Manchester United's relief at not conceding an away goal was tempered by a failure to press home their advantage, according to Patrice Evra. While Sir Alex Ferguson appeared satisfied to take a slender 1-0 advantage to the Emirates, the defender said the players were disappointed they had not scored more.

"We're happy about the way we played but we deserved more goals and we could have won 4-0, that would have been normal," he said. "Now we need to focus on the away leg. We can score anywhere which is why I'm confident. The target before the game was to win and keep a clean sheet but the way the game was nobody was happy with 1-0 – we wanted more goals.

"We are very disappointed, believe me. We should have made sure the tie was over. We should have scored at least two more goals. We are not even thinking about Rome."

The semi-final, the first European meeting between the Premier League rivals, is delicately balanced, especially as Arsenal have not conceded a goal at the Emirates in this season's Champions League. The home side also have the advantage of being able to focus fully on Tuesday's second leg and can rest players for this weekend's league game against Portsmouth, safe in the knowledge that a top-four place is all but assured. United, in marked contrast, travel to Middlesbrough for a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday knowing a slip-up could allow Liverpool back into the title race.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger promised an all-out assault on United in the second leg.