Wenger salutes Eduardo

Arsene Wenger hailed Eduardo Da Silva's predatory instincts after watching him open account in the 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague.Eduardo volleyed home the third from point-blank range to complete a 5-0 aggregate rout of the Czech champions and secure Arsenal's place in this afternoon's draw for the Champions League group stages.

The £7.5million summer arrival from Dinamo Zagreb had set up the second for Cesc Fabregas by slipping past full-back Zdenek Pospech and teeing up the Spaniard.

We effectively ended the tie as a contest as early as the seventh minute after Tomaz met a superb Walcott cross to score against his former club.

But while Wenger was satisfied with an efficient display that produced a trio of well-worked goals, he was delighted Eduardo is shaping up to be the "box player" we have been lacking.

The Frenchman said: "I find Eduardo more at ease on the left flank where he has the tricks of a winger, whereas Walcott is more comfortable on the right.

"Eduardo is a great striker and you could see that from the way he played against Sparta.

"We did not always have the drive to find our strikers because our main concern was to keep the ball.

"But if you find Eduardo and supply him with chances, he will score goals. He's a box player."

After killing the tie off with Rosicky's goal, we were under no pressure to provide another and a lack of urgency set in until Wenger brought on Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Denilson.

Wenger said: "We finished the job well by scoring an early goal and that took a little bit of the edge out of the game.

"We kept good focus and didn't concede over the two legs but scored five goals.

"We got two late goals and you felt that if needed to we could put our foot down on the gas and score.

"I feel the confidence is there and that we can produce good performances.

"We changed many players against Sparta but still linked well and looked dangerous. We feel we can be dangerous at any moment.

"I expected not to concede a goal and we set out to improve our defensive record at the start of the season."

Sparta coach Michal Bilek felt the final scoreline was harsh on his side, who defended resolutely until our late flourish.

Bilek: "It was cruel result for us. In Prague Arsenal created two chances and scored two goals and here they created three chances and scored three goals.

"They showed how strong the Premier League is."