Arsenal turned on the style to crush 10-man Villarreal 3-0 in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday and set up an all-English semi-final showdown against Manchester United.
Arsenal turned on the style to crush 10-man Villarreal 3-0 in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Wednesday and set up an all-English semi-final showdown against Manchester United.
After spluttering through much of the season, Arsene Wenger's side are coming good at just the right time and their 4-1 aggregate victory was deserved reward for a ruthless performance.
Theo Walcott gave Arsenal the perfect start at the Emirates Stadium with a superb chip before Togo forward Emmanuel Adebayor struck to put the Gunners in control after half-time.
Robin van Persie's penalty underlined Arsenal's superiority and Sebastian Eguren's red card for complaining about the spot-kick only compounded Villarreal's misery.
The north Londoners will now face reigning European champions United in a mouth-watering last four clash after Sir Alex Ferguson's side eliminated Porto.
Adebayor's stunning bicycle kick in Spain last week had given Arsenal a priceless away goal and Wenger's players knew a 0-0 draw would be enough to send them through.
But Wenger insisted it wasn't in his side's nature to approach any game negatively. It was just as well he hadn't planned a rearguard action as Arsenal were without an entire back-four William Gallas, Gael Clichy and Johan Djourou were all injured while Bacary Sagna pulled out late with a virus as well as first choice keeper Manuel Almunia.
From the first minute they lived up to Wenger's promise to attack. Walcott surged away down the right and, after Adebayor just failed to reach his low cross, van Persie's header looped over.
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