Kids give boss perfect present

"I am very proud of the team. The average age was 23 and I am proud because we came in and tried to dictate the game in a very heated atmosphere."

The raucous home fans started the match by whistling every Arsenal touch to such a tinnitus-inducing extent that it could have consumed a side without character. Not Arsenal. The opening gambit of the Wenger blueprint is to combat that intimidation by scoring early. Twice.

Barely 10 minutes had passed when Emmanuel Adebayor put the visitors ahead and Theo Walcott doubled the lead a minute later before the fans could even regroup.

What was most pleasing was the penetrative nature of the football. The opening two goals came from exquisite through balls from Cesc Fabregas and this was Arsenal at their best going forward.

Much of that had to do with a quite superb display from Abou Diaby. Robin van Persie's omission from the starting XI was a surprise, but on this evidence it could happen with more regularity, such was the quality the Frenchman displayed throughout his 73-minute display.

Diaby was consistently the most prominent midfielder in support of lone striker Adebayor and frequently showed tremendous skill on the ball. He capped a hardworking display with a fine goal after 22 minutes that restored Arsenal's two-goal lead following Mikael Silvestre's unfortunate own goal.

Van Persie will surely retain his status as first-choice, but Diaby played a similar role as a youngster with Auxerre and last night proved himself to be an intriguing alternative.

"I believe Diaby can be a player who can play between midfield and the strikers and has good penetrating power," said Wenger.

"I wanted to rest Van Persie because he played 90 minutes on Saturday for only the third time [this season] and I did not want to gamble.

"But Diaby would have played anyway today. It is the first game he has played for three months and he has responded remarkably well."

The glittering nature of Arsenal's attacking did not, however, totally mask their defensive fallibility. Fenerbahce missed a host of chances before Alex Song put the Gunners 4-1 up shortly after half-time and there were even a host of nervy moments thereafter.

Daniel Guiza was guilty of missing several chances before making it 4-2 and an in-form side might have caused Wenger greater consternation. As it was, Aaron Ramsey capped the evening with his first Champions League goal.

"It is fantastic for him [to score]," added Wenger. "The boy is only 17 and to come on and show that he is not scared to play and wants the ball is pleasing."

The Gunners have not scored five goals away in Europe since thrashing Inter Milan in November 2003 but it would be slightly hasty to get carried away given the naivety of some of their defending.

But Manchester United, among others, have proven that an overtly attacking philosophy can yield dividends in Europe and this was a landmark night in the development of Wenger's young guns.

As Theo Walcott pointed out: "We always want to keep a clean sheet but it doesn't matter as long as we score more goals than the other team."

Apparently not.