Arsenal are through to the Champions League knockout stages after beating Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in Wednesday evening’s decisive Group H clash.
Robin van Persie (with a penalty), substitute Theo Walcott and the in-form Samir Nasri all scored at the Emirates before the home side had Bacary Sagna sent off with five minutes to go. It was no cakewalk though, Brazilian attacker Cleo levelling the score for a time, while Shakhtar Donetsk’s 2-0 win over Braga means that the Londoners come out of the group as runners-up.
The Gunners suffered an early blow when young left back Kieran Gibbs was stretchered off with a foot injury after an incident when no other player was involved. He briefly returned to the field of play, but Emmanuel Eboue eventually replaced him in the 23rd minute.
In the quarter of the game that preceded that substitution, Arsenal had most of the possession, but did not fashion much in terms of scoring chances, Marouane Chamakh heading over and van Persie stabbing Nasri’s pass wide in the exceptions to that.
Partizan – who lost all five of their other games in the group – were making it difficult for the home side, with a five-man midfield adding to the containment job that the back four were doing, so much so that coach Aleksandar Stanojevic must really have been tearing his hair out when nearly half an hour of good work was undone by the concession of the penalty.
Marko Jovanovic was the guilty party as his carless challenge felled van Persie who was trying to latch onto Alex Song’s diverted cross, the Dutchman soon on his feet to ram home his first club goal since the last day of last season and ease the tension that was growing in the Emirates.
There was little else to shout about in a tame first half though, although once again Nasri was looking the stand-out man in the Gunners eleven.
Partizan captain Mladen Krstajic cleared an Eboue cross over his own bar after a surging run from the Ivorian on the left, while former Wigan Athletic goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic denied another van Persie effort just before the break after good Chamakh set-up play.
The second half saw Arsenal begin with more impetus and Chamakh was denied early on by Stojkovic, before a fine move saw Denilson set up Nasri but the Frenchman’s effort cleared the Serbian side’s bar.
Arsene Wenger’s men were caught on the hop though seven minutes into the half. Portuguese midfielder Moreira set up Sasa Ilic and he played the ball into Cleo’s path, the Brazilian’s shot from just outside the area deflecting off of Sebastien Squillaci and flying into the far corner of Lukasz Fabianski’s net.
The same player had a chance to inflict even more damage on Arsenal just a minute later when the Gunners defence failed to get close enough, but this time his effort trailed wide to Fabianski’s right.
Ilic sent another shot over with Partizan looking a different proposition now and the home fans getting very restless, especially with Andriy Arshavin who seemed to be in dreamland for most of the 65 minutes he played. He was replaced by Walcott after some Gunners pressure failed to yield any more clear-cut opportunities, the outcome of the group’s other game between Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga really important at this point.
After a daft long-range effort from Cleo, Arsenal upped it and a cynical foul by Krstajic on Walcott led to van Persie’s free-kick drawing a fine flying save from Stojkovic. Careless defending from the corner that followed then brought a chance for Song to curl one, but the Cameroonian’s attempt was woeful and well wide.
That meant that the Gunners entered the last 20 minutes still unsure of their European future, but two goals in five minutes ended all the worry. The first came when Sagna sent in a cross from the right and Jovanovic headed his clearance straight at Walcott, who controlled and volleyed to the far corner from a narrow angle.
Nasri then made sure of the result after fine set-up play from sub Nicklas Bendtner and Song, the latter rolling the ball into the path of the midfielder in the area and he finished with aplomb.
Shakhtar were winning now so second was all Arsenal could hope for. Well, they could also have hoped to finish the game with 11 men but that did not happen when Italian referee Paolo Tagliavento saw the need to show Sagna a straight red for taking down Aleksandar Lazevski, who was through on goal.
The dismissal means the full back will miss the last 16 first leg game, but the offence was committed outside the area so no penalty for Partizan, for whom Radosav Petrovic fired the free at Fabianski.
His side bow out with no points though as the Gunners march on in the hope of avoiding the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in next week’s draw.