Arsenal v Shakhtar Donetsk

[Fred West]

Arsenal v Shakhtar Donetsk

Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Champions League
19:45
Venue: Emirates Stadium Date: Tuesday, 19 October Kick-off: 1945 BST
Coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 live and live on Sky Sports 2

[Fred West]

Arsenal (from): Fabianski, Clichy, Squillaci, Djourou, Eboue, Nasri, Song, Diaby, Wilshere, Arshavin, Chamakh, Szczesny, Fabregas, Rosicky, Bendtner, Walcott, Denilson, Vela, Gibbs.

[Gunner_X5]

we've got a strong looking bench tonight for a change.

[Craigie]

Cesc was worryingly rusty. A lot of his passes went wrong and that was against a team that let us play a bit. City will be much tighter and much more convincing on the counter. Hopefully 60 minutes was enough to get him going again and he'll be good at the weekend.

Great finish by Eduardo, though Song shouldn't have let that goal happen.

[Gaffer]

Arsenal closed in on a place in the Champions League knockout phase with a crushing victory over Shakhtar Donetsk to move clear at the top of Group H.

Alex Song bundled the hosts ahead after an error by keeper Andriy Pyatov before Samir Nasri drilled home a second.

Shakhtar's Luiz Adriano was denied by Lukasz Fabianski before a fit-again Cesc Fabregas scored from the spot.

Jack Wilshere clipped in and Marouane Chamakh poked a fifth, while ex-Arsenal striker Eduardo lashed a consolation.

Chamakh's goal made him the first player to score in six consecutive Champions League matches, but the last word belonged to Eduardo - returning to the Emirates Stadium for the first time since his £6m move to Shakhtar last summer.

The 27-year-old striker made a huge impression after joining the Gunners from Dinamo Zagreb in 2007, but his progress was stalled by a horrific leg injury suffered against Birmingham in 2008 and he never fully recaptured his early form.


He received a huge ovation on arrival as a 63rd-minute substitute and after converting Jadson's cross with a superb finish, the Croatian was again serenaded by an appreciative home crowd.

The result maintains Arsenal's 100% start to the group and puts them on nine points, three clear of second-placed Shakhtar ahead of their meeting in Donetsk on 3 November.

Braga are third in the table on three points after their 2-0 win over Partizan Belgrade, so Arsenal require only three points from their remaining three games to guarantee a place in the last 16.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger would have been delighted with his side's performance on a rain-soaked night at the Emirates Stadium and the emphatic scoreline should ensure they approach Sunday's trip to Manchester City in high spirits.

Wenger described Shakhtar as a "very, very strong team" and with seven straight wins in all competitions - including a 3-0 victory at Braga last time out in Europe - the Ukrainian champions were not to be underestimated.

But Arsenal have reached the Champions League knockout phase in each of the past 10 seasons - losing only one home European game in four-and-a-half years - so there was no doubt who entered the match as favourites.

Wenger was able to welcome captain Fabregas back into his starting line-up after four weeks out with a hamstring injury and the Spaniard immediately looked to dictate play from his advanced central midfield position, an early cross from the left almost finding the head of lone striker Chamakh.

Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu vowed his team were "here to get a result", insisting they could "create big problems" for the hosts, but the 2009 Uefa Cup winners struggled to even advance over the halfway line during a hugely one-sided opening quarter.

It seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal would capitalise on their dominance and so it proved - albeit in fortuitous circumstances.

A Nasri corner was headed on by Sebastien Squillaci and Pyatov inexplicably let a straightforward catch slip from his grasp, enabling Johan Djourou to prod towards goal and Song to bundle home.

Shakhtar finally settled into some sort of rhythm but all they could muster was a tame Razvan Rat shot and a Henrik Mkhitaryan drive that was deflected over.

The hosts were soon back on the front foot and doubled their lead when Song's cross found its way to Nasri and the Frenchman beat Shakhtar skipper Darijo Srna before rifling past Pyatov.

Lucescu replaced Willian with Douglas Costa at half-time and the movt almost paid dividends when Mkhitaryan put Adriano through on goal. The striker's effort was well saved by the legs of Fabianski.

From then on it was all Arsenal and they made it three through Fabregas's clinical penalty after Adriano hauled down Djourou as he attempted to meet a free-kick.

That was to be the last act for a tiring Fabregas and he was replaced by Denilson on 63 minutes, while Eduardo also entered the fray in place of Adriano.

Arsenal continued to flood forward and Wilshere beat Pyatov with a cute strike after exchanging passes with Rosicky, before Nasri's scooped pass gave Chamakh the chance to enter the record books with a cool finish.

It was the Gunners' 14th goal in three European matches - a new record for the competition - and that was to be the end of their scoring.

However, the was still time for Eduardo to make his mark with a perfectly-timed volley that brought the stadium to its feet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 102089.stm

[Curt.B]

Good performance. All we did differently was put our chances away. We were clinical and ruthless. IF we put all our chances away in this manner, I've no doubt we would win the league and the champions league, honestly. But that is a testament to how rarely we put our chances away in important games....

[Craigie]

It's pretty shameful how many chances we waste. This game for me was no different to the Birmingham game, but this one was an easy 5-1 and that was a painful 2-1. How can we be such an "attacking team" and put away so few chances.

Birmingham got owned by us and got 1 goal against the run of play. That should be the goal that made it 2-1, but it was the goal that made it 0-1 and we're chasing a game from that point onwards.

In this game, we'd put in two goals by that point so even if they'd scored we'd still be in control.