Arsenal crush Twente

Gunners complete 6-0 rout of McClaren's men

By Pete Oliver   Last updated: 28th August 2008

Arsenal crush Twente

Nasri: Opened the scoring

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Arsenal strolled into the group stages of the UEFA Champions League with a comfortable 4-0 win over Steve McClaren's FC Twente at the Emirates Stadium.

Goals from Samir Nasri, William Gallas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner completed a 6-0 aggregate success for The Gunners, who now take their place in Thursday's draw.

Arsene Wenger's men had done the hard work in the first leg a fortnight ago and barely needed to break sweat in finishing the job against a lightweight Dutch side.

Summer signing Nasri set them on their way with a cool finish after 27 minutes before the floodgates opened after the break.

Captain Gallas tapped in his second of the tie after 52 minutes and after the impressive Walcott had slotted home the third, Bendtner completed the rout with a well-worked goal in the final minute.

The Gunners - who were already leading 2-0 from the first leg in Holland - impressed from kick-off and it was no surprise when they went ahead through French midfielder Nasri after 27 minutes.

Walcott broke down the right once more, and pulled the ball back to the far side of the box where Robin van Persie stretched to prod it into the path of Nasri.

The £12million Frenchman weaved past his marker before sending in a low shot, which took a slight defection as it rolled into the net.

It was no more than the hosts deserved, with McClaren's men having been pressed onto the back foot from kick-off as the Gunners marched towards the Champions League proper again.

Denilson should have added a second when another slick passing move released the Brazilian into the right side of the Twente box, but his low shot was blocked by the legs of Nikolay Mihaylov.

The Gunners contrived to miss a string of further golden opportunities before the break - van Persie somehow curling a sitter wide from 10 yards after Walcott had again broken down the right.

Nasri break

Nasri - who missed the first leg a fortnight ago because of injury - was given a rest at the restart, replaced by Emmanuel Eboue.

The hosts continued their aggressive approach and doubled their advantage after 52 minutes.

The ball dropped to Bendtner on the left side of the penalty area and he cut inside before firing in a low shot, which the Twente keeper could only push back into the path of Gallas - who slotted home from close range, just as he had done in the first leg.

With the contest now over, it just seemed a matter of how many Arsenal would score to further embarrass the former England boss, who had entered this tie hoping to prove a point or two.

To their credit, Twente - playing with three frontmen - continued to push forward, but that left them vulnerable on the break. Wenger made more changes as the match entered the final 25 minutes with Togo frontman Emmanuel Adebayor replacing van Persie.

It was 3-0 soon after when Walcott scampered clear and produced a cool finish into the bottom right corner to get the goal his performance merited.

With the job now done there was no point in taking any risks and so Cesc Fabregas - in his first appearance of the season after a hamstring injury - came off for Alex Song - the Cameroon man just back from the Olympics.

Bendtner added a tap-in with a minute left, but for McClaren, the final whistle could not come soon enough.