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Camden Sports - by STEVE BARNETT
Published: 16 April 2009

Gunners ease past Spaniards

Now sights set on Manchester United

Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd Leg
Arsenal 3, Villareal 0 (Arsenal Win 4-1 On Aggregate)

ARSENAL marched into the semi-finals of the Champions League with an emphatic win that sets up a mouthwatering Battle of Britain clash with Manchester United.
The Gunners overwhelmed Villareal with well-taken goals from Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor and a penalty from Robin Van Persie.
A severely weakened Arsenal side made the Spanish giants look ordinary in a night of pinpoint passes and cool finishes.
The 3-0 scoreline flattered the visitors who barely forced a save from stand-in keeper Lukas Fabianski.
A string of injuries had forced Arsene Wenger into fielding a makeshift defence with Kolo Toure the only first-team regular in the backline.
The muscle of Alexander Song was preferred over the creativity of Denilson in centre midfield.
Emmanuel Eboué sent Walcott racing through on goal on 13 minutes. The winger kept his head and slipped his finish high up above the advancing keeper Diego López.
The ball hung in the air for what felt like an age before nestling satisfyingly in the bottom corner.
The power of Adebayor and the neat one-twos and bursting runs of Walcott troubled Villareal’s defenders throughout.
They scrambled a goal-line clearance at 1-0 and always looked like they would concede. Adebayor collected a clever pass from Van Persie in the second half before stabbing home with the outside of his boot.
The crowd had begun the “Olés” well before Walcott was brought down for a penalty on 68 minutes.
Van Persie was never going to miss.
In the last 20 minutes, the tempo dropped as thoughts shifted to Saturday’s FA cup tie with Chelsea.
There was still time for one last song, a rousing rendition of “Super Robert Pires,” one of Wengers famous Invincibles and still a hero around these parts.

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