Awesome Arsenal feast on Fenerbahce
Reuters - Tuesday 21 October 2008, 21:41
ISTANBUL - Arsenal stormed to a 5-2 victory over Fenerbahce in a pulsating Champions League match on Tuesday which put the London side in a strong position at the top of Group G.
Emmanuel Adebayor fired the Gunners ahead after 10 minutes, slotting the ball calmly past Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan Demirel after Cesc Fabregas picked him out with a pass which cut through the home defence.
Fabregas repeated the feat a minute later, this time finding Theo Walcott, who skipped over Demirel to score from a narrow angle.
Fenerbahce grabbed a goal back after 19 minutes when a shot from Semih Senturk deflected off defender Mikael Silvestre into his own goal. Within three minutes, Abou Diaby had restored the visitors' two-goal cushion going into half time.
The home side had gained the upper hand in the latter stages of the first half when striker Daniel Guiza had three goalscoring chances.
He put the ball into the net in the 31st minute but was ruled offside, shot wide in the 40th minute, and two minutes later Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia frustrated him again.
The second half brought more woe for Fenerbahce, with a strong shot from Alex Song extending Arsenal's lead to 4-1 within four minutes of the restart.
The Turkish team's frustration was heightened in the 67th minute when three goalscoring efforts were blocked first by Almunia and then by two Arsenal defenders in succession.
Guiza pulled a goal back in the 78th minute when he lobbed a shot over Almunia, but young substitute Aaron Ramsey sealed Fenerbahce's misery, scoring Arsenal's fifth in stoppage time with a well struck shot from the edge of the area.
Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger paid tribute to his players after the game.
"We came her and tried to dictate the game in a very heated atmpshere. I'm very proud of that," he told a news conference. "Our pace movement and tehcnique made all the difference".
The result kept Arsenal top of the group on seven points, followed by Dynamo Kiev on five points after their 1-0 victory over Porto. Fenerbahce stay bottom on one point.
The result piled fresh pressure on Fenerbahce's Spanish coach Luis Aragones, with his team languishing in 10th in the domestic league despite a weekend victory.
"We didn't play as a team. We were too much on the attack and we didn't concentrate enough on defending," he said.
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