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Gunners fire to sink Hamburg
22/11/2006 08:13 - (SA)
London - Last season's Champions League finalists Arsenal staged a dramatic late show to clinch a 3-1 win against German side Hamburg and move into pole position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Arsene Wenger's side had looked in danger of slipping out of the competition when they fell behind to Rafael van der Vaart's stunning early goal.
But the Londoners fought back to equalise through Robin van Persie before Ivory Coast defender Emmanuel Eboue made the decisive breakthrough with six minutes remaining and Julio Baptista added a third - his first for the Gunners - to put Arsenal top of Group G.
Wenger's side now have 10 points and need just a draw from their final match at 2004 Champions League winners Porto on December 6 to be certain of advancing to the second round.
Porto's 2-0 victory at CSKA Moscow earlier on Tuesday had given Arsenal the perfect incentive to tear into Hamburg in search of the win that would move them closer to the last 16.
The Germans arrived in London already eliminated from Group G after four successive defeats, while a run of just one win from their last 21 matches left them languishing second bottom of the Bundesliga.
But, with just four minutes gone, Van der Vaart made Arsenal's task a whole lot harder with a magnificent individual goal.
When Van der Vaart collected Mehdi Mahdavikia's pass on the edge of the penalty area there appeared to be little danger as he was surrounded by Arsenal defenders.
However, the Dutch midfielder - who scored in the 1-1 international friendly draw with England last week - bought himself some space with a neat twist past Kolo Toure and immediately took advantage by curling a superb shot into the top corner of Jens Lehmann's goal.
Hamburg goalkeeper Stefan Wachter nearly gifted Arsenal a goal when he spilled a Cesc Fabregas corner, but Mahdavikia rescued his teammate by heading off the line from Van Persie's deflected strike.
Wenger reacted to Arsenal's predicament by moving Van Persie from his left-wing role to partner Thierry Henry up front and was rewarded for his decision in the 52nd minute.
Fabregas slipped an astute pass through to Van Persie on the right side of the Hamburg penalty area and the Dutch striker took one touch before side-footing his shot past Wachter.
Fabregas was at the heart of all Arsenal's best moments and the Spanish midfielder rattled the crossbar with a dipping 30-yard strike in the 75th minute.
To their credit Arsenal kept pressing forward in search of a winner and they finally made the breakthrough in the 84th minute.
Eboue surged into the penalty area and drove in a low shot that Wachter let squirm under his body and into the net to spark wild celebrations.
Theo Walcott set up fellow substitute Baptista for the third with a fine cross that the on-loan Real Madrid midfielder headed into an empty net in the 87th minute.
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