Gunners ease past Twente
by Ciaran Baynes, 27 August 2008
Arsenal proved far too good for Twente at The Emirates winning 4-0 on the night, making it 6-0 on aggregate.
Samir Nasri scored the first goal after 27 minutes when Theo Walcott beat his man on the right flank and pulled back across the box where Robin van Persie won a slide tackle, leading the ball to fall to Nasri on the edge of the box and he went outside two defenders before his deflected effort went home.
The second came from captain William Gallas, his second in the tie. His own driving run was foiled by a tackle which ballooned to the right hand side of the Twente box. There the full back let it drop over his head and Nicklas Bendtner took the ball in his stride and aimed an effort for the far post that the Twente keeper could only block with his feet and Gallas tapped home.
The goal of the game came midway through the second half when Walcott played the ball into Bendtner's feet and inadvertently got it back 40 yards from goal and that was all he needed, racing through and curling a low effort past the Twente keeper.
A minute from the end of regulation, Bendtner scored a goal that never seemed like coming. Initially he could not take down substitute Emmanuel Adebayor's centre but Denilson's smart backheel gave him a chance which he tucked home with glee.
It could have been more for Arsenal and after going three-up they certainly took their foot off the pedal, but this result and performance was exactly what they needed after Saturday's defeat to Fulham.