Jittery Gunners make it through to last 16

ARSENAL 3 PARTIZAN BELGRADE 1
by Ricky Butler at The Emirates

NERVOUS Arsenal made it through to the last 16 of the Champions League last night but it was hardly a performance to savour on a bitterly cold North London evening.

Needing a win against the whipping boys of Group H to be assured of a place in the knock-out stage, Wenger's men looked edgy from the start and they rarely got into their stride against the hard working but limited Serbians.

In fact with less than 20 minutes remaining, and the game delicately poised at 1-1, qualification was very much in the balance and the crowd were starting to get restless. But cool finishes from substitute Theo Walcott and man-of-the-moment Samir Nasri ensured they extended their Champions League campaign into the spring for the 11th year in a row.

Having opened with three wins and 14 goals, failure to reach the last 16 did not look a possibility for the Gunners when these sides last met in September. But two consecutive away defeats had changed the whole complexion of the group.

Arriving in snow-bound London without a point it would have been a major surprise if the Gunners had not got the result they required against the Serbian league leaders, but if the 58,000 fans who had braved the conditions thought they were in for a repeat of the eleven goals they had put past Braga and Shaktar in their previous home matches in this competition, they were very much mistaken.

A slow start was compounded by an early injury to Kieran Gibbs, who landed awkwardly on his ankle in the 14th minute, and apart from a header from Mauroane Chamakh, which landed on the roof of the net, and a Robin van Persie effort that was prodded wide from close range, Wenger men rarely threatened in the opening half an hour.

But just as the tension was beginning to build amongst The Emirates faithful, Arsenal were given a helping hand. Alex Song's deflected cross from the right found van Persie with his back to goal and as he turned away from Milan Jovanovic the Partizan captain, who had been sent off for conceding a penalty in the first meeting between these sides in September, sent him sprawling.

Although the contact appeared minimal Italian referee Paolo Tagliavento pointed to the spot and the Dutchman, making his first Champions League start for more then a year, confidently drilled the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.

However the expected floodgates never opened and if anything the visitors seemed to grow in confidence. As their small band of fans in the south-west corner of the stadium began to bounce up and down, to keep warm as much anything else, they were really given something to celebrate with a shock 52nd minute equaliser. Brazilian Cleo found space on the edge of the Gunners penalty area and his shot was sent looping over Lukasz Fabianski via a deflection off the unfortunate Sebastien Squillaci.

Wenger now had the look of a worried man but he quickly sent on Walcott in place of the ineffective Andrey Arshavin and it was a move that paid off in style 17 minutes from time. Bakary Sagna whipped the ball in from the right and, when Aleksander Krstajic could only head it straight to Walcott, the Arsenal substitute showed great composure to control it with his chest before hitting a dipping volley with his right foot that looped into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

The tension suddenly lifted and the hosts finally clicked into gear to score a goal of real quality five minutes later. Song played a neat one-two with substitute Nicolas Bendtner and after side-stepping two challengers he fed Nasri just inside the Partizan area. The Frenchman, who had been relatively quiet up until then, fained to return the pass which created just enough space for him to place a powerful shot beyond Stojkovic to make it 3-1.

But the night ended on a unsavoury note for the Gunners when Sagna was shown a straight red card by Tagliavento for bringing down Alekander Lavevski right on the edge of the area and he will now miss both legs of the next round.

So job done but improvements will be needed if the Gunners are to progress much further, especially as failure to win the group means that either Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Schalke will be awaiting them in draw next Friday.

Wenger said afterwards; "I was never nervous, a little worried yes, but I always felt we would qualify and believed we had the resources to score. It was a low key game and was difficult for us but praise must go to them as they defended very well."

When asked who he would prefer in the next round the Frencchman replied; "There is a 50% chance we will travel to Germany and a 50% chance we will travel to Spain! Barcelona are super favourites at this time but we will see."

ARSENAL; Fabianski 7, SAGNA 7, Koscienly 6, Squillaci 6, Gibbs 6 (Eboue 24mins 7), Nasri 7, Denilson 5, Song 7, Arshavin 5 (Walcott 67mins 7), van Persie 7, Chamakh 6 (Bendtner 76mins 6). Subs not used; Szechezny, Rosicky, Vela, Wilshere.

PARTIZAN BELGRADE; Stojkovic 6, Medo 7, Pertovic 7, Jovanovic 7, Savic 7, Lavevski 6, Krstajic 6, Babovic 6 (Davidov 81mins 6), Cleo 7, Moreira 6, Ilic(S) 7. Subs not used; Ilic(R), Stankovic, Brasanac, Kizito, Iliev, Smiljanic,

REFEREE; Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

ATTENDANCE; 58,845