Robin Van Persie scored two goals and set up another Tuesday to lead Arsenal.
Soccer newsRobin Van Persie scored two goals and set up another Tuesday to lead Arsenal. To an easy 4-0 win over FC Porto in the Champions League.
Three days after a surprise loss at home denied Arsenal the chance to stay at the top of the Premier League, Van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor both scored in each half to help the Gunners rout the 2004 European Cup champions and take the lead in Group G.
“It’s difficult to measure, but it was maybe our most complete performance of the season,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
A wet playing surface at Emirates Stadium contributed to both slick, incisive attacking and a little shaky defending from Arsenal, which needed a good save by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and a goal-line clearance from Gael Clichy before Van Persie scored in the 31st minute.
The Netherlands forward then delivered the 40th-minute corner that Adebayor headed in to make it 2-0 before Van Persie scored again eight minutes later. Adebayor made it 4-0 with a penalty in the 71st.
Arsenal was far brighter than in what Wenger called his most shocking defeat at Arsenal – a 2-1 defeat to newly promoted Hull – with Van Persie, Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna particularly strong.
The latter pair constantly troubled Porto down its left side and Arsenal could have won by an even bigger margin.
“Arsenal at international level is a great team,” Porto coach Jesualdo Ferreira said. “They play a short game with a lot of combinations and they do it everywhere: in the league or the Champions League and against every opponent.”
Wenger made just one change to the team that was humiliated by Hull, bringing in Samir Nasri for Emmanuel Eboue, and seemingly trusting to his motivational ability as well as his players’ wounded pride.
It proved to be a wise decision as Arsenal drew two saves from goalkeeper Helton in the opening 13 minutes and forced a string of early corners.
“It was the response I expected,” Wenger said. “I am pleased we did not concede a goal. We could have scored a few more but it was important to win.”
Adebayor eventually sparked the rush of goals when he avoided straying offside and cleverly delayed his cross to Van Persie, who put the home side ahead with a low finish.
The Togo striker then scored himself with a header when Helton seemed to pull out of a save under the impression that the ball was either heading over the bar or set to be blocked by a defender on the line.
Arsenal beat Porto 2-0 two years ago when the teams last met in this competition and went one better just three minutes into the second period through Van Persie’s low shot to the far post.
“Are you Tottenham in disguise?” sang Arsenal’s fans, mocking Porto by comparing it to the Gunners’ north London rivals, who are last in the Premier League.
It could have been worse for Porto, which has been Portuguese champion each of the past three seasons, when Walcott and Nasri each put the ball wide when it appeared easier to score than to miss.
Arsenal was so comfortable that Wenger withdrew Van Persie and Nasri to a standing ovation in the 65th. Van Persie’s replacement, Nicklas Bendtner, was fouled from behind in the area by Freddy Guarin and Adebayor scored the resulting penalty.
Arsenal has four points from two games, one more than Porto, and Wenger said he now expects to win the group.
“We now need to be a strong team,” Ferreira said. “What we will remember is that we lost three points. We could have lost 1-0 or 4-0; it makes no difference. We still lost just three points and we are second in the group.”
But things could have been vastly different had a swift early counterattack by Porto not ended with Cristian Rodriguez’s header from a right-wing cross bouncing up to hit the bar.
And Arsenal seemed not to have learned from that attack when it allowed Lisandro space soon after to launch a shot that curled away from Almunia, who stretched to push the ball past the post. Rodriguez headed the resulting corner back into the area, where Lisandro turned and shot past Almunia, only for Clichy to block the effort on the line.
“Maybe we were lucky,” Wenger said. “But that was the two times they were dangerous tonight.”
And Wenger could point to his team’s own near misses.
Helton pushed a fierce near-post shot by Walcott out for a corner and then did the same to a low, curling drive by Van Persie – who was dramatically improved from the lethargic figure he cut in Saturday’s defeat.
The Gunners also had a volley over the bar by Van Persie, a blocked shot from Walcott and a header into Helton’s arms from Adebayor among its many chances.
“How it could have been is of no use to us,” Ferreira said. “We had some opportunities but we did not score.”
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Soccer news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
