Arsene Wenger knows Arsenal were not at their best as they qualified for the Champions League second round.
The Gunners saw off the threat of Partizan Belgrade at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening, writes Stewart Coggin.
After going ahead through a Robin van Persie penalty, Arsenal were pegged back by Cleo's deflected effort in the 52nd minute.
Arsenal knew that a Braga victory against Shakhtar Donetsk in the other group match in the Ukraine would see them eliminated if they themselves were not victorious. With Shakhtar only winning that encounter late on, for long spells of the second-half Arsenal were flirting with potential elimination before Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri settled their nerves with goals in the 73rd and 78th minutes to secure a 3-1 win.
"I was never really nervous," said Wenger. "Worried yes, because in football you can never say never when you're 1-1 but I felt we had the resources to score and that in the last 20 minutes they would drop a little bit physically.
"It was a low-key game. We didn't find our pace in the game and find openings in their defence. They defended very well and were focused on closing us down everywhere.
"We were just below our normal pace. But you have to give them credit, on every single ball they closed us down. I felt the speed of our passing was not enough and a bit nervous as well."
Arsenal's attacking game lacked fluidity, with Van Persie and Marouane Chamakh failing to gel in attack.
"I was not completely happy with our offensive game," Wenger added. "Maybe it was down to the quality of Partizan's defending because I felt they defended in a very intelligent way. I will have to analyse that a bit better."
Arsenal will now face either Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Schalke in the second round, with Wenger claiming the Catalans are 'super favourites' to win the tournament.
