Source: Daily_Mail
Arsenal 6 Braga 0: Cesc Fabregas fires Gunners to stunning Champions League win
[LNB]It would be nice to announce that Arsenal were irresistibly stunning on Wednesday night and that no team could have withstood their onslaught, but this would be a lie. Arsenal were just Arsenal. [LNB]They passed beautifully, thought inventively, attacked imaginatively, as they do almost every week. Sometimes in the Premier League they do all this and still lose; on other occasions they are made to scrap until the last minute. Against the lamentable Braga of Portugal, however, it proved more than enough. [LNB] Arsenal[LNB] [LNB]Arsenal went through them like the proverbial warm knife through dairy products. Butter might have put up more resistance actually, certainly had it been left a long time in the fridge. Milk would have turned quicker than many of Braga's defenders. [LNB]So how easy was it? Well, in the54th minute, Cesc Fabregas won the ball in the heart of the Portuguesedefence and laid it out to Andrey Arshavin on the right. [LNB]Arshavin had enough room to reversepark an articulated lorry on his flank but instead toyed with the balluntil Fabregas had established himself, inexplicably unmarked, in thecentre of the six-yard box. [LNB] Spot on: Cesc Fabregas converts a first-half penalty to send the Gunners on their way at the Emirates [LNB] [LNB]Fabregas simply waited for the ball to comeand score a goal.Arshavin duly chipped it across and he headed it into the net. That was Arsenal's fourth. [LNB]Some of the others took a bit more work, but you get the general idea. [LNB]Braga deployed the same formation asRangers at Old Trafford on Tuesday - 9-1, as Fabio Capello calls it -but with considerably less success. [LNB]From Russia with love: Andrey Arshavin celebrates after scoring Arsenal's second goal [LNB] [LNB]To play with 10 men behind the balland still concede six is an embarrassment; particularly when the scoreflatters the vanquished team. It could have been nine on the night, hadall of Arsenal's best chances gone in, or double figures had Arsenalreally needed it. [LNB]Arsenal were brilliant at times, butbrilliance wasn't needed. Training ground tidiness was enough to do forBraga and the looks on the faces of those Wenger replaced midwaythrough the second half said it all.Nobody wanted to come off. They were shooting fish in a barrel. [LNB]In addition to the goals, Alberto Rodriguez cleared off the line from Fabregas, while Arshavin hit the right-hand post. [LNB]Carlos Vela arrived for MarouaneChamakh and, within a minute, scored. Again Arshavin was able to delayhis pass until the perfect moment, releasing the Mexican striker, whosefinish was clinical.With five minutes to go he scored a second, asimple ball over the top, held up by Fabregas and laid into his path. [LNB] Big Mo: Chamakh fires home the Gunners' third following a stunning backheel by Jack Wilshere [LNB] [LNB]This is to take nothing away fromArsenal. If Manchester United had attacked with as much wit on Tuesday,they would not have finished goalless against Rangers; yet it must besaid Arsenal will face a potentially tougher challenge away atSunderland on Saturday than they did here. [LNB]That is credit to the Premier League and shame on a Braga side that are Brazilian in derivation but not in ambition or quality. [LNB]MATCH STATS ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia 7; Sagna 6, Squillaci 7, Koscielny 7, Clichy 6; Song 6 (Denilson 63min, 6), Wilshere 9, Nasri 7, Fabregas 9; Chamakh 8 (Vela 63, 8), Arshavin 8 (Eboue 68, 6). Subs not used: Fabianski, Rosicky, Djourou, Gibbs. Booked: Sagna. [LNB]BRAGA (4-5-1): Felipe 5; Garcia 4, Moises 4, Rodriguez 5, Silvio 4; Alan 4, Viana 4 (Mossoro 55, 4), Vandinho 4, Aguiar 4, Paulo Cesar 4 (Barbosa 68, 4); Matheus 5 (Lima 60, 4). Subs not used: Artur, Paulao, Madrid, Elton. Booked: Felipe, Rodriguez. [LNB]Man of the match: Cesc Fabregas.[LNB] Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg).[LNB]At home, Braga wear the same coloursas Arsenal - red shirts, white sleeves - a relic from a visit to theseshores by coach Josef Szabo in 1920. There similarity ends. [LNB]Like Arsenal, Braga do not have manynatives in the team - six Brazilians, although none that have playedfor Brazil - and try to effect a slick, quick attacking style in mostmatches, but remain a pale imitation of the real thing. [LNB]They were hopelessly outclassedhere, the gulf between the most experienced Champions League teams andthe new arrivals becoming an increasing embarrassment for UEFA and thistournament. [LNB]At times it was like watching aparticularly ineffective rendition of the rope-a-dope strategy inboxing. Braga invited Arsenal to punch themselves out and be caught onthe counter-attack, except Arsenal found a way through the defencealmost every time. [LNB]By the time the first goal wasscored, they had virtually set up camp in Braga's penalty area and hadmade two very reasonable appeals for fouls within. [LNB]One might say it was third timelucky, except fortune played no part in referee Alain Hamer's decisionto award a penalty to Arsenal when goalkeeper Felipe felled Chamakh intheeighth minute. [LNB]It was a certain foul and perhaps even a generous decision to allow Felipe to stay on - or not, considering what was to follow.[LNB]The Brazilian was helpless when Fabregas struck the ball to his right, such was its perfect placement. [LNB]Within two minutes, Jack Wilshere,who enjoyed an exceptional game in the heart of midfield, burst intothe six-yard box only to be thwarted by a fine Felipe save, but thedesperate figure in Braga's goal was fighting a losing battle and withtwo goals in quick succession, Arsenal put victory beyond doubt. [LNB] Head boy: Fabregas nods home his second and Arsenal's fourth, shortly after the interval [LNB]The first was the product of quiteexquisite work from Fabregas, who sucked in and beat two Bragadefenders with his run, and took two more out of the game with hispass, before releasing the ball to Arshavin. [LNB]The Russian took one touch to find his range and another to rifle a low shot past the exposed Felipe. [LNB]Four minutes later, Arsenal struckagain and the outcome was no longer in doubt. This time it was Wilshereas architect, starting the move with a neat pass to Fabregas, andmaking ground for the return, which Chamakh intercepted before layingthe ball off.[LNB] Mexican wave: Vela netted a brace after coming on as a second-half substitute [LNB] It wasn't the best of feeds and itseemed to get trapped beneath Wilshere's eager feet, but he improvisedbrilliantly, sending the ball to Chamakh with a backheel, the strikerconfirming Arsenal's supremacy with a splendid finish.[LNB]It would have been nice if Capellohad been here to see it, but he was in the San Siro watching his formerclub AC Milan defeat Auxerre. [LNB]On this form, he will no doubt checkout Wilshere some other time, against opposition that might give himmore of a work-out. West Bromwich Albion are next to visit here.[LNB] [LNB] Arsenal 6 Braga 0 Match Zone: Jack Wilshere knocking on Capello's door after Fab displayIt's a foul habit but it won't stop! Wenger's call will fall on deaf earsCesc Fabregas is moving into a new dimension, says Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger Champions League - all the action as it happenedARSENAL FC
