Arsenal Beats Villarreal with Disciplined Attacking Display

Arsenal took on Villarreal at the Emirates Stadium in London tonight in the second leg of their Champions League Quarterfinal. The score stood at 1-1 after the first leg in Spain with Arsenal, not having lost for 18 matches, looking to have the initiative.

The first 10 minutes of the match saw Arsenal on the offensive, with Theo Walcott looking extremely dangerous, already punishing Villareal's left back, Joan Capdevila, with his pace. The Villarreal defence initially looked a little stretched but made some committed, if not always well-timed, tackles, most noticeably by Gonzalo Rodriguez. 

Villarreal midfielder Robert Pires, formerly of Arsenal, played some nice passes and even sportingly put the ball out of play when Arsenal defensive midfielder Alex Song went down injured.

On 10 minutes, with Villarreal pushed back inside their own half, Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue played a firm pass from the halfway line, which was flicked on by Cesc Fabregas. A missed interception by the defender allowed Walcott to pick up the ball and go one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The young England international rippled the side netting with a high chip from 10 yards.

1-0 to Arsenal (2-1 on aggregate).

After the restart Arsenal looked to be in control of the match.Their defense played well, keeping tight and maintaining a high back line to thwart Villarreal's pacy striker Guiseppe Rossi.

The Arsenal midfield also looked in good form, creating several opportunities with Walcott continuing to to be their major threat attacking down the right. Emmanuel Adebayor, however, Arenal's towering striker, looked a little off the pace and was caught offside on a number of occasions in the first half. Walcott looks increasingly more comfortable playing on the right wing with perhaps only the quality of his crossing now in question.

At halftime, Arsenal would have been the happier side, but the match was not over and surely there was more to come from Villarreal and their wily manager, Pellegrini. Both sides returned to the pitch unchanged.

Villarreal began the second half with more purpose and it was Arsenal who were on the back foot, unable to maintain their first half tempo.

On the 60th minute, against the run of play, a Fabregas header allowed Van Persie to pick up the ball for Arsenal in the Villarreal half. After initially snubbing an easy ball to Walcott on the right, Van Persie cut back inside and played a perfect through ball to Adebayor on the left. The Togolese striker neatly controlled the ball with his first touch and stabbed it past the oncoming keeper and into the far corner with his second.

2-0 to Arsenal (3-1 on aggregate).

Villarreal manager, Pelegrini, responded with a couple of substitutions, the experienced Nihat and Ibagaza on for Matias Fernandez and Bruno. It looked a little too late for Villarreal, however, and perhaps these substitutions would have had more impact if they had been made earlier.

Arsenal's second goal allowed them to regain the initiative in the match and 10 minutes later, the result was sealed with a third goal. Walcott ran with the ball down the right and a lunging challenge from Godin resulted in a penalty that was converted by Van Persie in the 69th minute.

The penalty decision itself may have been a little harsh, as replays suggested the defender got a touch on the ball, but the referee was not in the best position to see the incident, and the linesman who flagged may have been deceived by the movement of Theo Walcott.

Villarreal was incensed by the decision and crowded around the linesman and referee. Eguren, who had been booked earlier for a late challenge on Fabregas, was issued a second yellow card for arguing with the referee and sent off.

Arsenal was able to comfortably see out the rest of the match against the 10 men of Villarreal, winning 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.

Elsewhere, Manchester United beat Porto 1-0 away, to make it 3-2 on aggregate and secure a Champions League semifinal against Arsenal, with the first leg to take place at the end of April.

Arsenal Lineup: Fabianski, Eboue, Toure, Silvestre, Gibbs, Walcott (Denilson 77), Song Billong, Fabregas, Nasri, Adebayor (Bendtner 83), Van Persie (Diaby 77).
Subs Not Used: Mannone, Eduardo, Vela, Ramsey.

Villarreal Lineup: Diego Lopez, Angel, Rodriguez, Godin, Capdevila, Cani (Pablo 70), Eguren, Bruno (Nihat 64), Fernandez (Ibagaza 64), Pires, Rossi.
Subs Not Used: Viera, Llorente, Javi Venta, Fuentes.

Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)