SOCCER/Arsenal 5 Porto 0 (Arsenal 6-2 on agg):ARSENAL TURNED a potential ordeal into an exhibition. Porto cannot have been pitted against many opponents so constantly incisive as Andrey Arshavin. Despite having a deficit to overcome, Arsene Wenger's team were relaxed and quick-witted in this Champions League tie.

The merriment extended all the way to stoppage time, when a much-doubted Nicklas Bendtner took his hat-trick from the penalty spot after Fucile had brought down substitute Emmanuel Eboue.

The recovery that has seen Arsenal mount a challenge in the Premier League had its impact on the European scene, too, even if it has to be conceded that Porto presented no real obstacle. The fixture went so smoothly that even a couple of bookings did not afflict anyone who was a caution away from missing the opening match in the quarter-finals.

The match could hardly have had a more encouraging start for Arsenal. They not only opened the scoring in the 10th minute to ease ahead on the away-goals rule, they did so in a fashion that suggested deep vulnerability in the visitors.

The manager would not have anticipated the diminutive Arshavin was capable of winning a header and taking a return from Samir Nasri to break through. A collision with the goalkeeper Helton and Fucile ensued, with the ball rolling loose for Bendtner to finish. After the Dane’s misses in the weekend victory over Burnley he would have appreciated so elementary a goal.

The degree of difficulty had barely risen when Bendtner put them 2-0 ahead. Arshavin outstripped three opponents on the left before delivering the low ball his team-mate converted.

Arsenal had been under-strength in the first leg and despite outplaying Porto for much of the evening, the goals they conceded in the 2-1 defeat could be blamed, in differing ways, on the second-string goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. Almunia was between the posts last night, but the visitors did not seem to be confronted by quite the degree of outfield prowess, with Cesc Fabregas missing through injury, that had seen them trounced 4-0 on this ground as recently as September 2008.

With William Gallas injured, Porto should have had more hope both of containing Arsenal and of posing a threat to them last night. In these circumstances Wenger had put the accent on experience and Theo Walcott, despite his goal against Hull, was among the substitutes.

There was still an abundance of energy and verve. Arshavin looked uncontainable, but few of his attacking team-mates were shackled either.

The frequency with which Porto were torn open reduced some of the concern over an Arsenal defence in which Sol Campbell continued to look cumbersome as he deputised for Gallas.

Helton was regularly occupied and tipped a Nasri effort behind in stoppage time of the first half. Arsenal’s endeavour must have been pleasing to Wenger. There was an air of enjoyment to the moves.

Nobody could have told at a glance that this tie was only marginally in their favour at that moment. If that sort of confidence and verve were retained on the domestic scene, hopes for a Premier League title would also climb.

There was, of course, no reason for Wenger’s men to find their thought straying to such matters at half-time. Porto, after all, were merely a goal away from tying the aggregate score. Despite the necessity of scoring, there was no obvious indication that Jesualdo Ferreira’s squad contained the essential incisiveness.

Arsenal also had the good sense, whenever possible, to sustain their attacking at the start of the second half. There was little option in view of the misgivings about the effect prolonged Porto pressure might have on the 35-year-old Campbell.

There was a glimpse of that when Cristian Rodriguez ran free of him and directed a low ball to Falcao, whose shot was saved at the second attempt by Almunia.

In bringing on Eboue for Tomas Rosicky, Wenger might have had in mind his brawn as well as his dynamism, even if the substitute would go on to score Arsenal’s fourth of the evening. It was the preceding goal, though, that ended the tie in a blaze of virtuosity.

After 63 minutes Nasri broke into the penalty area from the right, going past Raul Meireles, Rodriguez and Alvaro Pereira before firing past Helton. Eboue’s goal did not contain quite that degree of virtuosity, but it was still exciting. He had broken on the counter-attack and took a pass from Arshavin to round the goalkeeper and finish. It was a goal that epitomised the effortless threat of Arsenal.

ARSENAL: Almunia; Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Nasri (Denilson 72), Song, Diaby, Rosicky (Eboue 57), Bendtner, Arshavin (Walcott 76). Subs not used: Fabianski, Eduardo, Silvestre, Traore. Booked: Vermaelen, Bendtner.

FC PORTO: Helton; Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Pereira, Ruben Micael (Guarin 76), Coelho (Rodriguez 46), Raul Meireles, Varela (Gonzalez 75), Falcao, Hulk. Subs not used: Nuno, Belluschi, Maicon, Miguel Lopes. Booked: Falcao, Pereira, Fucile.

Referee: F De Bleeckere (Belgium).