Arsenal brush aside Villarreal in Champions League

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.

Walcott’s next contribution in the 10th minute was even more effective.

When Cesc Fabregas flicked a backheel towards the England winger, Diego Godin should have cleared, but he completely missed the ball.

Walcott took full advantage as advanced into the penalty area before lofting a sublime chip over Diego Lopez.

Arsenal were playing with such abandon that it was easy to forget they had already done enough to go through.

They were desperately close to going further ahead when van Persie’s free-kick was parried by Lopez. Adebayor headed the rebound goalwards, only for Gonzalo Rodriguez to clear off the line.

Walcott continued terrorising Villarreal’s defence with his searing pace, but neither van Persie or Adebayor could convert a pair of teasing crosses that flashed across the visitors’ defence in quick succession.

Manuel Pellegrini’s team still only needed a goal to get right back in the tie but, with influential Spain midfielder Marcos Senna injured and former Gunners winger Robert Pires lacking his old spark, they found it hard to generate any momentum.

Inspired by the imperious Fabregas, Arsenal had no intention of sitting back. They kept pressing and Adebayor delivered the knockout blow on the hour.

Fabregas won a header in midfield that fell for van Persie and the Dutch forward sliced open Villarreal’s defence with a perfect pass to Adebayor, who kept his footing to slide a fine finish into the far corner.

Adebayor and his team-mates sprinted to the corner flag for a spot of synchronised dancing, while the sight of Wenger indulging in an eccentric fist-clenched celebration of his own showed just how much this meant to the Gunners.

It wasn’t long before Wenger was on his feet again. In the 69th minute, Godin launched into a lunging tackle on Walcott, making contact with the ball just as he clattered into the winger.

Wolfgang Stark immediately awarded a penalty to the fury of Villarreal’s players, who surrounded the German referee. Stark soon lost his temper with their protests and sent off Eguren.

Van Persie wasn’t fazed by the fuss and calmly drove his penalty past Lopez to put the result beyond doubt.

With Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea in mind, Wenger was even able to take off Walcott, van Persie and Adebayor in the closing stages. It was that kind of match for the revitalised Gunners.