Easy passage for Arsenal - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Easy passage for Arsenal

Arsenal took their place in Thursday's draw for the Champions League group stages as late goals from Cesc Fabregas and Eduardo da Silva completed a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague to go through 5-0 on aggregate.

Tomas Rosicky finished a moment of brilliance from Theo Walcott to send the Gunners into a sixth-minute lead but Arsene Wenger's side hardly threatened again until substitute Fabregas fired the second.

Eduardo added a third in the 90th minute to give the score a lopsided look that Sparta scarcely deserved.

The Czech champions' stubborn defence kept them in touch at the Emirates Stadium until Arsenal's late flurry and they would have equalised had Jan Rezek and Zdenek Pospech buried routine chances.

With a 2-0 lead in the bank from the first leg, Arsenal's passage into the group stages for a 10th successive year never looked in doubt but their lacklustre display was frustrating to watch at times.

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