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Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough
Match Reports, 16:03, April 26, 2009 ,
Cesc Fabregas' brace gave Arsenal victory and condemned Middlesbrough to a record defeat 10th successive league defeat.
Arsenal will now go into Wednesday's Champions League showdown at Manchester United with great confidence after what was a scintillating attacking performance from the home side.
Andrey Arshavin, who scored four goals earlier in the week at Anfield, was a threat all afternoon, Fabregas and Samir Nasri pulled the strings in midfield and Theo Walcott time and again troubled Middlesbrough down the right-hand side.
Boro did have a case for offside against Niclas Bendtner for the opening goal and had a penalty claim waved away, but Arsenal created chances at will and really should have wrapped the game up long before Fabregas rounded the on-rushing Jones to double his own tally for the afternoon with 25 minutes remaining.
When the breaktrough came on 26 minutes there was a hint of controversy about the goal. Some fine build-up play released Arshavin down the left and his cutback found Fabregas who fired home from 12 yards, but Bendtner, in an offside position, appeared to hinder the vision of keeper Brad Jones as his run took him across the line of the ball.
Middlesbrough should really have equalised when a wonderful pass from Stewart Downing sent Jeremie Aliadiere one-on-one with Manuel Almunia. His left-foot effort, however, was saved by the Arsenal keeper and with it went any chance of the visitors taking anything from this game.
Not long after, Arsenal doubled their lead when Emmanuel Eboue sent Fabregas racing through on goal. Jones came flying out of his goal rashly and once Fabregas had gone round the Boro keeper he had the simple task of rolling the ball home from the edge of the area.
For Middlesbrough, it was a record they won't want to remember. It's now 10 consecutive away defeats in the league for them, equalling a record set nearly 100 years ago.