Theo saves Gunners blushes

ARSENAL last night edged into the last 16 of the Champions League with a nervous victory over Partizan Belgrade inspired by substitute Theo Walcott but it’s fair to say Barcelona and Real Madrid are not shaking in their boots ahead of next week’s draw.

Arsene Wenger’s side have a strong chance of facing one of the Spanish giants — or Germany’s Schalke or Bayern Munich — because their 3-1 triumph was not quite enough to secure first place in Group H; they should be relieved to be through at all.

Three-one may sound convincing but Arsene Wenger’s side were pegged back to 1-1 in the second half and so uninspiring was their performance that there were real fears at the Emirates that it could all go wrong in the end.

Fortunately, however, the arrival of Walcott made a real difference — the Englishman putting his side 2-1 ahead after Cleo had equalised Robin van Persie’s first-half penalty before Samir Nasri made the game safe even though Bacary Sagna received a late red card in an unnecessarily nervous finale.

Afterwards van Persie, captain for the night in the continued absence of Cesc Fabregas, attempted to put a gloss on the performance by calling for a big name in knockout stage, saying: “As a football fan I’d say Barcelona or Madrid — I’d love to play against teams like that. We’ll just have to see.”

But even van Persie knows his side will have to play far better to trouble either of those opponents, as Wenger admitted. “It was a bit of a low-key game because we didn’t find our pace in the game and they defended very well,” he said.

“We were just below our normal pace. But I was never really nervous, I always thought we had the resources to score. I was always confident we would qualify.”

Even so Arsenal started painfully slowly and needed a soft penalty awarded for a foul by Marko Jovanovic on van Persie to go ahead. The home side were visibly relieved when van Persie struck the ball home from 12 yards to put one foot in the last 16.

For van Persie the goal had extra meaning, completing a drawn-out recovery from an ankle injury suffered at Blackburn in August; and it was his first in an Arsenal shirt since the last day of last season against Fulham.

The Dutchman doesn’t quite look back to full sharpness, but his return to action should still be a cause for encouragement in Arsenal. Their strange season has included a string of disappointments, including three home league defeats and terrible results in Europe against Shakhtar and more importantly Braga, results which made last night’s match crucial.

There have also been highs, six-goal thrashings of Blackpool and Braga and last weekend’s win against Fulham that sent them top for the first time.

So if Chelsea and Manchester United have been an enigma this campaign, Arsenal have been unfathomable — much to the frustration of their fans desperate to win silverware after five barren years. And never was Arsenal’s bipolar personality more in evidence than this week. Who could have predicted the morale-boosting win against Fulham would be followed by such a tepid performance as this?

Even having taken the lead Arsenal couldn’t find their spark and were left dumbfounded when Partizan, already knocked out of the Champions League, conjured an equaliser in the 52nd minute after terrible defending.

Sebastien Squillaci looked completely at sea as Cordova Cleo picked up the ball 18 yards out and fired home a deflected shot that left the already quiet home crowd deflated and aghast.

Arsenal were stunned, only really coming to life once Walcott came off the bench to score in the 73rd minute with a clever right-foot finish after Sagna’s cross was not properly cleared.

Nasri made the game safe with his 12th goal of the season, but there was still time for a nervous finale in which Sagna received a red card for felling Alexander Lazevski just outside the area.

Wenger, of course, will say job done and the statistics proves him right. But the message sent out to potential opponents in the last 16 was not a strident one — even if van Persie wants us to think otherwise.

“Everything starts with belief,” he said.

“If you don’t believe you shouldn’t play football. And we do believe we can achieve things this year.”

Arsenal may still have problems convincing everyone else.

Subs for Arsenal: Eboue for Gibbs 23, Walcott for Arshavin, Bendtner for Chamakh 76.

Subs for Partizan Belgrade: 80, Davidov for Babovic, Brasanac for Moreira 90.