Ramsey tries an overhead kick that slices wide.

I had high hopes for this game, and then Michael Owen said that he did to, and then i watched the first four minutes of it, and suddenly I've got bad vibes. But here's Alexis Sanchez to cheer us up. He runs with the ball, turns, lays it back, and it goes back to Koscielny.

It's been a messy start, lots of men rushing after the ball like a kids' party.

Who wasn't wondering?

The camera angle is an odd on, high up and pointed down to vertiginous degree.

And we're off.

The players are out, they music's been played, and hands are being slapped as we speak. It stenches of fair play, even through the screen of my computer.

I wonder if playing alongside Coquelin will allow Xhaka to show us a little more than he has so far. He's not played badly or anything, but it's been a fairly gentle arrival into English football for him.