Arsenal take useful lead at Celtic in Champions League qualifier

ARSENAL all but secured their place in the Champions League group stages with a scrappy 2-0 victory at Celtic on Tuesday night.A deflected free-kick from Cesc Fabregas off his team-mate William Gallas just before half-time, and Gary Caldwell's 71st-minute own goal off Gael Clichy's wicked cross meant Arsene Wenger's side will take a commanding lead into the return leg at the Emirates Stadium.But while the visitors were comfortable as the match petered out in the second half, they were a far cry from the fluent side which thumped Everton 6-1 on the opening day of the Premier League season.However, Andrey Arshavin was causing problems when he drifted in from his position on the left of Arsenal's three-man attack, and Fabregas and Denilson were always looking to break forward from midfield.Arsenal were playing the ball through Celtic and it needed a last-ditch block by Caldwell on Robin van Persie to stop the Gunners profiting from one such move, with the offside flag raised before Arshavin fired home the rebound.However, Celtic had a good chance to hurt Arsenal on the counter-attack when Shaun Maloney released Aiden McGeady down the left after Van Persie's free-kick was cleared.The Republic of Ireland international rode one challenge and lofted the ball towards Scott Brown but Thomas Vermaelen did enough to put the midfielder off. Share this Article Bookmark Facebook Digg Delicious (What are these?)How interesting was this article? gSiteLife.Recommend("ExternalResource", 1074321); About social bookmarking Celtic tightened up in central midfield, although a slip by Massimo Donati allowed Arshavin the chance to run at the Celtic back four, with Artur Boruc getting down comfortably to save his deflected effort.Full-back Andreas Hinkel then created Celtic's best chance of the half when he burst into the box and cut the ball back for Maloney.The Arsenal defence closed him down but the ball fell for Brown, whose low shot was well saved by Manuel Almunia.Celtic looked like they would comfortably survive until half-time but luck was against them after Caldwell was penalised for a foul on Fabregas 30 yards out.The free-kick was rolled short to the Spaniard, whose 30-yard drive bounced off the back of Gallas and spun into the opposite corner to where Boruc was heading.The game almost drifted beyond Celtic within a minute of the restart after Landry N'Guemo miscontrolled a simple take in the centre circle.Arshavin carried the ball to the edge of the penalty box before slipping the ball outside to Van Persie but the Dutchman shot past the far post.Denilson soon curled just wide from 20 yards following another Arshavin run while Fabregas dragged a left-footed shot just wide from a similar distance.Celtic struggled to create chances but Gallas made another crucial interception when he cut out Marc-Antoine Fortune's low cross as Scott McDonald waited at the far post.Abou Diaby replaced Arshavin and immediately played a key role in Arsenal's second goal.The substitute burst forward and set up Gael Clichy for a low cross that was turned home by the outstretched boot of Caldwell.Only McGeady looked capable of creating anything for Celtic and most of the final 20 minutes was played out in the middle third.

Source: London_Paper