Arsene Wenger had asked for an early goal and Rosicky scored in seven minutes.
That ended the contest, if there ever was a contest.
With Sparta Prague now 3-0 down on aggregate, the game was over.Nothing much happened for a long time.
After 27 minutes, it seemed lke the longest 27 minutes of any match.
After 68 minutes, it seemed like the longest 68 minutes of this century.
Then Fabregas and Adebayor came on and it was a different game.
The second half had been ragged and sloppy, as these games can be when the away side is 3-0 down on aggregate. It was a yawn
The exclusion of Hleb and Fabregas, the two players I’d wanted to see play with Eduardo, was very disappointing.
Van Persie is on a totally different wavelength to the rest of the team and he can’t play the kind of football they play. If you are his strike partner, you’ll have a nightmare, you’ll be invisible, you’ll never get a decent pass.
But as soon as van Persie was replaced by Adebayor, the game improved and Adebayor’s flick-on immediately found Eduardo in the box.
After 82, Eduardo skipped past the right back and picked out Fabregas, who slammed his shot in off the keeper for 2-0. Those two ARE on the same wavelength ; Fabregas-Eduardo-Fabregas, goal. His third goal of the season and it’s still August.
Arsenal’s goals are mostly coming from midfield players making runs off each other. No style could be more different from 1998 , when all their goals were scored by Wright, Bergkamp, Overmars and Anelka.
Then, in 90, Eduardo nicked in at the near post to flick home Denilson’s cross from four yards.
It had been a long night of frustration for Eduardo but he showed his class with a couple of lovely passes and ended up with an assist and a goal.
We’ve seen that van Persie and Bendtner are not on the same page. We’ve seen last night that van Persie and Eduardo cannot combine. Last season, playing for Dinamo Zagreb, Eduardo scored 34 goals in 32 appearances. He wasn’t playing with van Persie.
So can Eduardo play with Adebayor ?
If not, Arsenal have four strikers and no partnerships.
Over the two games, a fairly professional 5-0 win on aggregate. You can’t expect much more. Liverpool beat Toulouse by the same score.Toulouse, like Sparta, didn’t turn up.
The draw for the Champions League is at 5.00pm today on C5 and Sky Sports News.
Arsenal lost to PSV Eindhoven 25 weeks ago.They only reached the last 32 but are still seeded.
ARSENAL(4-4-2): Almunia; Hoyte, Touré, Senderos, Clichy; Walcott, Gilberto, Diaby (Fabregas, 68), Rosicky (Denilson, 73); Van Persie (Adebayor, 68), Eduardo. Subs not used: Fabianski (gk), Hleb, Flamini, Bendtner.
SPARTA PRAGUE (4-5-1): Postulka; Pospech, Kadlec, Repka, Kladrubsky (Limbersky, 77); Kulic (Zofcak, h-t), Abraham, Husek, Horvath, Rezek (Kolar, 73); Dosek. Subs not used: Kozacik (gk), Slepicka, Kisel, Brezinsky.
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).