CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: MANUEL ALMUNIA has endorsed the feeling that the Champions League group phase has largely failed to capture the imagination of English audiences by admitting that Arsenal's 5-2 romp over Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Tuesday "seemed like a training game".
"Personally I had a strange feeling," the goalkeeper continued.
"Everything seemed much easier than normal in the Champions League."
The result came hard on the heels of Arsenal's 4-0 home drubbing of Porto and put them in a commanding position to progress into the knock-out rounds of the competition.
As with other members of the Premier League's Big Four cartel, Arsenal have the opportunity to qualify ahead of schedule and possibly render some of their ties as dead rubbers.
Arsenal experienced anxious moments against Fenerbahce at the back, where injuries to the captain William Gallas, Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna compelled the manager, Arsene Wenger, to field the unfamiliar partnership of Mikael Silvestre and Alex Song in the middle.
That it did not matter spoke volumes about the gulf in class between the teams. Fenerbahce's woeful defence was pulled apart by Arsenal's pace, movement and incision and they might have conceded more goals.
It was the Premier League that dominated the thoughts of the Arsenal squad as they headed home. Wenger desperately wants to win the Champions League but he has often said that the domestic league is the true reflection of a team's merit over the course of a season. Habitually referred to as a player's "bread and butter", it is a rather more complex dish.
With a series of shock results already this season, including Arsenal's home defeat by Hull City, it has certainly generated more intrigue than Europe. Wenger's team travel to West Ham United on Sunday.
"It's too early to say [whether English clubs are dominating the Champions League]," said Wenger. "But it looks like they have a chance to get out of the group stage and that's very positive."
"I'm pleased to be part of a team that won 5-2," added the striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who scored the opening goal against Fenerbahce, his seventh of the season in all competitions. "We played quite good football and [with] every single ball, we are dangerous. We are very happy but now the most important thing is to repeat this on Sunday at West Ham."
Wenger has expressed the hope that Gallas and Sagna will return at Upton Park while Robin van Persie will be fresh after he was an unused substitute in Istanbul.
"I wanted to rest Van Persie," said Wenger, who pointed out that the striker had completed only his fourth full 90 minutes of the season against Everton in the Premier League last Saturday, as he is handled with care after injury. "I didn't want to gamble," said Wenger, whose resting of one of his strikers in only the third Champions League group tie was revealing.
On Tuesday's evidence Wenger has to hope that some of his established defenders can return, although he does have the option of Johan Djourou, who is fit again after a bout of concussion and made a late substitute appearance against Fenerbahce.
Not for the first time the manager had reason to be grateful to Almunia for his reflexes and bravery. The Spaniard made a string of saves, none more eye-catching than his fourth-minute block from Ugur Boral's close-range shot.
"That made things much easier for me because it's good to start well," said Almunia. "I felt very comfortable after that and very confident."
• Guardian Service
