Arsenal secured a vital win in their Champions League knockout round first leg against AS Roma by beating the Italian side 1-0 on Tuesday.

It was a deserved victory for Arsenal who dominated the chances throughout the game but manager Arsene Wenger expressed his disappointment that his side was unable to capitalize on their dominance by secured a bigger victory in the end.

Nicklas Bendtner was at the center of action for Arsenal on a number of occasions but was unable to convert his chances in the first half as Roma desperately tried to prevent Arsenal from taking an early advantage in the fixture.

Just when it looked as if Roma were doing enough to keep Arsenal at bay, the hosts struck in the 37th minute when Robin Van Persie was tripped inside the penalty area by Philippe Mexes and the Dutchman made no mistake from the spot to put his side in the lead.

There was a bit of confusion at the start of the second half when Arsenal started with just nine men on the field with William Gallas receiving treatment and a superstitious Kolo Toure waiting on the sidelines to be the last man on the field.

The confusion did not affect Arsenal's play though as they continued to dominated the possession but were lacking the clinical edge up front as Bendtner, Diaby and Eboue all missed excellent chances to double Arsenal's lead, leaving them with some work to do in the second leg in Italy.