Second half goals by Francesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb gave Arsenal a comfortable 2-0 win over Sparta Prague in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie on Wednesday.
The Gunners were lucky to see a feisty first half end scoreless after Jan Rezek's volley from close in glanced off goalkeeper Jens Lehman before squarely hitting the post.
Arsenal began to push forward in the second half but had few good scoring chances until Gael Clichy pounced on a sloppy pass by Pavel Horvath inside Sparta territory.
The speedy Frenchman cut past one defender and turned a second before laying the ball off to his right where Fabregas clinically finished from just inside the penalty area in the 72nd minute.
Fabregas then showed his pedigree at the other end in the 82nd minute, robbing Martin Abraham of a glorious chance from close in.
Sparta pressed further and created a couple of uncomfortable moments for Arsenal but failed to show a finishing touch before Bacary Sagna broke down the left and slotted the ball over to Hleb who made no mistake to seal the win in the 90th minute.
Wednesday's results
Sevilla FC 2 - 0 AEK Athinai
Sparta Prague 0 - 2 Arsenal
Werder Bremen 2 - 1 Dinamo Zagreb
Red Bull Salzburg 1 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Ajax 0 - 1 Slavia Praha
FC Zürich 1 - 1 Besiktas
FK Sarajevo 0 - 1 Dynamo Kyiv
Fenerbahçe 1 - 0 Anderlecht
BATE Borisov 2 - 2 Steaua Bucuresti
Spartak Moscow 1 - 1 Celtic
Tampere United 0 - 3 Rosenborg BK
Toulouse FC 0 - 1 Liverpool