Arshavin and Fabregas shine in Arsenal stroll

Arsenal 4 AZ Alkmaar 1

When the mood takes them, as it did last night, Arsenal can make the Champions League look so damned easy it makes you wonder why Arsène Wenger has never managed to get his hands on the trophy that matters most.

His team flicked aside the Dutch champions to put themselves on the brink of qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, which would be the 10th straight season in which they have navigated the group stages. They require only a single point from their remaining two games and while they may only be in the weak Group H – H for Hopeless opposition – Liverpool are demonstrating that nothing can be taken for granted in European competition.

Wenger's team may not have faced the highest calibre of opposition but they still know how to put away inferior opponents with minimal fuss. There were two goals from their captain Cesc Fabregas and one each for Samir Nasri and Abou Diaby as well as a performance from Andrei Arshavin that woke even the sleepy Emirates crowd from its usual victory-induced torpor.

As the Arsenal fans slipped home early, as they are prone to do at this stadium, they were left wondering whether their Russian winger might – come next year – just be the man who makes the difference between success and failure in this Champions League campaign. Arshavin had a hand in three of the four Arsenal goals and picked apart Alkmaar without ever seeming to exert himself.

Wenger said: "He [Arshavin] was outstanding. Every time he gave the ball in the fraction of the second you wanted him to give it and that is top, top quality. Of course, our policy is to produce our own players and add players of special quality and he is a good example of that. I am not scared to spend money but what we want is to buy the players who have the needed quality to strengthen the team."

The Arsenal fans asked of their visitors, "Are you Tottenham in disguise?", but Spurs are a lot better than the second-rate team of Europeans, and South Americans that Ronald Koeman has inherited. This was Arsenal's 10th straight home win at the Emirates and all but a collapse of epic proportions in their last two games at home to Standard Liège and away to Olympiakos, four points behind in second place, would deny them progress.

Alkmaar blew any chance of a shock result two minutes before half-time when they conceded for a second time. But they were miles off the pace before then. Arsenal were so dominant that at one point the hapless Alkmaar goalkeeper Sergio Romero became so panicky under pressure from Fabregas he picked up a back pass four yards from his goal.

Their first goal showed the weakness of Romero again, the ball dribbling in at his near post as he scuttled over too late to try to get a hand to it. There was a slick four-pass move that concluded with William Gallas finding Fabregas on the left. Fabregas cut across goal and poked an unconvincing shot inside Romero's near post.

In his new role as Arsenal's Mr Angry, the midfielder did not bother to celebrate. Instead he made a big deal of gesturing and shouting at David Mendes da Silva who had been marking him. You could only assume that it was for an incident from the 1-1 draw in the Netherlands, when Mendes da Silva scored the equaliser, but you never know with Fabregas's temper.

Nasri scored the second from a brilliantly-timed throughball from Arshavin that went dead straight through the Alkmaar defence. Nasri sold the Mexican defender Hector Moreno a dummy, went round him and put the ball past Romero as he came off his line.

Fabregas scored the third seven minutes after the break. Arshavin cut the final ball back across the area for the Arsenal captain to lift it past the Alkmaar goalkeeper. The Russian also laid on the ball for Diaby to score from a similar position on 72 minutes.

Alkmaar's goal began in their own area with what looked like a handball by Graziano Pelle. They were not penalised and worked it forward. Aaron Ramsey contrived to lose his fellow substitute Jeremain Lens, who ran on to hit a deceptive shot inside Manuel Almunia's near post. The Dutch did not deserve it.

Arsenal (4-3-3): Almunia; Eboué, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Fabregas (Ramsey, 66), Song Diaby; Nasri, Van Persie (Eduardo, 67), Arshavin (Rosicky, 74). Substitutes not used: Mannone (gk), Sagna, Senderos, Silvestre.

AZ Alkmaar (4-2-3-1): Romero; Jaliens, Moisander, Moreno, Poulsen (Pocognoli, 64); Mendes da Silva (Wernbloom, 70), Schaars; Dembele (Lens, 58), Holman, Martens; Pelle. Substitutes not used: Didulica (gk), Ari, Van der Velden, Swerts.

Referee: A Hamer (Luxembourg).