By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter
@Siwri88
Arsenal fans haven’t had much to shout about this summer, especially as their transfer window has been pretty dreadful to be honest. However, they can look forward to a 16th consecutive season in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Second half
goals from Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey and an Olivier Giroud penalty helped the
Gunners to a resounding 3-0 away victory in the first leg of their play-off
encounter with Fenerbahce. The Turkish
side, who reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals last season, were very
poor throughout but Arsenal showed no remorse as they dominated from start to
finish.
The second
leg at the Emirates is completely academic now next Tuesday, but other ties are
a bit more complex to work out. AC Milan
have a slight edge on PSV Eindhoven after drawing 1-1 in Holland, and the same
can be said for PAOK Salonika of Greece who added to Schalke’s early season
problems with a 1-1 stalemate in Gelsenkirchen.
Salonika have been given a reprieve in this competition as Metalist
Kharkiv were kicked out by UEFA on match-fixing charges.
Celtic have
got a big problem after a dreary performance in the Kazakhstan capital of
Astana. Neil Lennon still believes his
side can recover from the 2-0 deficit imposed by Shakhter Karagendy, but it
will be a tough ask. There were also
victories for Real Sociedad, FC Basel and Zenit St Petersburg.
In the UEFA
Europa League, both English sides built up commanding first leg
advantages. Wayne Routledge helped
himself to two goals as Swansea convincingly defeated the Romanian outfit Petrolul
Ploiesti 5-1 at the Liberty Stadium. Michu (pictured) also scored for the Swans. Andros Townsend was the star in Georgia, as he made one and score two of
Tottenham’s five goals away in Georgia.
The 5-0 win left fans feeling good despite Gareth Bale’s impending
departure.
In the
Premier League, Chelsea made it two wins from two but they had to work hard to
beat Aston Villa. Branislav Ivanovic
headed home the winner in the 2-1 triumph, but the Serbian central defender was
lucky to still be on the pitch. An elbow
into the face of Christian Benteke was only punished with a yellow card by
referee Kevin Friend. On another day,
Ivanovic could easily have seen red for his actions. The visitors were also denied a late penalty
when John Terry clearly handled inside the penalty area. The Manuel Pellegrini era began well on
Monday night for Manchester City as they cruised past Newcastle United
4-0. There were goals for David Silva,
Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri against a limited opposition who were
reduced to 10 men when an elbow into the face of Aguero sent Steven Taylor off
for an early shower.
It was a good
week on the pitch for Arsenal’s teams as their ladies outfit moved into second
place in the women’s Super League after thrashing Doncaster 6-0, and Wigan
Athletic came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Doncaster Rovers in the
Championship.
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