After the complete disgrace of a performance and result at the weekend, it was safe to say that more was expected in this game. The mood in the pubs beforehand was pessimistic for the season, with much general wondering whether Arsene Wenger is losing the plot as regards the squad we need in order to compete. Not qualifying for the Champions League proper would of course be a total disaster, but with a 2-0 cushion, that was thankfully unlikely. Good to be back at the Emirates again, it has seemed like ages since May - which of course, it has been.When we got into the ground, Arsenal fans got the news they wanted - Cesc Fabregas was back in the team. Having all your hopes resting with one 21 year old is very worrying indeed, and having him as the only player that can give Arsenal fans any hope at all about a game is not where we should be. But given that we are in this situation, having Cesc back was very good news indeed. The Twente side again contained nobody of much note, but they gave us problems in the away leg, so people weren't taking much for granted, despite the comfortable aggregate lead.
As it turned out, the game was something of a stroll - and there is nothing like a 4-0 home victory to settle the nerves and restore people's faith. The game was a pretty open passing game, with some decent play from Arsenal, and plenty of chances created. However, I suspect that much of this was due to the poor performance from Twente - aside from a couple of sniffs at goal in the first half, they didn't really seem very interested. The first goal came from Nasri in the first half, a goal which reminded me just a little bit of Robert Pires, and in doing so got me excited - if Nasri turns out to be anything like Pires, we are in for a treat.
After half time, the cruise got even easier. Gallas added a home goal to his goal in the away leg shortly after half time, and Theo Walcott scored a fantastically taken third later on. Finally, Nicky Bendtner added the fourth right at the end, when the stadium was half empty. An emphatic win in the end, which looked relatively easy throughout the night. In fact, despite coming under some pressure at 0-0 in the away leg, the tie was effectively over the minute we went ahead in that game - there was no way back for Twente.
So, into the Champions League proper draw, which turned up a difficult group for us - not necessarily in terms of the quality of the opponents, but certainly in terms of the trips we must make to the away legs. Given the prospect of trips to Turkey and Ukraine, then possibly followed by a meaningless game in Portugal, I may be staying in the UK for football this autumn.
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