Arsenal 3 Hamburg 1: Arsenal got their Champions League campaign back on course with victory over Hamburg at the Emirates Stadium to top Group G.

The Gunners, though, only came to life late in the second half, after trailing to a magnificent effort from Rafael van der Vaart.

Victory was nevertheless deserved given the industry of Arsene Wenger's men, whose dominance was finally rewarded by strikes from Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Eboue and a first for on-loan Brazilian Julio Baptista.

Avoiding defeat next month against Porto, who won at CSKA Moscow, will send last season's runners-up into the knock-out stage.

However they must face that task without suspended Thierry Henry, after the Arsenal captain picked up a third caution of the competition tonight.

The evening had not looked so promising when Arsenal once again found themselves chasing the game at their new, 60,000-seater home. With plenty of men back, there looked little real danger as the German team exchanged passes on the edge of the area after only three minutes.

However, suddenly the lose ball fell to Van der Vaart when it should have already been cleared. The Dutchman - who had netted against England last week - needed no second invitation, side-stepping Kolo Toure before dispatching a stunning 20-yard strike up over Jens Lehmann and into the far corner.

Wenger and his bench looked on in disbelief as the Gunners' home jinx had struck again.

The Arsenal players, however, soon found another gear. On 13 minutes, winger Alexander Hleb weaved his way towards the penalty area from the right, and played a neat one-two with Cesc Fabregas.

Hleb collected the pass, then turned back inside his marker before he chipped the ball over goalkeeper Stefan Wachter - but saw it come crashing back off the crossbar.

Van Persie then drilled a 25-yard free-kick goalwards — which cleared the wall, but was agonisingly inches too high of the angle.

That was as close as Arsenal went during another frustrating first half at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger most probably told his side in no uncertain terms what was expected of them following the restart. The Gunners did indeed look sharp on their reappearance.

Freddie Ljungberg was tripped by Raphael Wicky on the left corner of the penalty area. Henry elected to take the resulting free-kick — but unlike on Saturday against Newcastle, his well-struck effort flew into the side netting.

After 53 minutes, the Gunners were finally level.

This time every pass was placed to perfection, the ball being fed through Hleb and then on to Fabregas, who slipped in Van Persie down the right. The Dutchman's first touch was immaculate, taking him ahead of the defence into the area and his finish was expertly dispatched, low to the goalkeeper's left.

However, moments after the Germans had kicked off, Henry was cautioned for a late challenge on defender Joris Mathijsen — a third yellow card of the competition, which rules the Arsenal skipper out of next month's crunch trip to
Porto.

Arsenal almost snatched the lead when Fabregas' 25-yard strike deflected up off Van der Vaart and crashed against the crossbar.

Then, with eight minutes left, the breakthrough came.

Full-back Eboue, who had broken clear down the right so many times without reward, was released again by substitute Theo Walcott.

The young Ivory Coast defender cut in on the angle, held off his marker Fillinger and drove a low effort under Wachter to re-ignite Arsenal's European dreams.

Victory was completed two minutes from time when Walcott dashed clear on the break down the right and crossed for Baptista — 'The Beast' — to power in a header for his first goal since moving from Real Madrid.