London, November 05: Arsenal are on the verge of booking their place in the Champions League knockout stages after Cesc Fabregas scored twice to inspire a 4-1 win against AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday.
Arsene Wenger’s side sit top of Group H with 10 points from four matches and can guarantee a spot in the last 16 if they avoid defeat at home to Standard Liege on November 24.
Gunners captain Fabregas opened the scoring at the Emirates Stadium when his shot trickled past Alkmaar goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Samir Nasri, just back in action after a broken leg, added to the feel good factor when the France midfielder notched his first goal since March.
Another Fabregas strike soon after half-time was followed by an eye-catching Arsenal move finished by Abou Diaby before Jeremain Lens got one back for the Dutch champions.
After being written off as also-rans in pre-season, the north Londoners, now unbeaten in 12 matches, look in the mood to end their four-year trophy drought.
With Gael Clichy ruled out by a back injury, Kieran Gibbs made his first appearance in the Champions League since last season’s semi-final, when the 20-year-old’s mistake led to Manchester United’s opening goal in their 3-1 win.
The Gunners were on top from the opening minutes. Robin van Persie almost added to his tally of seven goals in his last seven games when he took Andrey Arshavin’s pass on the right edge of the Alkmaar penalty area and shot just past the far post.
Romero needlessly gave away an indirect free-kick moments later by picking up the ball when a stray pass from Maarten Martens looped back into his area.
But from the set-piece, just six yards from goal, van Persie could only strike his low shot into the wall of Alkmaar defenders on the line.
Romero made a far more costly mistake in the 25th minute to hand Arsenal the opening goal.
Fabregas hit a low shot from the edge of the Alkmaar area but the Spain midfielder’s effort was weakly struck and should have been easy for Romero.
Instead, the Argentine could only push it into the net despite getting a full hand to the ball. Even Fabregas seemed stunned by the ease of the goal and could barely bring himself to celebrate.
AZ manager Ronald Koeman had proved something of a frustrating opponent for Wenger in recent years, but the Holland legend’s run of five matches without defeat against Arsenal looked in severe danger now.
They were struggling to make Arsenal’s defence break sweat and Nasri delivered the knockout blow in the 43rd minute.
He took Arshavin’s pass in stride, completely fooled Hector Moreno with a neat check back inside and stroked his shot past Romero.
Alkmaar had stolen a 1-1 draw against the Gunners two weeks ago and Wenger’s men were clearly in the mood for revenge.
They started the second half at a blistering pace and Fabregas capped a sweeping move to claim his second goal in the 52nd minute.
Arshavin was the provider with an astute pass and Fabregas supplied a sublime first-time finish to put the result beyond doubt.
Wenger knew the game was over and he took off Fabregas and van Persie, to standing ovations from the Emirates faithful, to save them for Saturday’s trip to Wolverhampton.
But Arsenal kept the best until last. An imperious 72nd minute move saw Eduardo back-heel to Arshavin, who played a perfectly weighted ball to Diaby and the French midfielder easily side-footed past Romero.
Lens reduced the deficit when he beat Manuel Almunia at his near post in the 82nd minute but the damage had already been done.
—Agencies