Rosicky races in to rock old pals

Wenger's side barely needed to break sweat to complete the job against Sparta Prague, with Tomas Rosicky's early goal consigning his former club to the UEFA Cup.

But it was the performance of Theo Walcott which spurred on Arsenal. The 18-year-old, a threat every time he had the ball at feet, will have given England coach Steve McClaren food for thought ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia.

While the 2-0 result in Prague had given Arsenal considerable breathing space, the manner of their victory a fortnight ago was anything but comfortable.

Geed-up by Tomas Repka's ascertain prior to the first leg that the way to beat Arsenal was by kicking them, Cesc Fabregas took revenge by putting the veteran defender out of the game before half-time — the Spain midfielder earning himself a booking for the challenge. Keen to avoid any retaliatory attacks by Repka, Wenger chose to drop Fabregas to the bench.

Brazilian-born Croatia international Eduardo was handed his second start since his £7.5million move from Zagreb.

Manuel Almunia retained his place in goal amid rumours Jens Lehmann is eager to return to Germany, although Wenger maintains he is suffering from an achilles problem. Also missing from the first leg were the injured Bacary Sagna, Emanuel Eboue and captain William Gallas.

Despite the absentees, Arsenal began clearly in the mood to put the tie beyond doubt as quickly as possible, streaming forward with pace and purpose. Walcott, in his second start of the campaign, caught the eye and inside three minutes had fashioned a shooting opportunity for Eduardo.

Walcott's next piece of skill and speed led directly to Arsenal's opener. Picking up the ball from Justin Hoyte, he lost defender Michal Kadlec before delivering a precise cut-back to Rosicky who gratefully tucked away his seventhminute effort from inside the box.

Walcott was clearly enjoying himself against a pedestrian back four who hit the panic button every time he picked up the ball.

Robin van Persie came close to doubling Arsenal's advantage in the 14th minute, with Eduardo's looping cross from the left just out of reach of the Dutchman' s outstretched boot at the far post.

With lone Sparta striker Libor Dosek carrying little threat for the Arsenal defence and the visitors needing three goals, Wenger's side set about taking any remaining sting out of the contest.

Not the bad tempered affair that was the first leg, a first-half booking for Marec Kulic for a foul on Hoyte came close to providing Arsenal's second. Van Persie whipped in the free-kick but it was just too high for the head of Abou Diaby.

The only worrying moment for Arsenal before the break came as Van Persie went down holding his thigh but the striker was quickly back to his feet after treatment.

Such was Arsenal's dominance that Philippe Senderos ventured forward in the dying moments of the half, but was unable to control Walcott's pass.

With the result beyond question, Arsenal picked up from where they left off at the restart. Further goals took time to arrive but Fabregas, brought on midway through the half, linked well with Eduardo for the second on 82 minutes before Eduardo scored himself in the 89th minute.