Arsenal ease into Champions League group stages

LONDON — There has been a little bit of muttering since Arsenal’s opening day of the season disaster against Aston Villa, a 3-1 home loss, that the team might be better off playing away from the Emirates Stadium, at least until the transfer window shuts.

Arsene Wenger’s team have since stabilised, with excellent away wins over Fenerbahce in the first-leg of this Champions League play-off and Fulham. Last night (Aug 27), the climate was relaxed for Fenerbahce’s visit with the Gunners winning 2-0 to qualify for the group stage.

There was not even any cries for Wenger to spend some money. A banner even read: Wenger not Wonga. But it might have felt good nevertheless to banish the ghosts of Villa in what amounted to a stroll into the Champions League group phase.

For the sixth time in eight years, the club have not come a cropper at the play-off round. They will enter the tomorrow’s draw for the groups for the 16th season in succession.

Wenger had complained of a sinister plot in the media to brainwash Arsenal’s home fans but all was sweetness and light as Aaron Ramsey continued his early season hot streak. The midfielder’s all-round game has picked up where it left off at the end of last season but now, there are goals and two more gilded Arsenal’s progress.

The second was the show-stopper. From the substitute Kieran Gibbs’s cut-back, Ramsey opened up his body to guide home a volley. He left the field in injury-time, as a precaution against a slight muscle injury but he could return upon the final whistle to enjoy the crowd’s acclaim.

It was difficult to overstate how bad Fenerbahce had been in the first leg or how voluble their home crowd had been. Rarely can there have been such support during such a chastening.

The natural assumption had been that this tie ended in Istanbul, at around the time Olivier Giroud thumped home Arsenal’s third away goal but Wenger is not a man to take anything for granted. Having talked the talk about focus and the dangers of complacency, he started with virtually his strongest line-up.

The derby with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday seemed a long way from his thoughts. So did the transfer market, for 90 minutes at least. The messages from the club have been that Wenger and the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, have been working around the clock to add the signings that the fans have craved.

MATA HEADED TO EMIRATES?

The list of targets contains desirable names: Angel Di Maria, Yohan Cabaye, Mesut Ozil, Iker Casillas. Mathieu Flamini. The quest to close deals can now resume.

There was intrigue, too, when it emerged that Juan Mata’s father was in the directors’ box. Mata almost signed for Arsenal before he joined Chelsea in 2011. His face does not seem to fit at Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. Could Wenger make a move before the deadline? He can never have too many ball-playing midfielders.

Santi Cazorla, in the roaming role behind the striker, was a delight to watch here, as he so often is, for the little things he did, as much as anything else. His feints and first-time distribution ensured that he caught the eye, as did the tricks that make defenders wary to the point of being frightened.

If the tie still had a pulse after Istanbul, it did not after 25 minutes of this. Cazorla collected from Giroud and he moved the ball to Lukas Podolski, who played the killer pass for Theo Walcott. Fenerbahce were exposed, in went a desperate tackle from Caner Erkin and the ball broke kindly for Ramsey, Arsenal’s man of the moment, to sweep low into the net, with the goalkeeper Volkan Demirel out of position.

Fenerbahce had their moments. There was a good deal of tutting when Wojciech Szczesny came a long way to miss a punch on the half-hour but the Arsenal goalkeeper ensured that his team led at the interval.

He had saved instinctively in the early going, after Bacary Sagna’s slide tackle sent the ball into Raul Meireles and then spinning goalwards while he also pawed Emmanuel Emenike’s fierce drive on to his near post and away to safety. Emenike had turned Sagna too easily to rampage clear. Szczesny also denied Emenike at point-blank range, although the striker was offside.

Arsenal’s first-half regrets had taken in a couple of misses from Giroud but they suffered something worse in the first minute of the second-half when Podolski tore down the left only to feel a muscle tear in the back of his left leg. After treatment and a rather ambitious attempt to hop off, he went back down and departed on a stretcher. Injuries are part and parcel of any season but the thinness of Arsenal’s squad seems to magnify their impact.

There was a slight wackiness about Fenerbahce, from some of their tackles, which were wild, to Emenike’s lamentable attempt to con the referee into giving him a penalty on 55 minutes. He was tumbling well before Szczesny, who pulled out of his slide challenge, made minimal contact with him. Szczesny laughed. Emenike, who did at least look sorry, was booked.

Bruno Alves was bloodied by a stray elbow from Giroud but Cazorla and Jack Wilshere absorbed full-blooded challenges that might, on another night, have led to problems. It was encouraging to see Wilshere stand up to the rough stuff, however frustrated he became.

Arsenal ought to have won by more. Volkan tipped Cazorla’s low shot around the far post; Gibbs headed over when well-placed; Walcott’s free-kick hit the crossbar and Carl Jenkinson was denied by the goalkeeper at close quarters. Ramsey, though, sent the crowd home happy. THE GUARDIAN