Keeper woes concern for Wenger

Arsenal 5 Rosenborg 1

Arsenal cruised into the knock-out stages of the competition with a 5-1 rout of an outclassed Rosenborg side at Highbury.

Coupled with PSV Eindhoven's defeat at Panathinaikos, that ensured the Gunners go into next week's draw as one of the eight group winners, but Chelsea will pose a much tougher test on Sunday.

And while 17-year-old Cesc Fabregas starred in Patrick Vieira's absence in becoming the club's youngest European goalscorer, there were again major question marks over keeper Almunia. Despite having previously insisted he would give the Spaniard a "run for a few games", it looked as if Wenger was at least considering recalling the experienced Jens Lehmann against Chelsea.

"I will leave that open until Saturday," said the Arsenal boss.

"I said that I go from game to game and that is what I will do.

"I am a great believer in Manuel Almunia's potential. I just feel that he's playing under such a big pressure that he's not really himself.

"It's a national debate when we change a player, so it's not the best conditions for him to come into the team, especially when you don't have huge experience."

Almunia first showed his vulnerability in last week's Carling Cup tie at Old Trafford before almost another embarrassing mistake against Birmingham on Saturday.

He then flapped at a free-kick to allow Rosenborg to pull a goal back and, despite one superb save, continued to suffer in the increasingly harsh spotlight.

"I feel he showed his potential on some occasions and made a fantastic save in the first-half. That's when you saw the real him," said Wenger.

"But there were other times, when he had a bit more time to make his decisions, that he suffered a bit more from the pressure, like for the goal.

"Every small mistake that he makes becomes a big problem, but every keeper can make mistakes like that."

Despite the worries over Almunia's display, it was otherwise an excellent evening for Arsenal.

Jose Reyes scored his first goal in two months to secure an early lead, while Thierry Henry, the impressive Fabregas and Robert Pires also struck before half-time. Almunia's error led to Erik Hoftun pulling a goal back but Robin van Persie rounded off the one-sided result late on, just before news of Panathinaikos' 4-1 win against PSV filtered through.

Wenger said: "We set ourselves three big targets - the first was to beat Birmingham, the second was to qualify tonight and the third is on Sunday against Chelsea.

"We can't say the job is done yet, but in Europe, the job is done.

"This was not a money evening for us, we could have survived being knocked out. What was at stake was our pride and ambition as we want to be the best."

ARSENAL: Almunia, Hoyte, Campbell, Toure, Cole (Van Persie 75), Pires (Owusu-Abeyie 88), Fabregas, Flamini, Reyes, Bergkamp (Clichy 71), Henry.

ROSENBORG: Espen Johnsen, Winsnes (Olsen 88), Hansen, Hoftun, Stensaas, Strand (George 62), Frode Johnsen, Solli, Braaten, Helstad (Storflor 78), Brattbakk.

Referee: Stefano Farina (Italy).