ENGLISH FA CUP: Arsenal 3 Burnley 0VICTORY DID not merely lift Arsenal to an FA Cup quarter-final meeting with Hull at the Emirates. The whole mood surrounding the club was elevated as fans, who had grumbled their way to the exits following goalless draws in the Premier League, could make their way home chattering with excitement about the style shown here.

Burnley, it is true, were challengers from a lower division but, until this game, they had been the equals or better of top-flight opponents.

Arsenal, with an admittedly inexperienced selection, had themselves followed Chelsea in being eliminated from this season’s League Cup by Owen Coyle’s squad. Arsène Wenger sent out a more accomplished line-up yesterday but some of its members also faced a challenge.

Theo Walcott had dislocated a shoulder while training with England in November and it sufficed for him to make his comeback as a substitute but another with recent injury troubles made a deeper impression.

Eduardo was captain for the afternoon and showed leadership of an inspirational nature when claiming the second goal. The Croatia forward stole in behind the left-back Christian Kalvenes after 52 minutes to volley home with the side of his heel from Alex Song’s through-ball.

It was a spectacular piece of technique, although Eduardo will be equally euphoric that he suffered no harm on this occasion.

His other appearance in this campaign, following a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle, had come in the fourth-round replay in which he scored twice against Cardiff before being injured. He was in fine fettle here, showing his sharpness when he eluded Clarke Carlisle in the 40th minute before being foiled by the other centre-half Steven Caldwell.

When he made way for Walcott, Eduardo can only have been in high spirits. His replacement found an opening but was thwarted by the goalkeeper Brian Jensen. For Wenger the larger meaning of this victory lay in the sense that there are now deeper means at his disposal. He will need them, with Arsenal taking a 1-0 lead to Roma on Wednesday for the return leg of the Champions League tie.

Any pretence that Wenger’s squad could be genuine contenders in the Premier League expired a while ago but opponents should now be wary of them in the set-piece circumstance of knockout tournaments.

A half-strength Arsenal selection had enough authority to make everyone forget that Burnley can be incisive.

The sheen of Arsenal’s work dazzled visitors who rarely saw a way to go on the attack until, with two goals conceded, defeat was all but confirmed. While Wenger had been exasperated by the scheduling of the game, it cannot have taken much toll of them before they set off for Italy.

The Mexico attacker Carlos Vela had lightened the potential burden of this fixture with an opener after 21 minutes.

Chris Eagles lost possession on the Arsenal left and Andriy Arshavin fed Vela. The attacker swept away from Carlisle and ignored Joey Gudjonsson’s pluck at his jersey before floating a chipped finish into the net. Apart from giving his team the advantage, the attacker made the visitors doubt their ability to cope.

The rest was elementary and convincing. Following the majestic strike by Eduardo that doubled the lead, others seemed inspired to flaunt their skills.

Emmanuel Eboue is no virtuoso but his low finish for the third goal was of a piece with the smart pass from William Gallas and the back heel from Song that presented him with the opening. Song, indeed, had been authoritative at the core of the midfield throughout the afternoon. Burnley may feel that the strategy adopted for this test had been misguided.

Coyle attempted to jam the midfield with four players sited there in front of the anchorman Gudjonsson. Systems of that sort can frustrate sides like Arsenal but here it hampered the visitors by ensuring that there was nothing for Wenger to fear. So little happened in the home penalty area that spectators could have been excused if they never noticed that Lukasz Fabianski was between the posts instead of Manuel Almunia.

Where Arsenal are concerned, there must be a quickening of anticipation over what may yet be accomplished if the team can only survive the test that Roma will pose. GuardianService