CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - Arsenal 4 (6) FC Twente 0 (0):STEVE McCLAREN has less than fond memories of north London, and not only from his time in charge of England on rainy evenings at Wembley. The last time he visited the red half of the area, in January 2006, his Middlesbrough team emerged from Highbury with a 7-0 hiding.
The scoreline was not quite as brutal last night but the match was equally one-sided. Arsene Wenger had encouraged "everybody to talk" after his Arsenal team's non-performance in the defeat at Fulham on Saturday; his players would do theirs with their feet. The eloquence was convincing.
As Arsenal looked ahead to today's draw for the Champions League group stage McClaren could begin to focus on the Dutch league season with FC Twente, and a Uefa Cup campaign.
But it was a night when everything went right for Arsenal, when they showed the character that Wenger had demanded of them, right down to the detail of William Gallas, the under fire captain, getting his name on the scoresheet. Cesc Fabregas was the star turn and the only criticism could have been that more goals were not added. The first step towards banishing the memory of Fulham had been taken.
Cesc Fabregas made a welcome and typically imposing return to central midfield after his hamstring injury and Wenger offered a show of support to Denilson by starting him alongside the Spaniard. Denilson was prominent on the list of the guilty at Fulham and he started as though consumed by the jitters, conceding possession with loose passing. More prominent was Theo Walcott, who quickened the pulses with his electric pass; Jeroen Heubach, his marker, was breathing deeply early on.
It was Walcott who drove the move that led to the breakthrough goal. He accelerated past Heubach and cut a ball across that eluded everybody on the front foot. Van Persie, though, dived back to divert the ball to Nasri who sizing up the situation in an instant shaped to shoot but checked, sending two defenders, almost in slow motion, into fresh air tackles. He was then rewarded for his decision to shoot low from 10 yards when the ball took a slight deflection to spin past Nicolay Mihaylov.
Fabregas played a part in Arsenal's second goal. He stroked the ball square for Gallas, 35 yards out, and implored his captain to rampage forward. Gallas was half checked, the ball spinning up and wide for Bendtner but he continued his run and when Bendtner's shot from the left was parried by Mihaylov, he was on hand to tap home.
Walcott got the goal that he deserved when he played a one-two of sorts with Bendtner, the Dane's pass was slightly mis hit and accelerated towards the Twente penalty area. His curled right-footed finish, after he had opened his body up, carried shades of Thierry Henry at his majestic best. Bendtner applied the gloss to conclude the scoring. Denilson back-heeled in front of goal and the striker swept home to complete the rout.
ARSENAL:Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Djourou, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri, Van Persie, Bendtner. Subs: Fabianski, Toure, Vela, Ramsey, Song Bilong, Adebayor, Eboue
FC TWENTE:Mihaljov, Wieleart, Tiote, Teixeira, Braafheid, Denneboom, Heubach, Brama, Janssen, Elia, Huysegems.
Referee:Terje Hauge (Norway).
Guardian Service
